By Matt Cover
Posted on Monday, February 24th, 2025
So ya’ wanna be a window splash artist? As a forty-year window splash and walldog veteran, I can tell you that it takes practice and determination to make it work, but it is satisfying and rewarding—and plenty challenging. It’s kept me busy for about 45 of my 66 years.
For anyone considering this type of work, here’s a list of the basic equipment and materials. This is not an exhaustive list, but it covers the basics. I’ll explain my approach to doing window splashes as I go along.
Paint: My window ads require a white basecoat before I lay on the colors. Pack a gallon of white, acrylic latex for painting basecoats, outlining and lettering. If you want this white basecoat to dry really fast, you can use white Gesso instead of white acrylic latex. It’s more expensive, but the time you may save can be worth the extra money.
I like to pack at least 4 to 6 colors of fluorescent, oil base paints. Day-glo Yellow, Pink (and/or Red), Orange, and Green are the basics. These paints dry quickly and really add the pop in window splash work.
It’s a good idea to pack some colorants to tint your paints. These colorants will tint oil base and acrylic paints. And surprisingly, the colorants hold up well in your vehicle year-round.
You can purchase bright fluorescent paint in acrylic or oil base. I prefer oil base for different reasons, but the acrylic (being water-based) can be easier to work with. I also carry a quart of oil-base white to lighten my oil-based, fluorescent enamels.
When I started, you could purchase a quality oil base, fluorescent paint for $12 per quart. Currently, I shell out approximately $60 per quart, even with my contractor’s discount. The fluorescent paint I purchase no longer has Blue, so I substitute with an acrylic instead.
I carry about six acrylic latex colors in quarts as well—a couple shades of Blue, bright Red, Green, Yellow, Brown, Black and White. You can mix these colors or tint them to your liking.
Sponge/Poly brushes and rollers: I prefer the 1- and 2-in. Poly Brush by Jen Mfg. All other sponge brushes are crap. The Poly Brush brand holds the most paint and has the cleanest edge. I use these primarily to outline large lettering on glass. They can also substitute for a wide bristle fitch when painting large outlines on concrete block and textured surfaces.
I frequently use 3-in. sponge rollers from Shur-line—especially when painting with white or black acrylic paints. For rolling on oil-based fluorescent paint I use 3-in. and larger cotton rollers that you can purchase at Home Depot. The 4- and 6-in. rollers are the narrow core rollers that spin on a thin metal handle.
Paint additives: I add a small amount of Floetrol by Flood to my black and white acrylic latex to make the paint flow better and get a sharper edge with my lettering brushes. It also helps the paint to spread further when rolled. The drawback is that it takes the paint longer to dry.
With oil-based enamels I occasionally thin with naptha to speed the drying time, or linseed oil to slow it down and increase the smoothness of transition between color blends.
Lettering brushes: My favorites for window-ad lettering and outlining are the synthetic Nocturna brushes by Langnickel. I’ve had a few that didn’t hold up well, but most are very durable and last for years if cleaned well and oiled with transmission fluid after each use.
I have a 1-in. flat that I recently retired after 15 years. I pack a couple of each size: ¼-, 3/8-, ½-, ¾-, and 1-in. Recently, I have found that Mack Brush makes a pretty good flat as well. It is the 1962 series.
For lettering and artwork on rough surfaces like concrete block, stucco, brick, etc. you need some quality, stiff bristle brushes like fitches. I prefer an angled tip. As I stated previously, you can use poly-brushes to letter on rough/ textured surfaces as well, but not really for detail work. Scharff makes some really good fitches, but they’re not cheap. Corona series 3256 is a pretty decent fitch as well.
I have improvised by purchasing a few, stiff-bristled, angle-tipped brushes at a decent art supply store like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s, but they don’t hold up as well. As stated earlier, foam rollers can work well on rough surfaces for covering larger areas quickly, particularly when painting with acrylics. You can fill in the larger areas with 4-in. cotton, mohair or heavier weight roller covers.
Layout and measuring: A 4-ft. level comes in handy to help keep your copy and panels tight, as it helps to maintain level verticals and horizontals. Chalk lines help on long layouts on concrete block walls.
Most of the time I use a Stabilo pencil, which is water soluble, to lay out my ads on windows—although sometimes I just grab a roller and go. It just depends on the look you are after.
When working on storefront glass, sometimes you can use objects inside the store (visually) to guide your vertical and horizontal strokes, especially if it doesn’t have to be too tight. That can help cut your layout time.
Depending on one’s approach and style, you may prefer to not use a measuring device at all. With bouncy type lettering you don’t have to be as concerned with level lettering. You can also use the 3-in. roller you use for your white basecoat to loosely lay out your lettering as you go along. Swinging your main copy on a wave arc helps to create visual interest and lessens the need for exact horizontal lines.
When having to recreate logos or artwork, I typically use some basic math and sometimes a simple grid to lay out and get the proportions correct. A pocket calculator will come in handy as well.
I imagine one could even attach a small, bubble level to a roller handle when applying the white basecoat in order to keep vertical or horizontal lines straight as well, without the use of marking with a level.
Tape: I carry 3 or 4 rolls of 2½-in. masking tape to mask off the frame of each window panel prior to painting the windows. Stray paint on window dividers really looks shabby and unprofessional. I also carry 2 or 3 rolls of 1-in. painter’s tape for masking off vertical (and sometimes horizontal) edges of lettering to speed up the process when desired.
Truck or cargo van: You need some type of vehicle to tote your paints, ladder(s) and other tools. I have a pick-up truck with an 8-ft. bed and a cap to keep things relatively dry. I always have my trusty 6-ft. ladder, paints, etc. when driving to the job site.
On occasion I have worked out of the trunk of my car. If you can work from ground level or don’t have to paint very high on the glass, you can get by with a 4-ft. step ladder or none at all.
Ideas and inspiration: I carry a few files of lettering and artwork that I’ve seen over the years in different media forms. It used to be primarily from magazines or printed ads, but today it’s fairly easy to pull up images and get inspiration online.
Visual ideas can also be found on many product labels and boxes of merchandise sold at any type of retail outlet, including grocers. Be careful of copyrights and trademarks though. One can get inspiration without copying verbatim.
I must say that SignCraft magazine has been a real source of inspiration for me. Ever since the late 1980s I have looked to SignCraft for visual and informational inspiration. There is no other publication like it. Despite the fact that there is a lot more computer and digital generated work than there used to be, SignCraft still carries inspiration for the hand painting sign artist. They offer several how-to type publications of which I have purchased many.
I also carry file photos of many of the jobs I have already completed, along with several thumbnail sketches I have used in the past to sell many of such jobs. They make a good reference and can help get me started on a new layout quickly.
