The Life And Death Of Method Man

Are you familiar with the name on the title? We bet you are. Method Man is a popular rapper and among famous celebrities that have ambigrams tattoo on a part of their body. In his case, he’s got his tattoo on his left arms. The word on the design is, as you can guess, “death”. But this changes into “life” as soon as you take a different angle. Quite interesting, eh? That’s just an example of what ambigrams tattoo designs can do to you. 

Mind you, lots of his fans have already copied his tattoo on their arms. They made that tattoo not only because they’re a fan of Method Man but also they’re interested with the way how can he expresses a deep philosophy with only one word that is designed in such a way to allow it reads as another word with completely different meaning when perceived from different orientation. Besides, the aesthetical value of his tattoo is also unquestionable. 

“Life” and “death” are two words whose meanings are opposite to each other. However, they can’t be separated. Those who are alive now will be dead someday and those who are dead will be re-awaken too someday. Method Man managed to tell us such a thing with his cool ambigrams tattoo designs.

Types of Ambigrams Tattoo Designs

Recently, Ambigrams are trending and getting bigger exposure as there are more and more celebrities that decide to have a tattoo of such design on certain parts of their body. Method Man with his “Life” and “Death” tattoo, for example. Also, if you’re a bookish type of a person and enjoy reading so much, you must know the famous “Angel & Demon” novel by Dan Brown. Take a look at the cover of the book more carefully, you’ll find that it’s another example of complex ambigrams designed by gifted hands of an artist. Yes, ambigrams are not only subject to tattoo but also all types of aesthetical decoration.

Speaking of ambigrams, there are a couple kinds of them. The following are some types of ambigrams which are classified based on their orientation

1. Figure-ground

2. Mirror images

3. Rotation

4. Natural ambigrams

5. Spinograms

6. Chain

7. 3-dimensional

The latest three are the most uncommon ones since their makings require a great deal of time and strength due to the high level of difficulty and complexity. The most prevailing ambigram is the mirror images. Such images still can be read and understood when they are seen from the opposite angle. Usually, the word along with the meaning change when they’re reflected over a vertical or horizontal axis.

Duality in Ambigrams Tattoo Designs

Duality, a philosophy in which something can never be a single absolute conception, is always interesting to some particular people. As a matter of fact, some people choose to make some tattoos based on the philosophy. However, instead of making two different forms for the two contradictory words, most people prefer to have them both in one unique design that is flexible. Yes, it’s flexible because its spelling and meaning are depending on the viewers’ points of view. This is what we refer as ambigrams.

Compared to straightforward and plain writing, ambigrams are far more interesting since you can have two different words with two different meaning expressed in one single design. All you need is to view it from another orientation. Besides, it’s closer to the philosophy of duality where two things are against each other but they live in one form and inseparable. A loving angel and wicked demon can live and represent themselves in one human form.

There are many types of ambigrams based on the orientation but as far as we concern it is the artists’ skill, imagination and creativity that determines the end result of such designing technique. Ambigrams do not necessarily to be very elaborate in appearance nor does it have to contain two words with contrast meaning. Nevertheless, when people talk about ambigrams, they’re talking about some designs which are depicted and rendered to the core that it allows everyone to see two opposite words in one single form.

Ambigrams Tattoo Designs

The more mysterious a thing is, the more eyes that are drawn to it. The more illegible a design is, the more it appears attractive to the curious eyes. Those seem to apply too when it comes to ambigrams tattoo designs. If you haven’t heard about them before, they’re basically some sort of designs of words or phrases created by so highly talented hands that they can be read and understood no matter from where you read it. With ambigrams, a word is not only understandable when it is read from right to left but also when it is viewed from the opposite direction.

It’s not limited from those both points of view, though. A true artist can create ambigrams design that incorporate the use of optical illusion, rotation, spinograms, or other eyes-deceiving techniques. Usually, a word may have two meanings which are very contradictory when it comes to ambigrams. An artist can make word “death” into “life” only by mirroring the designs.

That is among view reasons why ambigrams tattoo designs are quite popular today. People know that there is more than one character with each of their unique personality living within them. They could be a generous loving man in one time but at another time, they could be vicious beast that can see nothing but their selves. And the best way to express such a thing is by having ambigrams tattoo designs