Madea's Tree

This particular typographically illustration was something I was working on specifically for a friend of mine.  This friend had posted a video on social media of Tyler Perry as 'Madea' (Mabel Simmons), from the stage play 'Madea Goes to Jail'.  In the video 'Madea' imparts some of her homespun wisdom, as only she can, it was heartfelt, honest, and genuine.  It essentially really resonated with me, so I set out to design something based on it. 

Initially, I wanted to stay away from designing the piece in the shape of a tree, but given the nature of the quote...it wasn't possible (I have a problem with tree shapes...love 'em).  I attempted to letter the piece myself as a  block quote, and simply apply a cover shift to create the illusion of a tree, but it I wasn't feeling it.  I eventually found an image of a tree on the internet who's shape worked for me, and then typed the text with a generic font over the top, shifting it into place in Illustrator to mimic the tree's shape.  My next step was to re-letter the text in my own handwriting.  While rather labor intensive, it turned out nice.  Finally, I felt it needed something more to make it look more 'natural'.  I added the branches, and leaves in a few places (I didn't want to overshadow or distract from the lettering).

The image is completely digital, was designed in Illustrator, Photoshop, with all the lettering was done by hand in Painter.

If interested in purchasing a copy of the illustration, please contact me directly as it is not currently available on my Etsy store.

If you'd like to watch a video of the quote below, you can do so here.