PROJECT - CALLIGRAM

calligram

for this assignment, i created a calligram out of a letter to my future self. i used illustrator to trace an image of a rat, and the copy pasted the letter using the write on line tool and the envelope distort tool to merge writing with a shape. this assignment was a bit of a learning curve for me, because i've never used illustrator. since i didn't get the hang of it right away, and because i originally chose too complex of a photo, i kept having to restart. although, i think having to repeatedly do the actions helped me learn to use the program better. 

for my calligram, i used the shape of a rat. i choose this because i love rodents and my family currently has a pet hamster, plus me and my boyfriend want to get pet rats in the future. they're cute, smart, and kind of an unconventional choice, which is something that resonates with me. the original photo didn't have a tail, so i added one freehand because i feel like the tail is a defining feature of rats, plus it let me add more text and detail. i kept the colors feature-accurate to rats, which also helped break up some of the overlapping parts. i chose to fill in the eye and the stomach fur to add depth and because i found the envelope distort feature neat. in my letter to my future self, i wasn't very formal. i mostly just wrote things i hope for and what's going on in my life right now and in the near future. this let me use different themes for different features on my rat. for example, my introduction started at the top of the rat's head. 

reference image and letter to my future self

  

    dear future Dante, 2043 does not sound like a real year if i’m being honest. i’ll be almost 40, which feels so wrong. i just realized that by the end of 2023 i’ll be 20. so. that throws me off a little bit. i hope i’ve grown. i hope to be a little more stable than i am right now, and feel secure in what i have and earned. 
    i think in 20 years it will be me, gavyn, and our many cats laying around cuddling. i would also like to have some smaller pets, definitely a few rats, maybe a hamster, or some other pets, maybe a snake or a dog. i don’t think i’ll want kids, but we’ll see. 
i think i’d like to live in colorado maybe. i enjoy the mountains and hiking, and the scenery is beautiful. as long as it’s not maryland. or wisconsin. gavyn’s planning to go to northland in wisconsin come this fall, and i think he’s a little crazy for that because it is so cold. i’ll also take new jersey, i do actually like it there. i do want to get back into figure skating, and i feel like that would be something available in colorado. i’d really like a little mid-century modern cabin in colorado. 
    right now, i am a first semester freshman at university of tampa. i’m kind of struggling with making close friends, i know some cool people but we’re not super close yet. i hope that i have a few close friends by the time i get to your point. i’m not really the type to have a ton of people i know, and i don’t think that will change.
    i hope that i’ve gotten into the film industry. i want to write and direct, and hope i’ve gotten to work on stuff like sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. i hope to be doing whimsical, surrealist, dream-sequence-y work, but i am also interested in realism in the fantasy genre. a goal of mine right now is to work on the next The Batman movie.