For the Barack Obama piece, my concept was inspired by the movie poster for the movie The Passion of the Christ.  The original movie poster depicts Jesus Christ with his head down covered with the crown of thorns as a light shines down upon him.  I wanted to create an image of Barack Obama that depicted pressure, strength, and uncertainty all within one image.  The image of Obama was created by layering several layers of hand-written type.  The bottom layer consists of two biblical passages from Jesus’ sermon on the mount.  These passages were selected as I feel they reflect a sense of empathy which Obama himself has embraced.  These words also reflect Obama’s Christian faith.  The other layers that make up Obama’s face are various quotes and words from various speeches he’s given.  The top layer of his hair combines a lot of words and phrases that I believe must always be on his mind during his campaign.  Lastly, a laurel wreath instead of a crown of thorns was placed on as the final layer made of quotes from Julius Caesar.  This was done reflect strength and leadership.  Although I feel the illustration reflects particular feelings about the candidate, I wanted to create something that could leave others to interpret it in a different way.  I feel there are many negative, positive, and neutral feelings the portrait can convey.