- Meet sign artist Jeff Williams.

His hand-painted works can be seen all around the Bay Area.

Follow him from his St. Pete studio to the field as he plans and completes his creations.

(upbeat soft rock music) - So I've always sort of dabbled in making art and painting.

I painted houses for work for a while, and found myself coming home and wanted to get creative and use the leftover paint to make art.

It was pretty tricky; difficult to sell the art, so I found signs, and it was a more practical means of keeping a paintbrush in my hand.

(soft rock music continues) I saw a documentary called "Sign Painters" in 2012, and that really opened my eyes to the world of sign painting, and that there is a larger community out there than I thought.

It was viewed as a once-dying trade, and I think that movie coming out, it really sparked the interest of a lot of people like myself.

Took a lot of practice, a lot of painting alphabets that never saw the light of day, and you just kind of have to go through the motions of trying and failing to figure out the right way of going about it.

I really like pulling from old sign books, or just old signs that you find around town.

Whenever I'm traveling, I try to take photos, and have a little collection that I can refer back to.

(soft rock music continues) Majority of the signs that I make are hand-painted reverse glass, so they're on windows, and done in reverse, meaning that they're painted on the inside of the glass.

These can be painted, or in gold leaf.

Those are our main specialties.

We also offer A-frame signage, fascia signs, wall signs, vehicle lettering, truck lettering, we could really paint anything that we could get to sit still long enough, but our main interest is windows.

We generally would start with the design on paper.

Whether it be hand-drawn, or printed reference.

From that point, I use a machine called an electro pounce, which is grounded to a metal easel, and it's a perforating machine.

So as I trace over the design with the stylus, it's electrocuting a small hole, which I can then pass charcoal, or chalk powder through, and that's the means of transferring the design onto the surface, whether it be a wall, or a wooden panel sign.

(jaunty harmonica music) So when I'm not working in the studio on a sign that could be made here and then delivered to the client, I'm working on site.

I generally show up, we're working on glass, there's a lot of cleaning to prepare the surface, and then I'll apply the patterns, stick those up.

From there, I can start lettering.

I'll generally spend one to three days with the client, or in the business.

So it's nice to sort of get to know the people that work there, and get a feel for it all.

- I came across Jeff originally on Instagram, and that was kind of like my first introduction to hand-painted signs.

Is really just an art that can't be replicated digitally.

You're taking just a few simple words or information related to your business, and being able to make it really stand out, and make somebody who's just walking by see it.

I think, really, any art that's in the public eye is important, and art that's accessible to the community, I think, makes a community a better place, overall.

- I get a lot of remarks from passer-bys, a lot of "you spelled that wrong"; "you missed a spot" but I've come to grow some thick skin gettin' used to those comments and those remarks.

Yeah, pack up, head home, call it a day.

(upbeat harmonica music) It's probably about 50/50 that I'm in the studio as opposed to working on site.

I just sort of pick and choose what I'm gonna take on and know I can only do so much.

Try to bring some help on if the job is big enough.

But for the most part, it's just me out there, little by little, connecting the dots and piecing things together.

(mellow swing music) I feel really fortunate to work with so many small businesses and to be my own boss.

Some struggles that go along with that, it can be kinda lonely.

There's not many sign painters in town, here.

Fortunately, there's a great sign-painting community across the country; across the world, and social media, the Internet, has really made it easy for us to keep up with what one another are doing, to stay in touch.

When I started painting signs, I never imagined that I'd be able to support myself full-time doing it.

I didn't realize that there would be such a great demand for quality, hand-painted signs.

But I feel grateful to be able to work every day, doing something that I love, and to provide for my family doing that.

- [Host] See more at susignsstpete.com.