the ambiverse

Here’s what happen when a comicbook fanboy is also an ambigram enthusiast.

The images above are the first in a series of (hopefully 52) ambigram designs paying homage to DC comics, its Multiverse and the character(s) depicted, presented like a comic book cover.

I have this lengthy rant about my fan-boy persona clumped up in my brain but I thought it’d be better to just focus here and give a small backgrounder on the concept…

I began sketching both ambigrams right after watching the Season 1 finale of The Flash. Still high with that awe-inspiring ending, I was able to come up with three nice ambigrams and a few more needing a lot of retouching. I was happy with the end result (especially with Arrow) that I immediately looked for a previously created (and unrelated) “atom” ambigram and reworked it to make the style of the type look superhero-ish. But I had other stuff to do, so just as I had done with my other previous superhero ambigrams, I saved the vector files and placed everything on a folder for future use.

I don’t know how it happened but right after re-watching both the Legends of Tomorrow preview and the Batman V Superman trailer, weeks after, there was a “bang” somewhere in my mind and a universe was created.

The Ambiverse…

Duality. Multiplicity.
Two (or multiple) interpretations/perspective, one subject.

I was surprised that it took me this long to recognize the parallels that when it hit me I was grinning like The Joker with a fresh plan to ruin old Bat-ears’ nocturnal runs. I’m going to make a comic-book cross-over event parody! And it will turn the universe upside-down. (Hey, I should have used that as a subheading! Hmm…)

Coining the portmanteau came almost naturally. Reworking DC’s 2005-2012 logo into an ambigram was easy since it’s almost an ambigram in its original form.

I will be honest though, in saying that I may not have enough material and/or patience for that matter to push on with this… as I will have to do 52 “One-Shot” comic-book cover inspired designs on top of my other ambigram works. It seem so overwhelming. And the way I design/do ambigrams… this will take more than 52 months to finish! However, I like this concept very much that I’m taking on the challenge however long it takes.

As I began working on the illustrations, I realized that it has been ages since I flexed my figure drawing muscles and *insert self-deprecating laugh here* I am very, very rusty! The last time I did full figure drawings was probably back in college. When I did my layouts for pictorials for CD inlays all I did were roughs with very little detail. I am going to need a lot of practice… now, where did I leave my Burne Hogarth?

Finally, since I already mentioned my ATOM ambigram above, it’s going to be one of the two designs I’ll put up here next time.