How artists sign their art

When I said I'm not blogging, I should have said "except for posts about new content on my websites"! 

So today's post is about a new page I published a little while back - about how to sign your art - but did not publicise on this blog.

the monogram and date of this painting by Albrecht Durer

is obvious in size but restrained in colour and tone

How to sign a painting, drawing or fine art print is the third reincarnation of a page which started off some years ago and has been on two other websites

This NEW PAGE offers a structured introduction to artists signatures for ARTISTS who want

• to know more about the best way to sign and date a work of art
• help with their signatures when using specific types of art media

INCLUDES:

• Pros and Cons of signing your art
• Initials, surname or change your name?
• Monograms, initialed signatures & motifs

PLUS - HOW TO SIGN

• TIPS: How to sign your art
• How to sign:
• an oil painting
• a dipytch/triptych
• a watercolour painting
• a pastel artwork
• a drawing
• a fine art print (limited edition)
• a copy of another artwork
• Signature Membership (of an Art Society)

PLUS POLLS about how artists sign their artwork

I've previously run polls which asked people how they signed their art. Those polls received over 2,000 responses

However I've had to restart the polls on this website - and below you can see current charts (since May) alongside my charts of some of the results from previous polls.

CURRENT (and previous) POLLS

The charts below cover:

• size and location of the signature
• whether you plan your signature in advance
• whether or not to date your artwork

Current charts are in pink and the charts from previous polls are in multi-colours.

Do you date and sign your artwork

This is the oldest poll.

I'm going to revise this so it indicates "Neither" as an option.

Which of the following is most like your signature?

There is a very clear emphasis on readability and the signature not being too large or very obvious.

Do you think about WHERE to put your signature when planning your art?

There's rather less thought being given to signatures than one might expect.

Do you include a date on your artwork?

The preference is still to date on the reverse for provenance reasons - but probably also so as not to harm sales in the short term.

Dating on the front and in a way which is obvious has halved since previous polls.