This project grew out of a joke I made to a friend during a conversation in which I was complaining about the difficulties of creative work and freelancing. Something along the lines of "I should get 'You Chose This' tattooed on the inside of my arm so that whenever I get frustrated I can look at it and remember that this is what I wanted." In short, that no one is making me pursue this career, I do it because I love it. The phrase stuck in my head after our conversation ended, and I decided to letter it out.

First explorations were made with a knock-off Crayola marker. I enjoy the line quality they give and they're a lot of fun to use. It doesn't hurt that they're super affordable, either!

Once I had a layout that I was happy with, I traced the lettering, scanned it into Photoshop, adjusted the spacing, printed it out, traced it again.. and repeat, and repeat until I was happy with it.

The last step was taking the final sketch into Illustrator. I wanted the overall composition to fit together into a somewhat compact shape (still thinking hypothetically in terms of a tattoo, or maybe stickers) so at this stage I also added a shadow shape, which helps to hold the piece solidly together.

Until I gather the courage to have it permanently inked on my arm (let's be real, that may never happen) I can have it hanging over my desk.

Thanks for viewing my project, I hope you enjoyed it!