Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-04-03
BIG PICTURE ADS.
Painting Thonr Requires Little snsl,
but Implicit Obedfeuoe

Fesnung Thoot Requires Little Ssxkll,
but Implicit Obedience.
When n man walking along the side.
walk sees another man suspended fifty
feet above him painting nostril six
feet long or an eyelash FIVE feet long,
the chances are ten to one that the
pedestrian will stop n moment TO won
der how the painter. with his face 80
close to the picture can get the exact
proportions of the human face. says
the New York Times. IL any one
should tell the spectator that never in
his life until today had the man IN
there tried to paint q human face, the
information would be received with q
laugh of scorn. Yet 1t is no uncommon
thing for an ordinary sign painter to
be employed TO paint picture of Jim
Dumps or William Penn or any other
face used for advertising purposes.
Why Is this? Simply because il is
merely matter of measurements and
accuracy and requires no artists skill.
The pedestrian on the pavement doesn't
see IL, but the whole wall on which the
picture Is being painted Is laid off into
number OF squares, made by inter.
secting chalk lines. The exact spot I'm
each of these lines where the tip of the
nose or the toe of the foot shall he Is
as fixed as is the day for the next
eclipse OF the sun.
A visitor asked the head designer In
an outdoor advertising firm If il wasn't
hard to get men skillful enough to
paint these exaggerated pictures.
The other day." replied the design.
er, II got a man who had never PAINTED
anything but letters In his life to- nut
race twenty feet high on a wall. and
he did IL as we'll as Ii could be done"
Then he showed how the only part
that took any skill was done I'm his
own Office First he or some other de-
signer drew a small picture. about
quarter life size, on q piece OF square
cardboard. When this was done. the
piece OF cardboard was divided by pen.
Gil lines into sixty-four squares. SO that
It's form was Just like that of a checker
board. This was given to a noipter
and II was told him that each square
on the paper meant one fifteen feet
square on the wall
Then 1T was easy for the painter IN
lay of with colored chalk squares OF
the required size on the wall. When
ne began to paint, he took the design.
er's drawing with him. There were
explicit directions as to colors and the
kinds OF brushes to be used. Then a
was only matter of proportion. ri
the nose occupied half a square ON the
paper. it occupied hale the correspond
ing square on the wall, and IL the but
ton OF tho coat was ut the intersection
OF two pencil lines, 1t must be at the
some intersection of the chalk lines.
The designer said that it was a very
common occurrence for him to send
one man to finish q picture that an.
other man had begun. Once he had
three men painting the same figure
taking turn about until the lob was
complete.
TITS purely mechanical" he said. "TfI
we catch man using his own ideas or
trying to display any originality. we
get rid of him Immediately. Suppose
man took notion into HIS head IN |
try Few fancy strokes and we had to |
put another man at 1t the next dav
Wouldn't that picture be a pretty
mess?"
The average painter OF large pictures
earns about $50 week, A larger sal.
airy Is very rare. 1t is never hard 70 |
ger the man you want. the designer
says, because anybody that is used to
paint brush and can make measure |
mcnts Is able to do the work.