Old Dog New Tricks Illustration: When Old School Rules

There are many things I appreciate and enjoy about our profession’s technological advancement. For any designer who spent hours computing character counts and picas, waxing galleys, and cutting amberlith, Adobe Creative Suite—warts and all—is a welcomed change to the old way. However, there is much to be learned by drawing type, sketching ideas, and creating story boards. I think that most experienced designers appreciate the connection between the pencil and the brain.

A very welcomed facet of the new age is the ability to build community virtually. I have participated in a group for about 12 years that started as a discussion group and moved into Facebook and beyond. It allows me to leverage an international community of creatives working in all kinds of fields with all kinds of skills. I am always excited to find one who shares my passion for drawing and type.

Nikita Prokhorov is a talented designer I met by way of some mutual connections on Facebook. He lives in New York City and is originally from Moscow, Russia. “I am a minimalist at heart,” his website says. “Have a soft spot for letterforms, propaganda-era posters, and hand-lettered typography.”

He loves creating ambigrams and readily shares them on social media. He shares working illustrations and asks our group for feedback regularly. It is the process that most interests me. I asked him to share some of his thinking here on my blog and he agreed. So here goes.

I really enjoy watching you develop your letter-based images and you post new work all of the time. What inspires you?

I don’t think there’s a short way to answer that question but I will try to keep it somewhat brief! Firstly, it’s my own desire to improve my own work inspires me. I love finding new solutions not just for ambigrams, but developing/drawing new lettering styles, and simply put, playing with type on paper. Secondly, there is an incredible amount of talented people in the world whose work I see every day. I want to bring my own work to that level and beyond, and that inspires me and pushes me forward. Thirdly, it’s the desire to get my work out in the world to be seen by people: not necessarily for awards or recognition, but simply because I love sharing my passion with others.

Ambigrams are particularly clever and difficult. Do you start with a concept and look for a word or start with a word and work it until you get the desired effect?

Since I started to draw ambigrams almost a decade ago, I have developed a problem, a very serious problem. Quite a few words I see, even if I don’t intend to turn them into an ambigram, I already see them upside down, and start altering certain letterforms to make it work as an ambigram. At times, when I sit down to actually sketch the word out, the solution is already in my head. Other times, it is a challenging word, and it takes quite a bit more than just thinking about it. In most cases, it takes a lot of sketching and finessing, but one I create that last near-perfect sketch, the vectoring part on the computer is very easy and (usually) quick.

Do you have any particular designers that inspire your work?

That is one of the hardest questions to answer! There is so much to appreciate in the design field, that it’s impossible to select even 5 or 10 designers you love. But if I had to name one person, I cannot get enough of Doyald Young’s work. His work is amazing: clean, minimalist, conceptual, and stunning. His books are my design bibles. (here's a sample that I like—DM)

Script or Roman? Serif or Sans? What characteristics of letter forms most attract you?

I like simple minimalist typefaces, with a wide range of weights. Omnes has been one of my favorites for a long time. My new typographic crush is TheSerif.

When you draw your letters, what approach do you take to building the shape? Do you do it intuitively or do you use drawing tools?

Usually, I usually start doodling with a specific concept in mind, but without forcing myself into a specific style. I do simple line sketches and figure out how the letters will come together, if there are multiple solutions, and in general, just explore and play on paper. Sometimes, if there’s a call for a specific style, I start sketching in that specific typographic style, but that is rare. As far as drawing tools, on paper it is usually pencil, pen, sharpies, oil-based sharpies, and whatever else is within arm’s reach. Once I switch to the computer, I use only the basic tools in Adobe Illustrator: pencil/pen tools, direct selection tool, shape tool, and pathfinder.