Plastic Drawing Contest: My Plastic Themed Entry

It’s been a while since I entered an art contest. I blamed real life obligations that kept me from steeming recently. Now that midterms are done, I decided to take a shot for this contest. The contest is meant to raise awareness about how dangerous plastic is to the environment especially when left be in our oceans.

Wish me Luck!

Summary of the Post:

Tools
Creation Process
Bonus Works
Final Thoughts

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Tools:

Black Dong A Gel Pen
White Bond Paper
Scratch Papers
Photoshop
Pencil and Erasers

Creation Time: 3 Hours

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Creation Process:
Step 1: Conceptualizing the piece.

I browsed some google images and tried to break down the symbols to their most simplified form while retaining my art style. I used to be a cartoonist for my school so creating caricatures just became natural. Ignore the words “ampicillin and warning”. I placed my drafts on a scratch paper. The same paper I used when taking down quick notes.

Step 2: Creating Another Draft Based on the Initial Concepts

You can tell some resemblance from the positing and characters in the piece. Ignore the coffee stains on the piece of bond paper. Part of being a night owl.

Step 3: Flipping the Image

While it may be difficult to see the effect I’m trying to create right now, it would be explained on the final thoughts section of the post. By showing you the flipped image, I am trying to present a different perspective of what the possible outcome may be.

Step :4 Putting some initial inks

Step 5: Adding the Characters in Pencil

Step 6: Inking the Characters

Step 7: Placing the Dots for added effect. Everyone digs dots. Oh yeah.

Step 8: Just a close up view of the work.

The thick lines arranged in a curve creates a visual emphasis on how limited free space is for the characters. Their room to move in the free ocean is getting limited as the plastic threat approaches.

Step 9: Observing the overall effect

Step 10: Examining the effect in detail

I just wanted to see if the dots and lines added value to the piece. Thicker lines on the outside that will run thin as it goes near the center. The dots distribution becomes sparse as it approaches center.

Step 11: Flipping between two perspectives

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Bonus Works:

I edited the image using photoshop to enhance the darker lines. Some details are lost in the process but it's really up to the viewer's preference which image is better.

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Final Thoughts:

I approached the theme with a cartoon style because creating a serious atmosphere draws less attention to the truth. It is a serious problem and an inconvenient truth. However, people often become apathetic to the problem because they could not appreciate it unlike people who see the problem first hand.

Once you see a dead sea turtle, whale, or pelican washed ashore and find out plastic consumption caused their deaths, it really changes your perspective. Most people don’t appreciate the problem because the inconvenient truth is outside the realm of their awareness. Facts don’t change people immediately until they can fully experience and be engaged with the problem.

The problem is bigger than all the whales in the oceans combined. It affects everyone. I could no longer eat any seafood without thinking a microscopic plastic fiber is entering my body. The monster will only get bigger and our room to breath will only get narrower as this progresses.

You can keep flipping the image but the message remains the same. Plastic will remain a threat unless people started doing something about it.

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art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics