Within a day or so the submission deadline for the Holidays 2009 ACAC will close. Normally I would wait with publishing my entries until the challenge results are published. However, that is not scheduled until January 14th, which is a bit late for revealing these holiday themed designs. So without further ado here are my entries.
2009 Holiday Season, GIMP, December 2009
There were several reasons for the selection of this phrase. First of all I wasn't sure which festivity to pick for the ambigram, so I decided to keep things less specific by referring to the entire holiday season. Secondly the words 'holiday' and 'season' were of similar length making it easier to create an ambigram of one word to the other. When a little studying revealed the words cooperated pretty nicely, the decision to stick with this phrase was made.
Initially I tried making it a rotational ambigram, but this quickly turned out to be problematic around the li-s conversion. As a mirror ambigram however these letters were much more easily solved, so I changed strategies. After that decision also came the idea to add the '2009', which would have been impossible with a rotational ambigram.
For the decoration of the ambigram I mostly focused on the effects on the lettering. Achieving such lighting effects was something I'd never done before. I tried to give it a shiny, decorative look appropriate for the season. The simple background pattern was added to make sure the ambigram would not look not too bland. Finally the holly leaves were added as the finishing touch.
White Christmas, GIMP, December 2009
The design for this second Ambigram was for the most part rather straightforward. One bit was trickier though: the C-i conversion. I considered using a simpler solution with a lowercase c, but that method forced the i to bend in the wrong direction making it look odd. The alternative solution I found for this ambigram only works because the C borrows a large part of its curve from the preceding e. It may be unconventional, but I prefer it this way, as the capital emphasizes the start of the word Christmas. The subtle colour difference in the lettering was added for further distinction between the two words.
