This is the continuation in the series of designs based on the alphabet from our Creative team. Each post will include their designs and a peek into their process. Enjoy!
For this letter, I wanted to do something that wouldn’t have anything to do with the letter N. I usually find that some of my best ideas come from merging two completely different elements into one. This got me thinking about one of my favorite artists, M. C. Escher, and the impossible images he used to make. In addition to those magnificent pieces, he also brought attention to another amazing form of art called tessellations. This is where I found my inspiration for this piece.
For the first phase, I had to figure out how to actually make this turn into the shape of an N. After a few trial and error attempts (even cutting actual paper), I finally narrowed it down. You can see the steps I took to make the letter in the image.
Tessellations are meant to be seamless, so piecing the letter together was easy enough. I figured out that I could add dimension by adding some color blocks inside the shape I just created. Now it was time to REALLY get creative and merge the second idea into the one I started.
Since this letter had a natural jagged edge to it, it reminded me of mountain formations. I thought it would be cool to integrate something that had to do with map direction (N being North). With that in mind, I was inspired by topographical maps and how they look from their overhead views. I also chuckled at how similar topographical and typographical sounded. This is where everything pulled together for the final piece… or so I thought.
I looked at how fast I had actually finished everything and thought, “Maybe I didn’t push myself hard enough. What else can I make out of this?” A monster was formed. Or a Nom-ster? (Because it’s needed to start with N right?) Hah! This one took much longer once I started adding various textures. In the end, I was VERY pleased with how the image came together once all the pieces were merged.
