Ross Hastie: Traditional sign painting from Scotland

In 2011, a mother took her 12-year-old son to a car show, thinking he’d enjoy seeing all the interesting vehicles. She didn’t realize she was launching his sign painting career.

That 12-year-old, Ross Hastie, was awestruck by a sign painter who was striping and lettering a van at the show. From then on, Ross began learning to make letters and lines with a brush. That sign painter, by the way, was Stewart McLaren, a top Scottish sign painter, who went on to be a great help to Ross. The two became good friends and still speak with each other weekly.

“Soon I was painting signs at every chance,” he says. “By the time I was 16 I was selling my work. I didn’t need to make much money so I was able to keep learning and having fun with it. At 17 I left school and worked a part-time job for a few months until sign painting was keeping me busy full time. I got started so young that the business just grew with me. I never really did any marketing.”

In 2013, he came to the US to attend Mike Meyer’s hand-lettering workshop. In 2017, he returned and spent several months working with Mike to learn more. He also was able to visit several other US sign painters.

Ross says that 95% of his work is painted signs. The balance is a little cut vinyl as needed, but he doesn’t actively market that work. He sends the digital printing and cut vinyl work to another shop that is nearby.

“I’ve made a conscious choice to keep it that way,” says Ross. “There was a point a few years ago where I was taking on more vinyl work but I wasn’t enjoying myself. I got into this in the first place because I want to paint, so I decided to keep it that way.”

As a result, Ross has cultivated a clientele who want the look of hand lettering. Architects and designers who are doing a pub, restaurant or hotel often specify hand lettering for all the signs. In historic districts, only hand-lettered signs are allowed.

“Some of my work,” he says, “is through local heritage trusts. In the center of most towns are a few streets of historic buildings and they are keeping those in a traditional look. It’s often required that the signs be hand lettered.”

Alloa is a town of 21,000 in central Scotland. Scotland is about the size of Maine and has a population of about 5.5 million.

“Scotland is quite small,” says Ross. “I’m located about halfway between the two largest cities— Edinburgh in the east and Glasgow in the west. Each is about 45 minutes away. Most of my work is in what we call the Central Belt, which is between these two cities. I sometimes travel up to the Highlands to a job, which I like to do.”

Ross’s partner, Megan, does chalkboard graphics for restaurants, along with calligraphy and packages for weddings. She also helps out in the shop.

“Our shop is split into three roughly equal parts,” Ross says. “The first has a roll-up door which lets me pull a van in for lettering. I also do my woodwork there and keep my ladders and scaffolds there. Then there is a curtain that rolls up and divides it from the middle section. That’s where I have my 16-ft. easel, paint bench and more storage. Beyond that is the office area, which is where Megan works, and I have my desk and plotter in the corner there.”

Ross’s work ranges from very traditional lettering for shopfronts to elaborate gold leaf windows for tattoo shops. Most everything is done with hand-drawn letter styles and many involve classic sign painting effects. He letters about a dozen vans each year and does a lot of pinstriping, too.

“I enjoy doing the good traditional sign painting with the classic letter styles and colors,” Ross says, “but I also like to throw something in there to make it different, like blended shades and convex outlines. I like to jazz up my work with things like that. Most of them have come from the work of American sign painters that I’ve seen in SignCraft magazine over the years. I’ve been reading SignCraft since I was about 14 and I have a big stash of the old issues.

“I pinstripe a lot of motorbikes, too, both custom work and restoration/factory lining on vintage bikes. I’ve done some from the 1920s and every era since then.

“Thanks to sign painting, I’ve made friends all over the world. It’s amazing. There are so many outstanding sign people out there. I’m glad I got that early start in the craft.”