Made In: Brooklyn-based artist hand-paints signs for NYC businesses

My name is Travis. I have a company called Travis Signs based out of Brooklyn. I live in Flatbush. I've been here since 2005. I came here on New Year's Eve and I just like didn't leave. I did every odd job imaginable in the city. This was like the ultimate thing that kind of worked for me and I feel lucky that I fell into this. See the thing is about sign painting is it's not like an industry where you aim to get to maybe now it is but back then it was something you fell into because you're desperate so what you're not seeing is i actually perforate around the edges this is called pouncing when i pull this away there's there's a black outline i use as a guide when i fell into it i didn't know what i was falling into but at that point i knew i had to be doing something for myself that's creative like or else i took mostly taught myself little by little you know i started like really small it just kind of got bigger and bigger like in new york you could almost walk three blocks in any direction you might find something i've done i've always needed like autonomy you know what i mean like i just i think you know when i started the business i was coming from maybe a hurt place but i grew as a person this allowed me to do that and now I think I'm a better communicator, better collaborator, better artist, and people call me for that, and that makes me feel really special.