Calligram

I really enjoyed making the Calligram, as frustrating as it was for me at points. I mostly relied on the pen tool for this, using it to trace over a line drawing of the Boston skyline and then using the “type on path” tool to layer the text over the paths I’d created. Once I got used to the pen tool, it really wasn't too difficult for me to use (although it definitely helped that I didn't attempt many curves... those always seem to trip me up).

Most of my issues weren’t with the pen tool but rather with the type to path tool. I got pretty frustrated trying to make the text I wanted on each line flow well or even just fit on the line. I got to a point I was decently happy with eventually, but it took me I think four or five tries to get it there. I also did have some issues connecting the paths to make the text flow well across the outline, and ended up with six drafts of the Calligram (all with different outlines) before settling on this one. 

I was inspired to use the Boston skyline as the basis of my Calligram for a couple of reasons. For one, I was born in Boston, and although I’ve lived in Florida for five years now, I still call Boston my home when someone asks where I’m from. And secondly, it’s always been a major goal of mine to move back to Boston when I’m done with school. My original plan was to return to Boston for college, but it ended up working out that University of Tampa was the best option for me right now.  

I've never used Illustrator before, but I think I've gotten if not completely confident in it then semi confident. I can handle myself now, and have a decent grasp of most of the tools. 

Estimated Time: 5 or 6 hours over the course of a week. 

Letter To Myself:

Hello, 

I’m going to be honest – I hate writing these. I think they’re kind of embarrassing to look back on. I can’t really explain why, I just do. I don’t like to think about the future in any concrete sense and looking back on all the things I wanted to do just makes me feel uncomfortable or sad. Life has never really gone to plan for me, so I’ve stopped trying to plan it out. Like, why even bother getting my hopes and expectations up when I’m not going to be able to live up to them? So I’m not going to say how I want to be living or what I want to have accomplished, because a) if you’re me then you already know what I wanted when I was this age and b) it’ll just make me feel bad to look back on. 

Anyway. I guess if I had to say anything it’d be: I hope you’re happy. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, I hope you’re happy. I know our definitions of happiness will probably be different by the time I’m your age, so I’m not going to try and define them. But all I want right now is to be happy so I hope you are. I want to be able to say I enjoyed my life. I hope you’ve made a good life for yourself, wherever you are. I hope you’ve travelled and lived and loved and gotten to experience so many new things. I hope you’ve been to a few concerts and made some good friends and gotten a few more tattoos (and that you’ve worked up the courage to tell Mom about the ones I have now). I hope you’ve made your home somewhere with good WiFi, a good view, and good books. I hope you can look back on your college memories with more fondness than you look back on your high school memories with. I hope we’ve made a couple more friends, too, because I am way too much of an introvert for my own good and I need people to get me out of my shell. 

I hope you’ve grown. Physically, mentally, spiritually, personally. I hope you’ve found yourself somewhere you never expected to and if you haven’t, I hope you haven’t stopped looking. 

I’m not going to say that I hope you’re married or have a kid or anything like that, but. I hope you’re not alone. I hope you have someone. A dog, a cat, a person, whatever. Just someone. You do, in fact, need someone. You’re not an island. Human contact is pretty great. Oh, yeah—I hope you’re allowed within six feet of other people again. You should be, but at the same time, I don’t have high expectations at this point.  

Love you, 

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