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D&D: Chaos
Project type
Ambigram,Monogram, Hand-drawnstatment, and Illustration
This project aims to capture something personally enjoyable to me and transform it into an ambigram, monogram, and hand-drawn statement. The game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) was selected for its fun and engaging qualities. The term ‘chaos’ was chosen based on the alignment of my D&D character, chaotic neutral.
Sketches
I came up with the idea of using D&D as the overall theme after brainstorming about fun activities. However, I realized that just using D&D as a theme was not specific because D&D has different classes of characters and places. D&D is a very complex game with many aspects, so I decided to focus on my character’s alignment in the game (chaotic neutral). Once I chose the prime focus of this theme, I wanted to incorporate the word chaos in the anagram. I wanted the words to appear wind-like because my first thought was about how dice move across a table during D&D. The movement is random, so the words had to look slightly indistinct. For the monogram, I had to think of a statement first. The monogram is supposed to be a shortened version of the hand-written statement. Since my statement is “sweet beautiful chaos”, I decided to make the monogram “CSB.” The order of the letters is different from the order of the words in the statement because I wanted to focus on the most important aspect of the statement, which is chaos. When I sketched the monogram, I wanted to use cursive to make the letters appear whimsical much like chaos.
Momogram Typography
The monogram uses two type families: Hero Beam and Aviano Royale. I chose Hero Beam first for the letters ‘s’ and ‘b’ because it has a cursive feel, but the style of the letter ‘c’ was difficult to read. I needed a font that was easy to read and helped the other two letters stand out. Aviano Royale appeared to be the perfect font for the letter ‘c’ because it is thin and bold. The two fonts created a stylish flair.
Illuratstion Typography
The illustration statement also uses two type families: Cattedrale and Chasing Miracles. Cattedrale has a dark, gothic appearance that works great for the chaos part of my D&D theme. Chasing Miracles is a soft, smooth font that aligns with the cursive font I used in the monogram. Using both fonts together ensures that the word ‘chaos’ stands out and is a perfect blend of harsh and mellow.
Color
I chose green and black because my first pair of dice were these colors. Additionally, green is the first color that I thought of when I pictured chaos. I also chose these colors based on the dice’s contrast and lighting.
Ambigram
I had to ensure that the ambigram was readable from every angle. The word chaos only has five letters, so I wanted to make an anagram that was twisted like chaos, but not too confusing for the viewer. I decided to make the words appear like a palindrome. I decided to make the ‘h’ and ‘o’ appear similar, and make the ‘c’ and ‘s’ similar but inverse. Then, I made the ‘a’ a twisted focal point.
Monogram
Thinking about my illustration statement “sweet beautiful chaos,” I chose the letters ‘s’, ‘b’, and ‘c’. I made the letter ‘c’ the biggest because chaos is the main theme. Then, I put the ‘s’ and ‘b’ in the middle. I changed the monogram design due to technical difficulties. I could not get the style I drew in my sketches to align with what I was creating in Adobe Illustrator. Thus, I decided to take a different approach. This current design is better because the font is legible and fancier than my original design.
Hand-drawn Statment
I chose the 20-sided die because of its shape. Its shape pairs well with the ribbon that I wanted to appear wrapped around the die. At first, I drew the die in black and white just to ensure that I had the overall style the way I wanted. Then, I created the colored version and added shading so that the die appears to be in motion.
Illustration
I wanted to create an illustration that brings my colored hand-drawn statement to life. I started with perfecting the basic shape of a die. Then, I stylized the ribbon so that it appears like an ancient scroll from Medieval Times, which aligns with the D&D theme. Next, I made the numbers and altered the position of the ribbon to match my hand-drawn statement. I then focused on the placement of the words and other details. Lastly, I added the colors and recreated the shading from the drawing.
Image Mock-up
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