“I love poetry and I love art but together they’re like ice cream in root beer: two amazing elements that create an explosion of senses when combined . . . I loved how a beautiful sketch took on a whole new meaning when you looked closer and saw that the picture was made up of words.”
Hanna in “The Day Hanna Hosanna Helped Cootie Judy”
If you’re a subscriber to my newsletter, you already know I’m excited about having—for the first time ever—a short story available at major ebook retailers: The Day Hanna Hosanna Helped Cootie Judy. And if you’ve had the chance to read this work of YA Christian fiction, you know that Hanna has an unusual interest:
Word art.
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In This Article
Word art? What on earth is that?
I can’t remember the first time I came across this insanely intricate type of artwork, but I can say without question that the inspiration for Hanna’s talent comes from Pennsylvania artist Dan Duffy, owner and creator of Art of Words. Take a look at this sampling of his works:
From a distance, they may look like regular drawings, but zoom in and you’ll find that each is made entirely of words.
Entirely.
Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Inspiration For “The Day Hanna Hosanna Helped Cootie Judy”
Though his name isn’t mentioned directly, one of Dan’s works even made it into the story—a piece created from a poem by one of my all-time favorite authors: The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe.
As you can imagine, these kinds of drawings take lots of time—anywhere from 50 to 200 hours! My one attempt at a word art lightning bolt took half an hour. (Jude in Hanna’s story was obviously more skilled than I am.)
That’s what’s so fun about writing fiction: creating characters with talents I can only dream of possessing.
But that’s what’s so fun about writing fiction: creating characters with talents I can only dream of possessing. And learning more about the people who actually possess them. If you want to know more about this really cool form of art, check out Art of Words, where prints of each of these and more can be purchased.
(FYI, in the making of this post, I had a very pleasant experience communicating with Dan’s wife, Jess.)
And follow this link to snag a copy of The Day Hanna Hosanna Helped Cootie Judy. Same story as before, with a brand new twist!