Making an Ambigram
 
So you want to make an ambigram yourself. Well here is the process I use to create my ambigrams. These are the steps I used to create a simple JOE ambigram
First you have to sketch a little. Write out the word you want to make an ambigram of, and see if you can notice any symmetry. In this case you can see if you add a little notch to the middle of a J, it looks like a backward E.
Once you have some idea of how to create the ambigram, now you can start to sketch it out. I start with pencil, and like to do it on graph paper to help with the sizing. Also notice that I only draw half of the ambigram. It is a symmetrical image, so if you draw half of it, you can just repeat that half for the other side.
Once you have the design created, now it is time to clean it up. I like to trace my design on either tracing paper, or if you have it a transparency. After the design is traced, you can scan it into a computer. Clean the half up, then copy it and paste it. Rotate the pasted copy 180 degrees, move it into place and you have your ambigram. I use Photoshop or Fireworks, and if you want to make it a vector graphic, Illustrator CS2 has a great "tracing" feature where you can take your bitmap image and convert it to vector. After cleaning it in Photoshop, and applying some effects if wanted, you will have something like you see below.
   

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