Shadow Typography
Start
To begin this project, I formed letters with my body (with help from friends). The shadows of these were photographed. These pictures would go on to form the basis of my shadow type letterforms.
Next, I arranged my pictures in InDesign, using a guide to create an even cap line and baseline. Then, I printed this out on a tabloid sheet of paper. Then it was ready for tracing the letterforms!
Inspiration
Source: thejakegroup.com
Looking at anatomy charts I found online, I was really drawn to ones that made identification of each part easy to understand. For example, in the charts above and below, each piece is neatly highlighted. This shows exactly where the anatomical element begins and ends. In my anatomy chart, I wanted to make this equally as clear.
Source: http://blog.c2mcreatives.com/2012/11/typography-101-basics.html
Source: brynhobson.com In this anatomy chart, I really liked that the lines leading to the parts of the letterform are dotted. I think it makes it look a little neater and more delicate. I also liked the circles. I thought that this would work nicely for certain parts of the type anatomy such as the vertex and apex. I took several elements of identification from my inspiration (highlighting, circles, dotted lines) and put them into my piece later in the process. I think they worked fairly well in showing the different anatomical elements of the type.
Process
Using a light table, I traced several different copies of my name from the InDesign document that contained my photos. Then, I decided which one I liked best and inked it in. I decided on one that still showed parts of the anatomical form, but was a little more rounded than my first sketches which showed each curve.
On my first inked in copy, there was too much space between the L and the E. So, I did the chart again, also adding a hair more space between the P and the L. Below is my new copy, which I liked much better. I was then ready to scan the image into the computer.
From here, I took the image to Photoshop, cleaned up the noise in the whitespace, and filled in the different pieces that I wanted in color. After that, I placed the file in InDesign, and added the different labels, using lines and circles to highlight other elements of the type anatomy. I also decided to add a thick border to the top and bottom of my chart to fill in some of the white space and make the piece pop. After the critique, I changed a few of my labels to be more centered and accurate.
End
Reflection: I applied several principles to this piece. I was conscious of the kerning, and the effect it would have on the white space between letters. I wanted to keep some of the natural body forms, but I decided to make these forms softer so that you had to look closely to see the actual body forms. I really liked being able to form my own type, and it was interesting learning about the different arms of letters. I also enjoyed that sometimes the anatomy of the letter actually matched up with the human anatomy (such as the leg in the R is my leg, and the arm in the E is my arm). I didn’t really like using InDesign to make the chart, because I feel like it would have been easier to use Photoshop, but other than that, I really liked the project! If I had more time, I probably would have worked to identify some more of the anatomical elements of type, but I think I found most of them in my name.