American Hero: John McCain

"American Hero" is the latest in my series depicting American heroes.  In my last three pieces I paid tribute to General George S. Patton who famously commanded the American 3rd Army during WWII.  In this piece I decided to pay tribute to Senator John McCain who is currently running for President of the United States. 

About McCain

McCain was the son and grandson of distinguished Navy Admirals.  His service to his country began when he attended college at the United States Naval Academy.  Upon graduation he began a 22-year career as a naval aviator.

In 1967, McCain's plane was shot down during a mission over Vietnam.  Miraculously, McCain survived; he was unconscious and both his arms and legs were broken.  Following the crash McCain was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese.  He was denied medical treatment and spent much of his time imprisoned in solitary confinement.  He was released nearly six years later. 

After serving in the Navy, McCain continued his service to his nation as a congressman, a senator and now a candidate for President of the United States.

For his devoted service to his country, McCain certainly deserves the title of "American Hero".

About the Artwork

"American Hero" was drawn using Adobe Illustrator in the Pixel Art style.  Each pixel block was painstakingly drawn, selected and colored in Illustrator; no filters or effects of any kind were used in the production of this piece of art.  This piece was my first attempt in this style.  I found it especially challenging because of the repetitive nature of the technique.  I designed this piece as an 18 x 24 inch document with each pixel block representing 10 square pixels.  If you do the math this means there were approximately 22,000 pixel blocks to draw, select and color.  In all, this piece took me about 27 hours to complete.