I see a lot of new artists ask, “How do I sign my art”. I had the same question when I started painting.
The short answer is: however you want. You are the artist, and it’s your decision to make. There is no right or wrong answer, only opinions and recommendations.
For the long answer, keep reading this post. I’ll explain how I sign my paintings and I’ll list out options for how you can sign your paintings along with recommendations. What I write is specific to watercolor paintings, but most of this will translate to other mediums as well.
How I sign my paintings
I sign my paintings with a stamp that has my initials. The stamp I use is made of wood. It’s a type of Japanese personal seal called a hanko. I ordered mine from a company in Japan called Hanko Square.
While a hanko is typically used with an ink pad, I use watercolor paint with my stamp. I brush the paint onto the stamp so that it’s not too wet. Then I stamp onto the painting, using a decent amount of pressure. I may use a small brush to add a little more paint to my stamp on the painting if needed. I then make sure to clean off the stamp.
When I started signing my paintings, I tried writing my name or writing my initials. But I couldn’t come up with anything I liked. I don’t like my writing! So I found that using a stamp with a stylized version of my initials worked better for me and felt right.
Should you sign your paintings?
Yes.
Many new artists aren’t sure if they should sign their art yet. The answer is yes, you should sign your art.
But what if my art isn’t very good? Doesn’t matter. It’s your art. Sign it! Your art is always good enough to sign. If you think your art isn’t very good, step away from it for a day and come back and look at it. It’s probably better than you think.
What if it’s a copy of someone else’s work or from a tutorial? This is a bit of a grey area. You should never pass off a copy of someone’s work as your original work or enter it into a competition. But I’ve seen disagreements on if you should sign the painting. Some people say you should not sign anything that is not original work. Other people say you should. I’ve see some people who do tutorials who explicitly give people permission to sign and even sell paintings done from the tutorial. My personal opinion is that it’s still your painting, even if it’s not original, and you should sign it. Just don’t claim it as an original work and make sure you have permission from the person who made the original if you are selling or doing anything else with your copy.
When should I sign my painting? Ideally, as soon as you finish it. So once you feel like your painting is good, put your signature on it. Sign it before you put any UV spray or protectant on the painting if that’s something you do. Your signature means the painting is finished, so you technically shouldn’t sign it until it is completed and you won’t be adding anything more to it. But I’d be lying if I said I’ve never added something to a painting after signing it.
Why should I sign my painting? Take pride in your work. Even if you don’t think it’s the greatest, it’s still your work and you’re improving by practicing, and it’s something you should be proud of. Signing also lets people know who did it, when someone is looking at your painting many years from now. It’s important information!
How should I sign my painting? However you want. There are a lot of strong opinions out there, but what’s really important is that your signature should feel right to you and should fit you. If you like it, then it’s right.
What should you sign your painting with?
These are my suggestions for the different media you can use to sign your art and the tools you can use for each.
Watercolor Paint
Watercolor paint is probably the best choice. It will fit in with your painting well, it’s available in a wide variety of colors to match your painting, and if you’re doing a watercolor painting then you already have it available.
If you are wanting to enter your painting into competitions, sign with watercolor paint. Some competitions have very strict entry rules and signing with something other than watercolor paint could cause your painting to be classified as mixed media. Not all competitions have this rule. This is the only hard reason for choosing watercolor paint over other media; otherwise it’s really up to your preference.
You can apply your signature with watercolor paint in a variety of ways:
With a stamp, which is what I do for my signature.
Using a small watercolor brush
Using a dip pen to write with the watercolor paint
Using a glass pen in the same way as a dip pen
In this picture, you can see signatures using these tools, in a few different colors.
Watercolor Pencils
Watercolor pencils give you the benefits of signing with watercolor paint with the ease of writing with a pencil. After signing with a watercolor pencil, you can use a damp brush to work it into the painting.
Here you can see a few different signatures with watercolor pencils. The top row is pencils only. The middle row has been traced over with a damp brush. The bottom row has been worked more with a damp brush.
If I use a pencil, which I sometimes do for writing on the back of the painting, I just grab whatever random pencil is nearby. I’m sure that horrifies people who are more serious about pencils!
What should you include in your signature?
Your signature can be anything. It’s common for a signature to include some part of the artists name and maybe the date. You can choose anything you like. Here are some variations I’ve seen:
First name only
Last name only
Full name
Initials - including only first and last initials, or with the middle initial, and either with or without periods.
First initial and last name - or first name and last initial
A “stage name” - a different name that the artist uses as their artist name
Cursive or print - for all of the above options, you could write your name in either cursive or print
Some kind of symbol or stylized representation of your name - maybe you’re the artist formerly known as Prince
Date - for all of the above options, you can also include a date. Typically artists will put the full year or abbreviated year.
People also say you should practice writing your signature, which is probably true. The signature you use for signing your paintings isn’t the same as how you would sign legal documents. Practice writing fancy.
But I will say that I practiced doing a fancy and stylized version of my signature and it didn’t’ work and it never got nicer. So, your mileage may vary.
Here are some examples from paintings and prints from other artists that I have in my house:
Where should you sign the painting?
Anywhere.
The bottom right is very common. But some people like the bottom left. I’ve seen some at the top.
You can have the signature stand out from the painting or you can try to work it into the painting. Some people say signatures shouldn’t stand out too much, but there are some paintings with bold signatures that look perfectly fine. It’s up to you on what you think works for your painting.
For me, if my painting takes up the full page or is on a colored background, I tend to put my stamp in the lower right of the page. If the painting is on a white background, I’ll put it somewhere around the lower right of the painted portion. Sometimes I might put it elsewhere. It depends on the painting and what I’m feeling.
Put additional information on the back of the painting
Regardless of how you sign your painting, make sure you put additional information on the back of the painting.
At a minimum, include your printed name and the year. You want to print your name so people looking at the painting can clearly identify who did it. Your signature on the front may be hard to read, so this makes it easier on the owner of the painting.
If your painting has a title, you can write that on the back. You can also include any information you want on the paper and paints used.
I generally just write my name and year.
Other notes
Just a couple of additional notes on signatures, if you’ve made it this far.
Be consistent
Try to be consistent. Artists signatures can change over time and that’s ok, but try to find something that works for you and then stick with it. Your signature will become part of your style and will help identify your work. It’s fine if your signature changes over time, but ideally it won’t change back and forth between each painting.
You are the artist!
The most important thing to remember is that you are the artist. You make the decisions about your art and you decide how you sign your art.
You will find, as I did when I was starting out, that there are a lot of people out there with strong opinions on signatures. I remember seeing one article titled “The Right Way to Sign Your Art”. People will tell you there is a right way and a wrong way, and that there’s a way that you must do things.
Those people are wrong. This is all very subjective and these are all just opinions and suggestions, not rules. There may be good reasons to do one thing vs. another, but ultimately it is up to the artist.
As the artist, you decide what is right for you and your painting. If anyone tells you otherwise, you tell them that you are the artist and tell them to mind their own business.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading my post. I hope this was helpful and I’d love to hear how you sign your work.
