words on letters...

Five letters, five fonts, five images.  The first thing that came to mind was...vowels.  Call it grade school brainwashing, rote memorization, grey matter stuck in a rut, whatever, but when someone says, "five letters", I say, "A, E, I, O, U."  Sometimes, you just have to go with simplicity.  So, not only did I choose to make my images of each vowel, I chose to do them in order.  

After looking at a few of different fonts, I just stabbed at one and ran with it.  "A" took me forever.  Hindsight tells me that, because I was communing with the simplicity of the universe (wink), my initial efforts at a grand plan with "A" were just not going to work, particularly after I placed the fattened, blue "A" -- rasterized and bulged  -- prominently within my frame.  From that moment on, nothing I added did that "A" justice.  Finally recognizing this, I SIMPLY ghosted and shadowed my perfect letter.

Next in the lineup, came "E".  Because my font for the previous image was so unadorned, I decided on a frilly, over-embellished font for "E".   As soon as I stretched the letter vertically, I got the impression of street lamps.  This image plays with the reaching effects of the tall, skinnies and the grounding effects of the short, squatties...not that I really know what I'm talking about here...just my own perceptions.  Again, simplicity reigned.

 "I" was the only image that I planned in advance.  I knew that I was going to construct a SIMPLE, somewhat fractal-like tree with falling leaves.  I knew that I was going to use red, green, brown and yellow for the fall season, and I knew that I wanted to evoke a gentle wind.  And, so it went.  

"O" was an idea that came after "O"verlapping a few "o"s.  I did not accomplish the probably "O"verused visual effect that I was going for.  With learning how to control the width of the overlapping letters and their concentricity, the effect could be achieved.

At last, the fifth of the vowels, "U" may be my favorite.  The contest is definitely between "A" and "U".  I like the balance of both images.  "A" has a strong presence and elegance in its extreme simplicity. ( If I learn how to draw anytime soon, I may use the "A" for a Captain Ashland superhero cartoon.)  "U" has more movement, freedom and is less weighty, the elegance in its script.

Playing with the text--stretching, moving, copying, rasterizing, warping, etc--has been a fun project and after five letters, five fonts and five images, I feel the software knowledge gaining.  I particularly like the option of being able to treat text as text or, with rasterizing, as a drawing.