Freshman Illustration major Jake Morse received accolades for a thought-provoking take on what happened at Ford’s Theatre. It was an assignment he worked on over President’s Day.

“I did this piece for my Principles of Illustration class taught by Professor Anthony Freda. The assignment was to combine either a cartoon or video game character with a real life figure. I changed a few characters. (Cont. below)

“For the composition, I combined the characters Rick and Morty from the TV show (of the same name) with Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre. I referenced an early print depicting the assassination and inserted the cartoon characters in place of historical figures. I used Copic markers for most of the color with a little bit of watercolor for the background. The piece actually got a little attention when I posted it on Twitter. Justin Roiland, the co-creator of “Rick and Morty” (and the voices of both Rick and Morty), retweeted it so it got quite a few likes and retweets, which was pretty cool. I had a really fun time doing this piece.”

Says Professor Freda, “Jake’s piece is a clever and humorous solution. By introducing cartoon characters into this historic setting, he has created an effective parody of a vintage illustration.”

For fans of “Rick and Morty” here’s more: The lower left figure is a of character who gets shot in one of the episodes. The guy with the blue jacket, Jerry (upper left), is portrayed as a useless charter in the TV show, which he appears to be here as well.  Says Jake: “The assignment was to use irony. So I thought it would be funny, in a dark kind of way, to show a character (who in the TV show gets shot) as a witness to the Lincoln assassination.”

Follow Jake’s work on Twitter @MorseJ137