Calculated Obstacles: A Junior Narrative Illustration by Joseph Pressman (2013)

The message that I was trying to achieve through my illustration was that of a protagonist, represented by the gold plane, being obstructed by not only an antagonist who is represented by the flaming bird, but also himself. Which is shown through the words written on the bird's wings like 'self doubt' and 'resistance'. In my story, my character is in an airport and is attempting to board a plane but is delayed by a deliberate act from a desk clerk and therefore misses his flight. To construct this piece, I used Adobe Illustrator, which was useful given that it is vector based and not pixel based like Photoshop. I was able to get text in the bird by using the 'Text on a Path' tool. I used the gradient tool to create a smoother flame. I also used the pen tool to make an outline of the bird and the plane. In addition I used multiple layers so the illustration would be easier to manipulate.