D'ni monograms by yours truly

Snickuster · **Joined:** Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:29 pm **Posts:** 200

Love it! I think it was nice that you added the star as the background. Adds to the "galaxy" theme of the falling man and it's neat to see a different shape. Next thing you know, people will be asking you for squares and triangles!

Berric · **Posted:** Tue Mar 22, 2016 2:11 am

larryf58 wrote:

Monday boredom... While several computers were performing automated tasks, I threw this together just because. It's a take on the Falling Man theme.

It's my favorite ! Falling in the Milky Way!

Jimbo · **Posted:** Sun Apr 03, 2016 2:30 pm

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n32cyi81bv1l5qi/mystlogo.jpg

larryf58 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 03, 2016 2:45 pm

Not bad.

An actual monogram of "Jimbo" could look something like this:

larryf58 · **Posted:** Sun May 08, 2016 3:37 am

I'd been trying my hand at D'ni monograms for awhile for my own purposes before I started doing this series. It was when Kaaja Laroo posted a rather well known and done metallic version of Yeesha's monogram as her FaceBook image that I fell into doing them; I'd asked her why she didn't make one with her name instead. So her monogram was pretty much the first one I worked up for someone else. However, the one I made was more of a proof of concept than a serious try at it, and I've always been a little unhappy because it looked unfinished to me. So I've gone back to it and gave it another go-round.

This is the original image.

And this is the reworking of it.

Acorn1 · **Joined:** Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:46 pm **Posts:** 985

nice!

larryf58 · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 12:23 pm

This one is me playing around. It's loosely inspired by Gehn's crest, but only the idea of five pen nibs radiating out from a center point.

The text is biv garEsenomE kenEt piSo b'set

KathAveara · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 1:28 pm

Minor oversight on your part - you wrote sh for S

larryf58 · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 1:50 pm

It was right on the design. I just forgot to fix that when I pasted the text into the forum text. Corrected.

Snickuster · **Joined:** Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:29 pm **Posts:** 200

larryf58 wrote:

And this is the reworking of it.

I really love this, Larry! You make me jealous. One day I will have to try my hand at my own monogram, but I'm pretty sure It'll never be as good as yours. They're absolutely beautiful!

larryf58 · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2016 5:10 pm

By way of encouraging you to give it a try, here's a quickie with just your avatar name in a circle.

Snickuster · **Joined:** Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:29 pm **Posts:** 200

Ok so I ended up running with my own design, your's still encouraged me, but I'm not liking what I've created. I'm not very artistic. When it came to what should go in between each piece of film, that's where I got hung up, and I'm not sure what I think about the purple beads on the outside. If they add to it or take away from it. I'm liking the spacey effect in the center, and the purple really pops to show my name. So I do like that it stands out. And I like the film with my little symbols in them, and how they're engraved into the monogram, but I still feel like somethings missing. I saw one that I assume Cyan made where it looked like it was glowing. Honestly, if I knew how, I'd love to make it. And I'm using Photoshop, so I bet there's a way, I just gotta find it. It may be the same as how I engraved the symbols, to be honest.

The one I found:

Mine

(Updated)

It's getting there. Is it pleasing yet, no, but that's why I like other opinions. (Yours specifically because you know the general concept behind the monograms.) The pieces of film are more of a symbol of photography than videos. I don't watch many movies actually, but I take plenty of pictures.

larryf58 · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2016 6:35 pm

Some tips on overall design: We only have three examples of monograms in Uru. They are Yeesha's, the Tiwa monogram in Descent, and the repahts monogram above the city door in Descent. They show us an overall look for twining D'ni characters.

Yeesha's monogram is the only one with a rosette around it, and it incorporates symbols that are significant to her. In her case, it's a mountain line shape to represent the Cleft, birds to represent her nickname of "desert bird", books to represent her abilities with the Art, and spiraled hand-trees to represent her involvement with both D'ni and the Bahro.

That's why I include symbols or elements intended to show important personal traits of the person I make a monogram for; it follows the example set in Yeesha's. So far, this is just repeating things you already know.

Now, also using Yeesha's monogram as an example, all of the symbology should radiate outward from the monogram, which means that the bottom of each should be facing the center of the circle. You can see that clearly in the copy of Yeesha's monogram you show in your post. Your rosette looks like... about four layers? Getting a glow is mostly a matter of choosing the right shade or tint of color, although you can help promote a glow with some creative radial fades. In this case, I'd have the background and the layers for the circles, ribbons, and filmstrips grouped, and then put a clear glass effect over all of them to get the three dimensional look.

For the monogram itself, your glass effect is too small. It should cover the entire black area. Personally, I would have found a more colorful star field, but that's a matter of taste. Regardless, the lettering looks awful. It looks scratched on, instead of being the centerpiece of the design. In my example, I made the letters into a circle shape because that allowed me to make them much larger and more distinct than can be done with them in a line, so they pop out.

What you did right? The symbols and containers are good looking, relevant, and interesting. the inset emboss is great, and the ribbon effect tying them together is a very nice touch that unifies the whole. The lights aren't bad either, and I get the impression with the film frame containers that they are meant to say "I like going to the movies". All in all, a rather nice rosette. it's just a little flat in overall tone because of the way you colored the background and the somewhat lackluster glass effect.

How's this? If you send me the individual layers, I'll try assembling them and see what I can do with it just as an experiment.

larryf58 · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2016 11:19 pm

Here's an example of a radial blue fade with a glass effect overlay. The light center darkening gradually toward the edge is what gives it the appearance of glowing. I chose a more colorful star field as the backdrop for the center, and beveled the violet lettering. Just a few simple steps, and your design begins to take on a touch of glitz. Add your other layers to it, and who knows? It might just be a little closer to what you had in your mind.

Also, there's a drop shadow under the rosette disk. That adds a touch of dimension to the overall shape which is visually interesting even if you don't actively notice it.

Alternately, you can make the rosette more interesting by extending the star field theme onto it. However, that poses problems of its own. It may make the background too busy, and it might detract from the movie theater theme you worked out. If I were to further develop this version, I'd also have to change the central disk to blue tones rather than purples because it doesn't contrast well with the blue nebula in the rosette.

larryf58 · **Posted:** Sat May 14, 2016 7:22 pm

Take a steel disk, engrave a design into it, allow it to rust, and then sand off the raised surfaces. That was the idea behind this one, which could have four personal glyphs in the lobes. However, that detracts from the simplicity of it, so I probably won't. The letters are just my initials; I was playing with the concept, and didn't have anyone in mind when making it.

D'ni monograms by yours truly

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