Dec 2020
SKILLS
Type Design
TOOLS
Adobe Photoshop
Reimagining traditional Indian art through type
How can you encapusalute the essence of Warli art into type?
This is a font I created that is inspired by the traditional Warli art of India. Warli art is geometric and solely comprised of 3 basic shapes: circles, triangles, and squares. Inspired by this geometry and simplicity, I found common motifs in Warli paintings for each shape and created my own stylized, simplified version of each shape. I then only used these three motifs to create all the letters, just like they do in Warli art. The paintings were traditionally made with rudimentary materials and hand-painted on the side of walls, causing each element of the patterns to be slightly different. I emulated this variability between motifs by making all the letters slightly different from each other through the motifs used and the letter composition.
I researched about the origins of warli art, what artists use, and how it is made. I used some warli paintings by master artist Jivya Soma Mashe as my inspiration.
Warli art is compromised of three basic shapes: a circle, triangle, and square. Using motifs common in warli art as my reference, I made my own version of these three shapes. Instead of making a square, I made a stylized line instead because it is more practical in omposing letters. These shapes are the basis of my font.
I only used the three elements I made to compose each letter. The angles each letter is cut at is based of the angles of the triangle element I made as well. The letters vary in size and proportion to mimic the hand painting of warli art and its variation in elements.
