Calligram Creator

Calligram Creator / Painting with Text

Calligrams are works of art that use written words or letters to form a picture or image. The word "calligram" comes from the Greek words "kallos," meaning beauty, and "gramma," meaning letter. Calligrams can be created using any written language, including letters, numbers, and symbols.

Calligrams were popularized in the early 20th century by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who used them to create abstract images and patterns with his poems. In calligrams, the words and letters are arranged in such a way as to create a visual image, often depicting objects, animals, or landscapes. The style and arrangement of the letters play a crucial role in the overall effect, and artists often use typography and graphic design techniques to enhance the visual impact of their calligrams.

This little calligram application is still in development, and so will be improving over time, but for now it provides a simplistic set of tools to get you creating!

Some Development Notes:

This effect originally came to me by the way of a book! generative gestalung, Licensed under the Apache License, it's been sitting on my GitHub account and website (which now redirects here) for a long while, so you can see the source there, as well as a few more editing options that I've since decided aren't needed on this site.