It took me a while to figure out how I would do each step of my process, including the rough draft. This one I sketched mostly in Photoshop but I remember doing a more refined sketch of Mount Rushmore on paper and then scanning it in before inking digitally.

It’s always fun to decide what animals would best represent famous historical figures! I chose a bald eagle for George Washington because it seemed fitting that our first President would match our nation’s national bird. (Though I guess he would be a turkey if Ben Franklin had his way!)

Thomas Jefferson was a dog, but I don’t remember exactly why; something about it just fit in my mind. Did Thomas Jefferson have a dog…? I dunno.

Theodore Roosevelt was a bear, because of the famous story of him hunting bears and subsequent popularization of the “Teddy Bear”! I wish I’d managed to capture his mustache. As you can see, I made an attempt in the rough sketch, but I gave him a shave in the final version.

Finally, Abraham Lincoln was a lion. A strong, war-time President who fought to keep the nation together and eventually issued the Emancipation Proclamation seemed to lend itself well to a lion.