Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Ricketts.
Hi Daniel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I have always been into art since I was a kid. When I was in 7th grade, I started painting graffiti around the city. My parents allowed me to practice on plywood boards in the basement where my band used to play. Looking back, I can’t believe they let me do that, because the spray paint stunk up the whole house for a couple days. After high school, I went to Springfield, Missouri to pursue a bachelor of arts degree in graphic design at Missouri State University. After 2 two and a half years I injured myself over Christmas break back in St. Louis doing HVAC work. I had emergency surgery on my hand after my finger was crushed under a furnace. I ended up dropping out of college at MSU due to missing school and not being able to use my dominant hand for about 6-12 months.
I ended up moving to Chicago after I recovered from the accident. While I was there, I went back to school to finish up my associate’s arts degree in general studies and lived there for about 5 years parking cars as a valet.
I moved back to St. Louis after meeting my fiancé, Leah through our mutual interest of the arts. I always did murals as a side hustle, but in 2015 I made it official when I started my LLC, St. Louis Sign & Mural. I was inspired by a lot of the old hand-painted ghost signs around St. Louis as well as local sign painters like Phil Jarvis and Lonnie Tettaton.
I began learning how to sign paint through my own trial and error while reading Lonnie’s how to books. After doing a handful of jobs around town I did my first job for Starbucks in 2015. That led to many more jobs with them around the country. In 2018, I started doing commercial sign and mural work for MOD Pizza and have painted over 45 stores for them since. Staying busy with MOD and Starbucks really helped with my bushwork. I have always found it important to keep learning and advancing at my craft, so I have taken several lettering and gold leaf workshops with a handful of renowned sign painters and gilders.
Just before the pandemic started in 2020, I hosted a sign painting workshop in my studio for Better Letters Co. Taught by sign painting veteran, Mike Meyer. We had a good turnout and everyone had a great time. Since then, I have been staying busy doing work mostly for local businesses around St. Louis as well as the occasional out-of-town gig.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Getting started was a struggle, but once I got a hand full of decent signs painted around town my business really started growing from word of mouth. The pandemic affected me as it did everyone, my corporate jobs went from traveling up to 3 times a month to about 3 times a year. It has been difficult from time to time for me to keep my morale up when things get slow. It’s not like I can just show up at 9 am and do what I’m told, I have to make the work happen, and if things are really slow, I have to get creative. The biggest challenge, however, is getting paid! Big corporations always take forever to get a check. As a one-man operation, I really have to stay on top of my invoices so they don’t get mixed up or forgotten. Office work is not a strong point of mine, but I make it work!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
St. Louis Sign & Mural does all things hand-painted from lettering to outdoor murals. I would say my specialty is painting and gilding on glass. I love how smooth the surface is and all the different techniques of reverse glass painting and gilding. I love how a gold leaf sign shines on glass in the sun, there’s nothing like it. Gilding is somewhat of a lost trade, there aren’t a lot of people still doing it.
What does success mean to you?
Success is all about a healthy balance. Doing what you love, while supporting your family, and having time outside of work for other hobbies or activities. The right balance of all those things is crucial for success.
Contact Info:
- Email: danielpricketts@gmail.com
- Website: www.stlsignandmural.com
- Instagram: @stl_sign_and_mural
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stlouissignandmural
Image Credits
Kyle Lewsader
