Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Noor - A gift for the future


There she is: Noor van Amstel! Doesn't she look great? And the baby too! ;)


These are two pictures of the little gift I gave to the family that offered me to make their Baby-card (which can be found two posts earlier)! It's a modified version of the 'Noor'-ambigram I designed and printed it on a little t-shirt :) I hope she'll like it in the future, it's much too big for her now (even though the shirt is pretty small)! :D

Monday, January 21, 2008

A tribute to Talent - Marié Digby


I made this drawing and tried to capture 24-year-young Marié as well as I could, but that was so hard...! And if you happen to like this picture, the real Marié looks even more beautiful! :)

But her looks are not her most important feature! She is an amazing singer and I found out about her on Youtube, the "treasury of talent" as I heard someone call it. Listen to this video and then you'll probably understand why I have fallen under her "Spell".



More information about Marié Digby can be found on her Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/mariedigby

I also strongly recommend the following link to her Youtube-videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MarieDigby

Marié's background can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari%C3%A9_Digby

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Here you will find three ambigrams for her and her two younger sisters Naomi and Erina. Each name turns into the same name when turned upside-down:


And below a take at her full name, "Marié Digby". The font I used for the ambigrams of her name (and her sisters') is intentionally very much like the way her name appears on her album, with hearts as dots above the i's.


Another ambigram for the three Digby-sisters, this time inverting the name "Marié" into "Naomi", with the ambigram of "Erina", the youngest, in between her older sisters :)


Two different versions of the "Marié-ambigram" you can find below the portrait on top of this post. Which one do you like best? Again, these versions are much more fluid and curly than the one below the picture :)


And finally I tried re-creating a part of the youth of Marié in the next ambigram: 'Marié turning into a 'singer'! I copied the image and turned it, so you can see how it works (sorry for the ugly mistake on the right c.q. left!)


The same image, but turned upside-down:


All the images above are still hand-drawn and I will start working them into more presentable, vector-shaded images in the future. I just thought you ought to know already what an amazing job she is doing! :) Marié, if you ever read this: the best of luck to you and I hope to see you live one day!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Noor - Welcome to the world!


Ambigram created for the birth-card of Noor van Amstel, the healthy new addition to the family of Amel and Maarten, whom I wish the best of luck and happiness! I am still honored they asked me to create the card for them! The image above was the front, the back can be found below.


What is says here is Dutch for "The image on this card -> is an ambigram -> An ambigram can be read normally -> but also upside-down." I placed the letters in such a way that one has to turn the card around in order to read the explanation and it also has a nice border-effect to it. What do you think about it? :)

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Jeffrey Lemm



Two hand-drawn ambigrams created as a soon-to-be-framed birthday gift for one of my best friends, Jeffrey Lemm.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Christmas Presents!






I created these four (hand-drawn) ambigrams for friends in France we are going to visit in a week :) The names are "Agnès", "Patrick" and their two girls "Lucie" and "Jeanne". I hope they'll like them! :) This is what they looked like after framing:


And the four frames separately:





What do you think? :)

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Frank Nguyen




Three drawings created for fellow ambigram enthusiast Frank Nguyen, who very kindly requested a custom design. I know, sometime my inspiration gets the better of me, because none of the three drawings was the one he actually ordered ;)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Wim

In dedication to my lovely grandfather who passed away last Sunday. He had the privilege of having a natural ambigram as a name, though he never realised it :) May he rest in peace.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Hybridity - NAC Entry September-October


This ambigram represents a hybrid version of the two letter fonts I often use and really like in my ambigrams! It was as close to the definition Nagfa gave us of the word 'hybridity' as I could get! What do you think of it? Is it worth a vote? :)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Blessing - Commission

An ambigram created for a girl called Blessing! What an extraordinary name, isn't it? I had to figure out a way to turn the 'LE' into 'IN' somehow. Normally I would turn the 'LE' into the letter 'N' easily, but that would leave me with 'SSI' in the middle... Having the two 'SS' in the center would be a much more obvious choice, but that needed a little more tweaking... What do you think?

AmbigrAbsence...!

Hey there, visitor! As you might have already noticed, I have not posted new ambigrams for quite some time! This is due to the fact that, as a student, I do have to focus on my schoolwork rather than on my hobby...! I also have multiple commissions running at the moment, so I am very, very busy!

You are still invited to leave comments, email me or even order an ambigram! Just bear in mind the fact that I am swamped at the moment and therefore likely to respond a little slower both email- and ambigram-wise...!

Thanks for visiting my site! I hope you'll stop by from time to time!

Martijn Slegers
Ambigramateur

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Drawing an ambigram


This is me, drawing an ambigram! Can you read what it says? :) Sorry for the bad video-quality! Please tell me what you think about it, any comments are appreciated!

It symbolises how I started... I learned myself how to create ambigrams... and will maybe end up teaching others :)

Oh, and in case you're wondering... that is my brother singing in the background, on the tunes of Forza Motorsport 2, a videogame ;)

My Ambigram-ambigram in action!


What an original title, eh? ;) This is my version of an ambigram-ambigram! What do you think of it, any comments (except spam,chainletters and hate-messages of course) are appreciated!

This video was created by Mimi Taylor, a very good youtube-friend of mine! Thank you for making it, so I can show my work in action!! :D

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Aan Sylvia uit Bavel

Dit bericht is bedoeld voor Sylvia uit Bavel (meer weet ik helaas niet :S).
Als je wilt dat ik de schets van je "Sylvia-ambigram" verbeter en afmaak op de computer, dan kun je me dat laten weten via bovengenoemd emailadres :) Mocht je dit ooit nog lezen, uiteraard...

Groetjes van Martijn!

ps: mocht je haar toevallig kennen, zou je haar dan de boodschap door willen geven? Merci!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Adam Flockemann




These three ambigrams were created for Adam Flockemann, a fellow ambigram artist! What do you think? I always try to go for the most legible solution :)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

The Blue Man Group


A very good and original band! They use all kinds of PVC pipes to create awesome sounds and are always accompanied by another band, playing together :) You should really check them out!

What do you think of the ambigram?

Mp3 Player


An ambigram inspired by my ipod, such a lovely tool on a holiday! This is a tribute to all Mp3 Players out there! Make some noise!!! ;)

Looking at it from a distance now, I think making the M lower might make it look better, also adjusting the height of 'YER' to the letter 'A' :) Something I'll change soon, to see how it looks...

Violeta


Ambigram created for a French friend of mine :)

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Catherine Zeta-Jones - Michael Douglas


And for the grand finale... A clover of luck and love! This couple was the first that came to my mind, as I know both of them have been born on the 25th of September, just like me. They also share an age difference of 25 years... hmm! This being my favorite number, I just had to pick them!

And what a challenge it was! The inspiration I got resulted in this piece, containing 4 symbiotograms (words that turn into a different word when turned 180 degrees).

What do you think?

Is it (cl)over the top? ;)

(don't forget to click the image enlarge it!)

Alberto y Nora


Another ambigram created for the Guest Challenger, Alberto Portacio and his wife! In Spanish this time, for they live in Columbia! I hope he'll like it!

Nora Yamile


Ambigram created for Alberto Portacio Apicella and his wife, Nora Yamile! Alberto is the Guest Challenger, so I made this for him for picking such a nice theme!

"Maxima - Willem-Alexander" and "Prins Willem-Alexander en Prinses Maxima"


These were two sketches I entered in the NAC of June :) I will re-create them on the pc in the future, but there just wasn't time and their length played quite a role there ;)

The hardest thing was to find a way to get the X's to fit, but I think I managed :)

Note: the lower (35-letter!-)ambigram says "Prins Willem-Alexander en Prinses Maxima" which is Dutch for "Prince W-A and Princess Maxima" (that wasn't hard, was it?). I think they are one of the most famous couples in the Netherlands! :)

I know there are many imperfections, but it's not easy writing such a long ambigram without mistakes and differences in size, etc. I think the 'm' in Willem needs work, and I might change the 'nP - x'-combination somewhat, I think the P is suffering a bit now...

And... you can see I miscalculated the length of the ambigram, forcing me to finish it on a second piece of paper in the end ;)

What do you think?

I have another ambigram in the waiting that is 36 letters long :) Stay tuned!

(don't forget to click "all sizes" to enlarge it!)

Will Smith - Jada Pinkett


Another famous couple! And another flawfull sketch, I'm afraid! The pc-version is in the making, but that will take some more time :)

I chose this pair because I like them both very much as actors, and Will Smith his birthday is on the 25th of September, just like mine!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Amèl Maarten


Ambigram created for Amèl and her boyfriend Maarten :) I hope they'll like it! It's hand-drawn and therefore not perfect, but I actually prefer working like this over working with the pc :)

Calderón


Created for Adrián Moro Calderón for his birthday! Happy birthday again, Adrián!

I always try to find the best place for letters like O's, A's and E's :)

Adrián


Created for Adrián Moro Calderón for his birthday! (I will add the accent on Adrián later :P It slipped my mind after the first sketch). Happy birthday again, Adrián!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Shark Attack


My entry for the NAC competition of May 2007! It's not finished yet, but as I didn't have time to make a vector-shaded image of it, I just submitted and posted this slightly modigied sketch I made :) What do you think?

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Ernst en Laura


Ambigram commissioned by one of my best friends, for him and his girlfriend :) I know some letters might be somewhat hard to read, but it's the best I could do (and the style originally was Gothic Blackletter, changed into a more fluid one).

What do you think?

UPDATE: I added two of the earlier sketches, to show you what it looked like before I changed it into another style.


Sunday, April 22, 2007

Thank You


My entry to the Nagfa Challenge of April :) Thank you, Naguib and Fadilah, for organising the Monthly Challenge!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Trudy en Marcel


Ambigram created for the parents of a very good friend of mine :) It's not one of my best, but maybe I'll improve it when I have the time...

Monday, April 16, 2007

Ashley Gemma


Ambigram commissioned by Ashley Nicholls for him and his future wife, Gemma. I had created a more fluid version first, but my client asked me to give the ambigram a more calligraphic look and this is the result! :) He didn't want to create a computer version of it, so that's why it looks like this :D

Friday, April 13, 2007

Pasen (Easter in Dutch)


I created this ambigram a few days ago for Easter! I think this is the first ambigram ever to appear on an egg (correct me if I'm wrong) and it doesn't look that bad, does it? :) I might have some more egg-ambigram pictures coming of the names "Daan", "Esther" and "Nadie", but that depends on the state of the eggs after having been taken home by their happy owners :D What a great day for Holidairy! :P

April


Created for Martin and Florine for their wedding, which will take place the 27th of April 2007, as the ambigram says :)

I quite like the way the number-ambigrams worked out :) What do you think?

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Martin en Florien


Created for Martin and Florien for their wedding! I wish them all the best!
The text reads:
"Ware liefde is onomkeerbaar......wanneer deze van beide kanten komt."
which is the Dutch translation of the text I used for the wedding present for Naguib and Fadilah:
"True love is irreversible......when it comes from both sides."

Naguib

I always try to incorporate hearts into the designs I make for couples :) What do you think?

Fadilah

As I already had created an ambigram of "Naguib Fadilah", I wanted to make on of their names separately :) And this is the result! What do you think? It might be somewhat hard to read, but I wanted to make the F turn into a heart :)

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Amafirlian

Ambigram created for my fellow ambigram artist Amafirlian from Belgium! A link to his work can be found on the right of this page :) He has created some very lovely pieces of art!

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Top Ten

Created in anticipation of the upcoming NAC result! I hope it's clear enough! What do you think?

Patrice Hamel

Patrice Hamel, a very talented French artist who has created many great pieces of art (mainly and especially his reflections)! This is a tribute to him and his work!

"Slegers" by Homero Larrain


This ambigram of my last name has been created by Homero, one of my fellow ambigram artists! Very lovely, isn't it? One almost wouldn't think it is an ambigram, because of the palindromic-nature of the word (it would have been palindrome if it wasn't for the L and R...!).
As you can see below, his version is very much like mine, created a long time ago :D Thank you, Homero!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Leo Karène

Ambigram created for one of my teachers, Karène. She really supports me in my struggle for publicity and will try to help me sell ambigrams in Paris next year :) She commissioned this ambigram for her and her husband, Leo. What do you think?

Jennifer

Ambigram created for Jennifer Yoannou, a girl I met on the university :)

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Melanie

Ambigram commissioned by someone who saw me drawing in the train :D One of the two sides has a heart instead of a dot, which has a symbolic value: After placing the tattoo, my commissioner will see his girlfriend's name with the heart on top, but everone else will see it normally :) That makes his view special! What do you think?

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Ambigram

My solution for the word "ambigram"! What do you think?

Naguib Fadilah

Created for Naguib and Fadilah, the founders of the Nagfa Ambigram Challenge and two very talented ambigram artists! This ambigram is a gift for their upcoming wedding :)

Alexander en Annemarie

An ambigram made for my friend Annemarie and her boyfriend Alexander!