In the Shadows: Hidden Typography
Michael Lopez ART051 Type Neil Ward
We posed in front of lights to create shadows in the form of letters. I decided to spell my last name because Lopez isn’t commonly found in the Midwest region.
I combined all the photos onto an InDesign document and then I printed it out. Once I printed it out, I used a Sharpie to ink the shadows. I wanted to stay true to the original shadow form, so I decided to keep the human characteristics of the inked shadow form rather than refining the form to create a clean typeface.
Once I had the shadows all inked with Sharpie, I used an xacto knife to cut the figures out. I can’t draw so I used the forms as stencils which I will used to trace to create the final work. Also, having the shadow letters cut out, it was easy to change the kerning on the paper.
We had to have variety with our final name forms. Other students were creating variety with they type, but like I said, I wanted to keep the originality of the shadow form. So instead of altering the typefaces, I created variety in the presentation. I had a lot of fun with the spray paint. There is also something beautiful and elegant about the gold that I find appealing. I would have to say the bottom three are my favorites.
We then had to chose a final form out our options and scan it into the computer. We had to label the parts of our letters that we created. This lesson was a way to learn the anatomy of letters. This comes in handy in a typography class because in order to create beautiful typographic designs, one must first understand the anatomy and structure of letters.