Jay Zuck's Sketch of the Day

“I’ve seen a lot of patriots and they all died just like anybody else if it hurt bad enough and once they were dead their patriotism was only good for legends.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

As a school assignment, I was instructed to draw some historic hairstyles.  I thought to myself, where can I find some good images and cracked out my wallet.   Sadly, I had to go searching the internet for a Benjamin.

I tried to put a bit of spin on the character design and I tried to think of them as characters in one story.  I wanted Washington to be the father figure, Lincoln to be the hero, Benjamin Franklin to be the mentor, and Jackson to be the villain.

To convey the idea solidness and stability I drew Lincoln and Washington rather square shaped.  I pushed that effect a little harder on Washington to make him appear a little more solid, older, and even a bit weird to distinguish him from the hero Lincoln.

Generally, heroes are the most proportioned characters and I tried to stay true to that for the most part here.  However, I always thought Lincoln looked kind of odd and on the 5 dollar bill he has giant ears.  I imagine the turmoil of the Civil War made him an excellent listener.

I drew Benjamin Franklin as round and peaceful and I wanted to make Andrew Jackson the bad guy so I made him more triangular and pointy.  I was thinking a bit of a Captain Hook-like character mixed with a little dignity as I constructed Jackson.

It was fun to open my wallet and scratch out these legendary, but very dead presidents and patriots.  Perhaps you will discover my new reddit button today and make me legend too in my own time.