Calligram Project

Part of Your Words: Carley Heskett

Like a youthful mermaid, "life is the bubbles" for a college student living her childhood dream. For this project, I wanted to capture the beauty of Disney's beloved mermaid, Ariel, from the classic animated film "The Little Mermaid." Growing up, this was my favorite Disney movie. Every year I looked forward to my annual Disneyland visit because it meant I got to see my favorite aquatic friend! Ariel is a strong female character who teaches young girls to go after their dreams no matter how out of this world they may seem. Because she goes to explore that shore up above I had the courage to go after my dream of working at Disney!

I did not know where to start when I began thinking of ideas for creating my own Calligram. So naturally I began to doodle in my notebook. Disney characters are my favorite things to draw because there is a story, emotion, and a personal nostalgic memory towards each character. I created an entire page of Disney doodles ranging from characters like Tinker Bell, Stitch, Dory, and so on. Once the page was completely filled, I had no other choice but to choose my favorite: Ariel. It was then decided for my calligram I would create Ariel in Illustrator. There is no better representation of Ariel's hopes and dreams than her beautiful song "Part of Your World." Because it is, in my opinion, one of the best if not the best Disney song of all time, I decided to use it to fill in my drawing. I began with the Pen tool. Using the points and curves, I was able to create the movement in Ariel's luscious hair. In addition, I used different shades of red to show the shape and depth of its beauty. The pen tool is so useful, I was able to use it for creating the entire profile. Being able to manipulate the anchors and handles on every line allowed me to capture everything on my image I wanted to. I used the text on a line tool to fill the image with text. I chose the most Disney-like font I could find and by changing font size I was able to add more depth within the drawing. This was by far my favorite project thus far. I was able to really use my creative and Disney loving side. Can't wait to continue learning and exploring the Illustrator application!

Thank you for reading! See ya real soon!


P.S. Here is the original doodle of mine that inspired this Calligram!