Ampersand
In a recent creative experimental project, I’ve had some great fun playing around with the humble ampersand.
The everyday ampersand developed from a ligature in which the Latin letters e and t (Latin for “and”.) were combined to form the ‘&’.
I wanted to create an effect using overprinting colours, one directly onto of the other, similar to screenprinting. I wanted to combine various ampersands from different font families, placing them one on top of the other. Each ampersand had a different colour and set with a multiply blending mode so when one was placed onto the other they became semitransparent and where one colour overlapped the other, created a new colour.
So I did a multicoloured, a solid orange, various two colour options and a few outline versions as well. Below, you can see how they turned out. I also thought I’d create an animated version of each to show the development and buildup of the colours.
Printed versions are now available for sale on my Etsy shop.
Solid orange, simulated overprinted ampersand
The animated version of the orange overprinted ampersand
Multicoloured simulated overprinted ampersand
The animated version of the multicoloured overprinted ampersand
Two coloured, light blue and magenta, orange and purple, dark purple and magenta
The animated version of the Two coloured, light blue and magenta, orange and purple, dark purple and magenta
Multicoloured, orange and dark grey outlined ampersand
The animated version of the multicoloured, orange and dark grey outlined ampersand
Prints available to buy over on my Etsy store.
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