When you play The Sign Invitational, you win or you try – again, the next year. “I began sketching my first ideas [for his 2019 Sign Invitational entry] on the plane ride home from last year’s event,” said 2018 winner Dan Sawatzky of Imagination Corp. (Chilliwack, BC, Canada). “Each week, I have put a few hours into the project. Over the course of the year this adds up to a few hundred hours.” Rarely will you see the evidence of a man so committed to what he loves doing.
想象力公司(Imagination Corp Chilliwack, BC, Canada)的丹·萨瓦茨基(Dan Sawatzky)是2018年的冠军，他说:“我在去年比赛结束后的回家飞机上开始构思2019年的标识邀请赛参赛作品。每周，我都会花几个小时在这个项目上。一年下来，这样的时间加起来只有几百个小时。你很少能看到一个男人如此执着于自己热爱的事业。”
And you can see it – Sawatzky’s project will be on display in the Signs of the Times booth (#2135) this month at the International Sign Association’s Sign Expo in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Convention Center. His will be joined by several others, three of whom also share insights into their entries here.
你可以看到——本月在拉斯维加斯曼德勒湾会展中心举行的国际标识协会的标识展上，萨瓦茨基的项目将在时代广场(2135号)的标识上展出。其他几个人也将加入他的行列，其中三人也将在这里分享他们的标识作品。
“The Sign Invitational’s primary mission is to foster involvement and creativity in the sign industry. The whole industry wins when we come together for a common goal and partake in a good, healthy competition.” So reads the Invitational’s “About” page on its website. What the site doesn’t say, but which applies after the competition, is that, win or lose, the competitors will have new, elaborate displays for their shop lobbies. Sawatzky’s has more than 150 such works on display – I told you he loves doing this – and there’s a payoff for his relentless production, as described in last month’s Sign Face column. “Those samples have sold millions of dollars’ worth of work, so I’m a huge believer,” he said.
标识邀请赛的主要任务是促进标识行业的参与和创新。当我们为一个共同的目标而聚在一起，并参与一场优秀、健康的竞争时，整个行业都会取得胜利。所以请阅读其网站上的邀请页面。该网站没有说明，但在比赛结束后，无论输赢，竞争对手都将为他们的商店大堂提供新的、精心设计的标识。萨瓦茨基展出了150多件这样的作品。他喜欢这样做，他的不懈努力是有回报的。萨瓦茨基说：“这些样品已经卖出了价值数百万美元的作品，所以我非常相信。”
Now in its fourth year, The Sign Invitational issues a call for concepts in the fall. Potential entrants sketch and describe their prospective projects, and submit them to the governing committee (for 2019, Sawatzky and co-founder of the Invitational, Jim Dawson, owner, Synergy Sign & Graphics , Strasburg, OH). Approved submissions give entrants the go-ahead to produce and deliver their projects to the ISA Expo for final judging by the show-going public. Every year a different theme is explored; the theme for 2019 is, simply, “time.”
今年是标识邀请赛的第四年了，今年秋季邀请赛将发布一个概念征集活动。潜在的参赛者描绘并描述他们未来的项目，并将其提交给管理委员会，它由萨瓦茨基（Sawatzky）和邀请赛的联合创始人吉姆·道森（Jim Dawson）,协同标识图形（Synergy Sign & Graphics）共同创立，获批的参赛作品可让参赛者自行制作及提交作品予ISA博览会，以供公众作最后评审。每年都会探索不同的主题，2019年的主题很简单，就是“时间”。
The 2019 competitors who shared this inside look into their projects have taken that theme and devised some varied and interesting interpretations. Sawatzky’s entry is an old clock factory named “Timekeeper.” Douglas Hancock, owner of Sign Pro of North Florida (Alachua, FL), has entered an 1840 steam-powered clock, complete with a detailed backstory.“My project is an intergalactic time traveler that travels through space and time gathering artifacts,” said Cam Andres, owner of Multiwerks Design Studio (Nevis, AB, Canada). Finally, Shawn Reimer, president of Reimer Graphics Inc. (Beamsville, ON, Canada) has entered a project centered on ancient Mayan culture and its storytelling icons.
2019年的竞争对手们分享了他们的项目，并以此为主题设计了一些有趣的解释。萨瓦茨基的作品是一家名为“计时员”的旧钟表厂。道格拉斯·汉考克(Douglas Hancock)是佛罗里达州北部一家标识公司(Alachua, FL) 的老板，他设计了一个1840年的蒸汽动力时钟，并附有详细的背景故事。Multiwerks设计工作室(加拿大尼维斯，AB)的老板Cam Andres说:“我的项目是一个跨星系的时间旅行者，穿越时空收集文物。”最后，加拿大比姆斯维尔雷默尔图形公司（Beamsville Reimer Graphics Inc）公司总裁肖恩·雷默(Shawn Reimer)参与了一个以古玛雅文化及其故事为中心的标识项目。
TIME COMMITMENT
“时间”的承诺
Speaking of time, just how long do these projects take, from conception through completion? The answers range considerably. Andres estimated that perhaps 20 to 30 days of part-time work went into his. Hancock put it at 100 total hours. Reimer reported spending about 40-50 hours in concept drawings and research, and anticipated about the same for digitizing his sketches, CNC programming, fabrication and finishing. But, he added, “Let’s be real; it’s going to be double that.”
说到时间，这些项目从构思到完成需要多长时间?答案的范围相当大。安德烈斯估计，他大概有20到30天的兼职时间。汉考克说总共100小时。雷默报告说：“他花了大约40-50个小时在概念图和研究上，并预计将他的草图数字化，数控编程，制造和整理。但是面对现实，我们制造的标识它将是这个的两倍。”
“Timekeeper” is the title of Dan Sawatzky’s entry to the 2019 Sign Invitational, his fourth of the four competitions.
“计时员”是丹·萨瓦茨基(Dan Sawatzky) 2019年签约邀请赛参赛作品的名字，这是他四次参赛中的第四次。
“I’m glad I put in the hours early,” Sawatzky said. “I knew the time would add up and the total number – four to five hundred hours – doesn’t surprise me. I wanted this to be my most detailed piece ever.” Not surprisingly, a great deal of that time is invested learning new techniques and solving fresh problems, Hancock said. “That can be slow sometimes [though] we also enjoy the process, so we are more willing to take time with it,” he added. Perhaps the attitude toward how long it takes is best summed up by Andres: “I never set time budgets on something where [if] I’m the customer, I’d fire myself.”
萨瓦茨基说：“我很高兴我提前了几个小时上班。我知道时间会累积起来，总时间——四五百小时——我并不感到惊讶。我希望这是我最引以为傲的作品。”“汉考克说：“毫无疑问，大部分时间都花在学习新技术和解决新问题上。这有时会很慢，但是我们也喜欢这个过程，所以我们更愿意花时间去做。也许安德烈斯对时间的态度最好的总结是‘我从来没有在一些事情上设定时间预算，如果我是客户，我会炒了自己。’”
TRIAL AND SUCCESS
尝试与成功
“Working to scale has been a challenge… as there are so many pieces that have to come together perfectly for [this project’s] eyepiece to work as planned,” Reimer said. “The gears I have created have also been a huge obstacle to overcome. I planned to have moving pieces, and I still may, but in order to make everything work as planned, the math calculations that have to work are staggering.” Math calculations? Hancock reported a more engineering-related hurdle: having enough air volume for his needs, given the Invitational’s small-build envelope. “The other obstacle [was] making the digital controllers, and making it all work together as it should,” he added.
雷默说：“按比例工作一直是一项挑战……因为要让这个项目按计划工作，有那么多部件必须完美地组合在一起。我创造的齿轮也是一个需要克服的巨大障碍。我计划要有活动的部件，现在仍然有可能出现故障，但为了让一切按计划进行，必须进行严谨的数学计算，这庞大的计算量也让我们焦头烂额。”汉考克报告了一个更与工程相关的障碍:考虑到邀请赛的小型建筑，他需要有足够的风量。他补充称：“另一个障碍是制造数字控制器，并让它们按照应有的方式协同工作。”
It’s also no feat of deduction to reason out the greatest challenge to completing a project is time itself. “Finding time to get after something that doesn’t contribute directly to shop cash flow takes a backseat to regular customers and shop demands,” Andres said. “Finding time in the evening to work on it is difficult, too.” Four-time Invitational entrant Sawatzky knew his submission would be “a massive project, time-wise, so the key to finishing it was to start early, be disciplined each week and make sure I put in a few hours no matter how busy we were in the shop.” After all, he said of his entry, “I had no client to deal with and I could go absolutely crazy.”
完成一个项目最大的挑战是时间本身，这也不是不可能的。安德烈斯说：“对于老顾客和商店的需求来说，找时间去买一些对商店现金流没有直接贡献的东西要比买那些东西重要得多。晚上找时间做这件事也很困难。四次参加邀请赛的萨瓦茨基知道，他的作品将是个庞大的项目，需要足够时间的时间完成。所以完成它的关键是早点开始，每周都要有计划，确保自己投入在计划当中，不管店里有多忙。毕竟，他在谈到自己的入行时说，幸好我没有客户要打交道，要不然我可能会疯掉。”
KNOWLEDGE GAINED
知识来源
Every signmaking job can be, should be, a learning process, but the learning ramps up when you set out to do something you’ve never tried before. “I have needed to have an excuse to start machining in 3D for client pieces, and have taught myself the basics to build this piece,” Reimer said. “I’ve also started producing multiple elevations for each piece, instead of one concept drawing, so that if other team members need to catch the vision, or understand what the finished piece will be as they are working on it, they will have more than one perspective to study.” Hancock and his team have discovered how to “hack” various parts to make their own smoke machine, which they might use in future pieces. “The digital control boards are something we are expanding our knowledge with and will probably be most useful in future signs and thematic pieces,” he said.
每一项标识制作工作都应该是一个学习的过程，但是当你开始做一些你从未尝试过的事情时，学习能力就会加速。雷默说：“我需要找个借口开始用3D技术加工客户端零件，并自学了制作这个零件的基础知识。也开始为每件作品制作多个立面图，而不是一个概念图。如果其他团队成员需要形成大体成品，或者在他们工作的时候理解成品是什么，他们就会有不止一个视角要研究。”汉考克和他的团队已经发现了如何“破解”各种部件来制造他们自己的烟雾机，他们可能会在未来的零件中使用。他说：“我们正在用数字控制板扩展我们的知识，在未来的标识和主题作品中，它可能会产生意想不到的效果。”
Ancient Mayan iconography and that civilization’s obsession with time inspired Shawn Reimer’s project for his first Sign Invitational.
对古代玛雅人的肖像和文明的痴迷激发了肖恩·雷默(Shawn Reimer)为他的第一个标识邀请赛设计的项目。
Like many artists, Sawatzky finds it difficult to be completely pleased with any project – and this is no different. “While I think the ‘Timekeeper’ character works well, I still see plenty of room for improvement in the future,” he said. “I considered having the gears of the clock move… but in the end I decided to rather focus on the design and its execution alone.” Andres suggested that technique-building is not the only skill the Invitational develops. His project taught a lesson in time management for next year: “Maybe be a little less ambitious in the scale and complexity of the project,” he admitted. “Maybe start designing and building six months earlier would be wise,” though he qualified, “It’s been a lot of fun to build.”
和许多艺术家一样，萨瓦茨基发现很难对任何项目完全满意——这也没有什么不同。萨瓦茨基说：“虽然我认为‘计时员’这个角色很不错，但我认为未来还有很大的改进空间。我考虑过让钟表的齿轮转动……但最后我决定只专注于设计和执行。”安德烈斯认为，技术建设并不是邀请赛发展的唯一技能。他的项目给明年的时间管理上了一课：“也许在项目的规模和复杂性上不要那么雄心勃勃，也许最明智的是提前六个月开始设计和建造，尽管作品符合条件，但建造过程非常困难。”
EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
设备和用品
Many – if not most – Sign Invitational competitors started their projects by hand-sketching concepts. They then transferred those sketches to either Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or CorelDRAW for development. To guide the material cutting, our four relied either on SAi’s EnRoute software, or Aspire from Vectric.
许多(如果不是大多数的话)标识邀请的竞争对手都是通过手绘概念草图开始他们的项目的。然后，他们将这些草图转移到Adobe Photoshop、Illustrator或CorelDRAW中进行设计。为了指导材料的切割，我们四个人要么使用SAi的航路软件，要么使用Aspire的Vectric软件。
Hancock’s team routed his 1840 steam-powered clock on a Stinger 4 x 8-ft. CNC from CAMaster. The Mayan piece created by Reimer was cut on his shop’s Envy Designs 5 x 10-ft. three-axis CNC. Andres used a combination of his MultiCam 3000 router and Trotec Speedy 400 laser. In addition, Andres employed his shop’s Mimaki CJV30-130 printer and Laguna Tools Bandsaw on his time-travelling spaceship. Sawatzky also favored the MultiCam 3000 CNC router and ran his MultiCam CNC plasma cutter to cut, and a Miller Welder to weld the steel for “Timekeeper.”
汉考克的团队将他1840年发明的蒸汽动力时钟安装在一个4×8英尺的CAMaster三轴数控切割器上。雷默创作的这幅玛雅作品是在他的店铺“妒忌标识公司（Envy Designs）”上剪下的，尺寸为5 x 10英尺。安德烈斯使用了他的多组调幅3000切割器和Trotec高速400激光器的组合。此外，安德烈斯还在他的“时间旅行宇宙飞船”上使用了他店里的Mimaki CJV30-130打印机和拉古纳工具带锯机。萨瓦茨基还喜欢多卡姆3000数控切割器，并使用他的多卡姆数控等离子切割机切割，和米勒焊机焊接钢的“计时器”。
Cam Andres’ time-traveling spaceship references such disparate influences as a rhinoceros, Art Deco, historical Egypt and Star Trek nemesis, the Borg.
卡姆·安德烈斯的“时间旅行宇宙飞船”引用了诸如犀牛、装饰艺术、古埃及和星际迷航中的克星博格等不同的元素。
Precision Board HDU from Coastal Enterprises was the choice for Sawatzky, Hancock and Andres, who also included CORAFOAM HDU from DUNA USA. Reimer’s HDU came from a local manufacturer of outdoor weather-proof cabinetry. Andres and Reimer used Magic Sculpt epoxy, while Sawatzky carved from Abracadabra Sculpt epoxy. Hancock’s project comprised, in part, Elite PVC foam sheet from Tubelite, while others also included steel and plywood. Sherwin Williams A-100 Exterior Acrylic house paint was the finish for Reimer and Sawatzky. Hancock went with NovaColor and Andres, who will also be adding LED lighting, painted with Modern Masters.
来自沿海企业的萨瓦茨基、汉考克、和安德烈斯选用了精密板HDU，其中也包括来自美国DUNA的CORAFOAM HDU。雷默的HDU来自当地一家户外防水橱柜制造商。安德烈斯和雷默使用了神奇的环氧雕塑，而萨瓦茨基雕刻的Abracadabra环氧雕塑。汉考克的标识项目部分来自Tubelite的优质PVC泡沫板，还包括钢和胶合板。舍温·威廉姆斯（Sherwin Williams）的A-100外墙丙烯酸漆是雷默和萨瓦茨基的最终作品选用材料。汉考克与NovaColor和安德烈斯合作，他们也将加入LED照明，融合现代大师的作品。
FITTING TRIBUTE
恰到好处
Sawatzky’s influence has spread among his peers and it’s not a coincidence that three of the four sign artists featured here also live and work in Canada. “I met Dan Sawatzky last year, after 20 years of following his work… and dreaming of someday doing work that was a fraction as good as his,” Reimer said. “Attending his workshop was a super highlight for me, and when he challenged me to enter the Sign Invitational, I was both humbled and inspired to finally use some of the creativity I have stuffed into the corner.” And that creativity will be on display – don’t forget – in the Signs of the Times booth (#2135) at the ISA Expo, where your vote will help determine this year’s winner. It will be well worth your time.
萨瓦茨基的影响力已经在他的同行中传播开来，在这里展出的四位标识艺术家中，有三位也在加拿大生活和工作，这并非巧合。雷默说：“我去年遇到了丹·萨瓦茨基，在他从事这项工作20年后……我梦想有一天能做一份和他一样出色的工作。加他的研讨会对我来说是一个超级亮点，当他向我提出挑战，让我参加标识邀请赛时，我顿时受到启发，参赛让我用尽了我全部的创造力。”
