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.

   

letters...

Betty Box Reflections

Betty Box began her evening by first finding a frilly to wear over her freshly moisturized and opacity-reduced brown skin (tips on saturation).  She thought the particular little magenta/purple she decided on complimented her favorite green foundation make up.  From the frilly came, in her mind, the obvious addition of fish net stockings.  At last, she was able to turn her attention to her face, already coated with her  signature green foundation.  "Ooo, la la, mon cherie!  What do you think of this lip color?"  A silent question to the mirror which Betty Box answered aloud, with relish, "Oh, yes, oui, oui!  Paint those lips, and then attend to your eyes."  Finally, coiffing her lovely hair, Betty Box proclaimed herself ready for a night of...nothing, at least, nothing until she applied her beauty mark, for she knew all men love beauty marks.  (As her dresser, my challenge was to trust her judgement that all things would come together in the end.) 


One interesting thing about Ms. Betty Box, aside from the fact that she is rather boxy, is that she happens to be the sister to the famous Betty Boop.  Ms. Box, however, never quite got the hang of that "boop, boop, be doo" that helped make her sister such an entity, a female force to be reckoned with (I reckon).  Of course, there is also the fact that Ms. Boop is simply endowed with assets lacking in Ms. Box, a fact that Betty Box hotly denies, though she suspiciously comforts herself with lots of chocolate, indeed, has a raging love/hate relationship with the theobromide.  Some have even conjectured that it is her fear of increased boxyness, aka, chocolate poundage, that causes her to hate poor "theo".
 
Ah, but we were discussing Ms. Box's preparations for her grand night out.  The beauty mark perfectly applied, Ms. Box sashayed back and forth a few times, and then, grabbing her purse, off she went.  (And now comes, likely, the most interesting thing about B. Box -- she has occasional visions of a maniacal chocolate bunny, a bunny which chases her demanding to be eaten.  Funny as it is to hear, the visions always give her a frightful fright.)  Off she went, into the night, out on the town.  Some dinner, no dessert, some dancing, no date.  Still, all was well, when, out of the corner of her eye, Ms. Box spotted the dreaded "Lapin de Chocolat".  (I suspect her mind was working over the lack of dessert.)  As is typical of her bunny spottings, "Lapin de Choc" gave her a toothy, menacing grin and commenced to running her down.  The chase ensued.  Betty Box's heart aleaped, her feet abounded, but, as fate sometimes has it, she got herself all stuckered up between a couple of innocently bystanding trees.  (Her boxyness has always been a bit of a problem.)  Just as "Lapin" was fixing to jump into Betty Box's screaming orifice, SPLAT!  Fate, again, randomly  caused Ms. Box's grief.  From the heavens, or so it seemed to little Betty Box and her bunny, an orb of immense proportions dropped down on them, ending their little lives.  It is only this narrator (suppose that's what I am) that knows what occurred, that this was all a rather ludicrous exploration in fear, fate and randomness, and what befell our unfortunate Betty Box and her imaginary enemy was merely a large bouncy ball.


Narrator's note: In the above diatribe, I believe five of the reflective essay questions are answered.  Tools used on this project included the eye dropper, lasso, polygon lasso, paint bucket, opacity reduction, line, paint brush, rectangle/ellipse and...I can't remember the rest.  Cheerio!

scratch 2

betty box

Betty Box began her evening by first finding a frilly to wear over her freshly moisturized and opacity-reduced brown skin (tips on saturation).  She thought the particular little magenta/purple she decided on complimented her favorite green foundation make up.  From the frilly came, in her mind, the obvious addition of fish net stockings.  At last, she was able to turn her attention to her face, already coated with her  signature green foundation.  "Ooo, la la, mon cherie!  What do you think of this lip color?"  A silent question to the mirror which Betty Box answered aloud, with relish, "Oh, yes, oui, oui!  Paint those lips, and then attend to your eyes."  Finally, coiffing her lovely hair, Betty Box proclaimed herself ready for a night of...nothing, at least, nothing until she applied her beauty mark, for she knew all men love beauty marks.  (As her dresser, my challenge was to trust her judgement that all things would come together in the end.) 


One interesting thing about Ms. Betty Box, aside from the fact that she is rather boxy, is that she happens to be the sister to the famous Betty Boop.  Ms. Box, however, never quite got the hang of that "boop, boop, be doo" that helped make her sister such an entity, a female force to be reckoned with (I reckon).  Of course, there is also the fact that Ms. Boop is simply endowed with assets lacking in Ms. Box, a fact that Betty Box hotly denies, though she suspiciously comforts herself with lots of chocolate, indeed, has a raging love/hate relationship with the theobromide.  Some have even conjectured that it is her fear of increased boxyness, aka, chocolate poundage, that causes her to hate poor "theo".
 
Ah, but we were discussing Ms. Box's preparations for her grand night out.  The beauty mark perfectly applied, Ms. Box sashayed back and forth a few times, and then, grabbing her purse, off she went.  (And now comes, likely, the most interesting thing about B. Box -- she has occasional visions of a maniacal chocolate bunny, a bunny which chases her demanding to be eaten.  Funny as it is to hear, the visions always give her a frightful fright.)  Off she went, into the night, out on the town.  Some dinner, no dessert, some dancing, no date.  Still, all was well, when, out of the corner of her eye, Ms. Box spotted the dreaded "Lapin de Chocolat".  (I suspect her mind was working over the lack of dessert.)  As is typical of her bunny spottings, "Lapin de Choc" gave her a toothy, menacing grin and commenced to running her down.  The chase ensued.  Betty Box's heart aleaped, her feet abounded, but, as fate sometimes has it, she got herself all stuckered up between a couple of innocently bystanding trees.  (Her boxyness has always been a bit of a problem.)  Just as "Lapin" was fixing to jump into Betty Box's screaming orifice, SPLAT!  Fate, again, randomly  caused Ms. Box's grief.  From the heavens, or so it seemed to little Betty Box and her bunny, an orb of immense proportions dropped down on them, ending their little lives.  It is only this narrator (suppose that's what I am) that knows what occurred, that this was all a rather ludicrous exploration in fear, fate and randomness, and what befell our unfortunate Betty Box and her imaginary enemy was merely a large bouncy ball.


Narrator's note: In the above diatribe, I believe five of the reflective essay questions are answered.  Tools used on this project included the eye dropper, lasso, polygon lasso, paint bucket, opacity reduction, line, paint brush, rectangle/ellipse and...I can't remember the rest.  Cheerio!