A Visual Diary of my monogram creation
Monogram Description
My monogram is made based on a good friend, Alicia Bernadette Hamzah. Alicia or ‘bebe’ is a 18 year old girl who has a very bold and loud personality. Bebe is someone that you will always catch doing something experimental. She is extremely creative and multitalented. Outside of art, Bebe enjoys music and gaming. She owns an electric guitar and a bass which she absolutely adores. She's someone you'd never catch doing nothing. She is quite an impressive person.
Bebe is a big fan of Tame Impala, a psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. He plays a big role in Bebe's taste ing general. I'd say she's your 'next door indie kid neighbor'. Most of her artwork in college is an homage for him. But I see that as good thing, you will always recognize when something is her creation. Quite the contrast, my taste is the opposite from hers. Which gave me a good challenge to test my skills and broaden my perspective.
After talking to Bebe, she requested a purple color scheme. I immediately thought of Tame Impala as the main idea for my monogram. More specifically his ‘Currents’ album. I chose a more psychedelic, indie, editorial style of typography. The idea seems to align well with whom bebe is as a person and so I proceeded with it. I notice in Bebe's typography, she often uses big bold serif fonts, so I chose to do that to suit her liking.
Initially it was quite a struggle to find a suitable composition to Bebe’s liking. I knew what I wanted to create however I did not have much references I can start with therefore brainstorming this idea from scratch was quite a struggle. I started off with combining her initials into one connected letter, then tried basic letter blocking/stacked on each other, then also tried adding graphic elements but nothing met our standards. Bebe thought it was okay but the reason why she was not satisfied with it is because of the thickness of the letters. She went on to mention that the composition too could be improved. I personally also agree with her, what I made was okay but not good enough. By this point I was frustrated at myself then decided to give it a rest and let inspiration come by itself.
The following week I tried looking for ‘indie monogram’ on pinterest then landed on a picture of an optical illusion wave image. That struck an idea in my head to make the letters warped and wavy. I started sketching a circle then warped her initials into the shape. This sketch takes the cake. We now have a base layout that we were both very satisfied with. I went on to trace it on photoshop and color filled it with purple. I overlayed the optical illusion wave and added a yellow wave highlight taken the color scheme inspiration from Tame Impala’s ‘Currents’ album. Then the digital monogram is finished.
As for the 3D version, I took the similar idea but made the initials warped in a miniature bass guitar. I thought I should fit in her love for her bass somewhere so I took the 3D version as a chance to do so. The base of 3D monogram is made out of poly foam, painted with acrylic paint and also used real guitar strings for the guitar. I’m quite satisfied with the results and also am happy to say that my client feels the same way. Our lecturer also mentioned how she is able to see both me and Bebe’s style in the monogram.
Initial Inspirations
I. These are the first sketches I sent to bebe
These are Bebe's inputs. As you can see it didn't start off quite well, she said the font is too slender which makes it look a bit childish. She requested I make something bigger and bolder alongside with sending me references to what she likes.
II. These are the second sketches I sent to Bebe
I then suggested to Bebe that I create something more Psychedelic, she told me to give it a shot. She then said the likes the one on the right but suggested I made the text spaced and chopped up. She mentioned it looked like currents, so I thought of making the letters literally like Tame Imapala's currents album.
Born was the third sketch of the monogram.
Bebe seemed to like this version better than the last but I personally was not satisfied just yet. I like the idea of making the texts warped however I felt like there was something missing. It needed a little bit of pop.
III. Third Sketch
After giving it a week to rest, I thought of searching up psychedelic monograms on pinterest and this popped up. This spiked the idea of making wavy words warped to a circular shape. So I proceeded to sketch it and send it to Bebe.
I created 3 different versions and she liked the one on the top right. We both like this version alot So I went ahead and trace it to refine it then load it into photoshop.
First I traced the monogram using pen tool
I wrapped the optical illusion wave on the tracing I changed the wave color to a dark purple to make it blend better.
Then lastly added a a wave which I made a gradient color with for the highlight
I then sent it to bebe and thankfully she likes it
and so this is the finished 2D Monogram
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