Lettering with Ning
May 2nd, 2024

The Lyrics Lettering 00002-Sober As a Drunk by Kameron Marlowe

Lyrics Lettering

The Work
My lettering design for Sober As a Drunk by Kameron Marlowe

The Inspiration 

The inspiration for this lettering comes from Kameron Marlowe's song "Sober as a Drunk." I came across the song randomly a few years back, and was captivated by its expressive lyrics and analogies. The clever wordplay of "I'm as sober as drunk, I'm as high as rock bottom", capturing the essence of a person in denial so perfectly. The music is great too, flowing flawlessly and making it a fun song to sing. So, I decided to create lettering for these lyrics. 


"...I'm as sober as a drunk  
I'm as high as rock bottom  
Free as a man with his hands handcuffed to the bar  
Hopin' you walk in  
My mind is clear as a cloud  
I'm as happy as a teardrop  
Rollin' off my cheek into my drink  
Whenever I think about you and somebody new in love  
I'm as sober as a drunk..."

The Process

Initially, I considered incorporating three lines in the design but ultimately opted to focus on two, leaving the last line, "Free as a man with his hands handcuffed to the bar, hoping you walk in", to make its own design in the future. Because it didn't flow well visually with the other two lines.

After deciding which lines would be in the design, I visualized the phrase "rock bottom", imagining falling into a pit. By drawing a bottle flipped upside down, it represents the depths of rock bottom. Embracing simplicity, the design featured two bottles with negative space for one to enhance the visual of the falling into the abyss.


Since I decided to skip clean line work for this May Music Challenge. The process was straightforward: draw the bottles, flip one for the pit effect, add the lettering styles. Drafting, sketching, adding colors — and it's done. I like how it turned out, simple and effective.