Lincoln Editorial

“Punk Union” Lincoln Editorial

Craft:
For this project I used a photo of Abraham Lincoln that I had found using Google image search. I made sure to choose a picture that was made up of a lot of pixels so that it was easier to work with and manipulate. This photo aided me while I used Adobe Illustrator to create the different variations of Lincoln and the final product. A few of the features of Adobe Illustrator that helped the most in this creation were text, gradient, swatches, opacity, pen tool, and the pencil tool. These tools were the ones that I used to create all the Lincoln variations and the final “Punk Union” Lincoln.

Composition:
The composition of this project started with the photo of Lincoln that I chose. I chose this photo of Lincoln because it was larger and focused more on his face. This was not a photo of Lincoln standing or a full body shot of the president. I liked that the face was the focus of the picture, and there was not much else to distract the viewer. When this project started I knew that I did not want my Lincoln illustration to be realistic. I did not want a realistic illustration because when I heard Adobe Illustrator I thought of cartoons rather than photos or realistic works of art. Keeping align with the cartoon mood of this piece I chose to make President Abraham Lincoln into a punk rock musician. In order to do this I had to adjust of few key pieces from the iconic photo I was illustrating from. His suit was changed to just a sports coat. The collared shirt was switched for a mint green t-shirt. The most iconic element of Lincoln that I altered was his hair. The hair is definitely an eye-catching part of this illustration. The purple Mohawk I created stands out as the key stereotypical element of this picture that allows the observer to automatically think punk or rebel. Lincoln is framed between text to give him a border. The vintage concert poster background catches the eye but does not take emphasis away from the main part of the composition...Lincoln.

Concept:
Throughout this whole creative project there were different variations of Abraham Lincoln that I created. The variation that I chose for my final finished piece was the punk rock Lincoln. In order to emphasize the concept of a rebel/punk Lincoln I wanted to put Lincoln in the center of a vintage concert poster. Then as his 'emancipated and united tour' progresses he goes through the different civil war battles. His band name of "Punk Union" also gives emphasis to Lincoln's new style.