Create these beautiful word collages. They are simple to draw, and require no artistic talent! Amuse yourself in math class, get your message across in an advertisement, or add some flair to the next letter you send.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

The requirements for this project are simple. You will need two pens, a pencil (with a quality eraser), a ruler, and a piece of paper.

It is best if you can get your hands on some gel pens. Mine were red and blue. If you want to try some other colors, I would suggest using bright colors that are complements or close to complements. Depending on how many words you are going to include in your collage, you may end up needing more than 2 colors. The ruler's only use is as a straight edge, so you can use some other object if you can't find a ruler.

Let's get started...

Step 2: Compose Your Message

Obviously, you first need to decide what your going to write. There are some things to take into account. If you want a collage that looks like mine, you will need to have about the same number of letters on the top and bottom. Some letters are smaller than others, or can be squeezed together, so a few letters different doesn't really matter. Thesaurus's are useful for this. If your words refuse to shrink/grow, you will just need to change a few things with the collage.

Step 3: Making the Template

To keep your collage from deteriorating into sloppiness, you will need a template. It is important to draw your template lightly, because you don't want to see it in the final product. Use your pencil.

First, use your ruler to draw a rectangle that is about an inch thick. How long the rectangle is depends on how long your words are; mine is about 3 inches long, and I have 10 letters on the top and bottom. You can estimate, or use the formula 3*(number of letters on the top)/10= number of inches long. If you find your rectangle isn't long enough, you can add to it while your drawing.

After you draw the rectangle, you will need the two lines the letters will sit/ hit their heads on. These lines should be as congruent as you can draw them, and about a millimeter apart from each other. There needs to be enough space between these lines and the top/bottom of the rectangle that the letters can fit inside. Consult the diagram.

If you find that your message won't fit in this type of template, get creative. There are some possible ideas sketched out in the second photo.

Step 4: Draw the Letters

Its finally time to draw the letters. Capitals are best because they fill up the space more completely.The font I used is based on a font I saw in Sketchbook (a drawing app), and for some reason its called Party Let Plain. If your not sure how a letter should be drawn, you could look at this font for ideas.

The font I used involves having a line in the letter replaced with a thick line that tapers down towards the bottom. Next to this thick line is a thin line (as thin as you can make it). These letters have wide bases that occasionally end in a curl. This sounds complicated, but if you look at the pictures you will see what I mean.

When your writing your letters, the base of the letters needs to touch the line it is suppose to, and the same thing with the top. The more of the top and bottom lines you can cover with letters bases, the better. The only part of the letters that should go above the top line or below the bottom is the thin line.

If you look closely at the pictures, you will notice that some of the letters are imperfect, almost sloppy. This is OK. The letters don't need to be perfect for the collage to look good.

You might consider which word is the brighter warmer color, as this word will probably stand out more.