Grip to the art with big letters

A signwriter whose big letters are getting a new audience explains how he has left behind the flounce and nonsense of his former life in graffiti, and found freedom and a kind of magic Over the last 15 years, Jim Kerr has become accustomed to producing intricate work with delicate pieces of gold leaf and a steady hand.

B ut, a Birmingham-based artist, has also been working on a much larger scale by delivering giant slogans at property developments in the city.

His background in producing type is key to all tasks.

The father-of-two was a successful street and graffiti artist and exhibited his work around the world when he turned to signwriting.

He said that I was producing artwork and selling artwork and the direction my artwork was going in was very type heavy.

And a lot of the styles of lettering I wanted to use, I couldn't find as fonts on the computer because they weren't fonts, they were hand-painted by signwriters.

So in my naivety I thought I ll learn to signwrite, it can't take that long. H e explained: The chap that taught me said that there are only two things you need to do to be the best signwriter in the world - practice and live long enough. I still learn things daily on the job, even though I'm 15 years old.