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Pyrrhic Victory: A Junior Narrative Illustration by Tanshi Mohan (2018)

In my flash fiction story called Pyrrhic Victory, a boy named Henry agonizly awaits his college acceptance letter from Yale, the university where his father went as well. Staring out his window, Henry ponders over all the decisions that led him to this day, realizing that he sacrificed some of his values and hobbies to be who his father wanted him to be. By the end of the story, Yale is no longer his top priority.

To create a hybrid character, I brainstormed a list of animals and traits that they go with. For my character, I decided a sheep and a butterfly would most accurately represent him. I chose a sheep because he was a follower, and a butterfly because to me, butterflies symbolize change and growth. I chose to add glasses onto my character to represent his studious history. After deciding the form our character would take, we did a short character study to help our characters look more human. We took pictures of animals or people in different positions and profiles. Using Adobe Illustrator, we created our animal hybrids and backgrounds. In the end, I chose my sheep-butterfly hybrid to look out the window while sitting on the desk. One of the requirements for our comic’s background is that it has to have linear perspective. I think this is important because linear perspective creates depth and makes the picture overall look more interesting. The background is of Henry’s room. It is completed with a window and desk. If I had more time for this project, I would have added shadows and more detail to the lighting in the room, as well as college paraphernalia along his walls.
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