Turning Words into Art - Filled in Shapes

Words: Bye Bye Miss. American Pie drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry and good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye singin' this will be the day that I die. 

One of the first projects I did in my third-grade art class was to put words into shapes, It is a very simple technique that requires not very advanced equipment. In this blog post, I hope to show you how to use this technique on your own and what you can use it for. 

Step 1: Picking the words

This should be the easiest part of the process. This is where you get to select your favorite book quote or lyrics. It is really up to you. 

Here are some sites you can check out if you are out of ideas:

Brainy Quote

Quotes by Topic

Step 2: Picking a good shape

let's say you choose this quote:

No great artist ever sees things as they are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.
- Oscar Wilde

Think about all the potential shapes or objects that come to mind. For the American pie picture that I have at the top, it didn't take me long to decide on a pie. Other quotes can be more tricky but get creative!

Some images that come to mind might be:

A paint brush

A paint palette

A canvas

Step 3: Drawing out the shape on paper.

For this step use a pencil and the sheet of paper that you won't put your final piece on. You are going to want to keep a few things in mind as you choose what you want the shape to look like. 

1. Make it simple and obvious to what it is. 

2. The length of your quote and where each word will eventually go. 

Here is an example:

Step 4: Inserting the words

Continue using a pencil and lightly work on filling the shape in with words. Go lightly because you might need to try a few times before it will fit properly. 

Here is an example:

Step 5: Redo it all on your final sheet of paper. 

Still remain to be cautious and use that pencil lightly. You might have to accommodate for the size difference between your practice image and your final one.

Step 6: Color it in

Again a few things that you might want to keep in mind. 

1. The color of your object

2. What would be easy to read

3. Make the letters pop from the background

Step 7: Admire You beautiful Art Work!

Drops Of Jupiter - Mixed Media Artwork

Turning Your Favorite Song Into Art

This is my very first multimedia piece! I was inspired to make this piece by the song Drops of Jupiter by Train. This is my favorite song of all time. It is fun to listen to and to play on guitar. The songs lyrics are fun and imaginative. It is one of those songs that proves that you don't need to be dirty to have a good song. The songs lyrics have always painted images in my head and I have always wanted to make a piece of art using the song lyrics. It took a few years before I knew what I wanted to do and until I was able to except that whatever I did won't be perfect. I'm going to show you how I used different lyrics in the song to contribute to each element and what I used to make each element.

The Girl On Saturn

Lyrics; Was it everything you wanted to find

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance five-hour phone
Conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had, and me

For this part I used  oil pastels to draw Saturn and colored pencils to draw the girl drinking the soy latte. i like to think that she is contemplating all the good things in life while she stares into space looking for herself.

Shooting Star

Lyrics: Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

The star was made out of sketchbook paper, oil pastels and chalk pastels.

The Sun

Lyrics: Tell me did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated

For the main part of the sun I used color pencils and light oil pastel. For the rays I used oil pastes. I purposely made two of the rays faded to fit the lyrics.

Venus 

Lyrics: Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back to the milky way

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind

Venus was made out of oil pastel. The background is painted onto a canvas with oil pastels.

Drops of Jupiter

Lyrics: Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey

Jupiter is again drawn with oil pastels. It took me a while to decided how I wanted Jupiter to look like but eventually I choose to have the drops of Jupiter rolling off.

What's your favorite song or a song you want to see as a piece of art? Let me know in the comments!