Sketch 1: Downwards view from centre of train
Sketch 2: Frontal view of side of the train
Final Work: Frontal view from centre of train
Subject & Elements
My piece is on the prevalence of technology in society. In this digital age, many of us have our faces plastered on luminescent screens, hands caressing the familiar metallic coolness of our gadgets and ears in tuned to the artificial melody of our ringtones. Technology is everywhere, and it is essentially something inescapable.
I decided to draw my daily commute on the train whereby, I, like many others, am using my phone. This is to reflect that society as a whole has a dependence of phones in their daily lives. The importance of this gadget is given prominence by the fact that everyone is using their phones on the train to pass time. Additionally, utilising tone in my piece, I darkened everyone’s phones to create an emphasis on technology.
Technology is highly important for our basic necessities such as communication and transport. These two elements are reflected in the foreground and background respectively. In the foreground, my phone is shown with all its various application readily available with the simple click of my thumb. I showcased the essential applications such as phone and messages to express the phone as a tool of communication. Moreover, more applications such as music and camera reflect the phone as a multi-purpose tool to any user. Therefore the simple foreground is able to convey the message of the benefits of technology that I, as well as others in society, am enjoying. In the background, I depicted the scenery of a train. The train itself is a tool of transportation, with its own aspects that makes commuting easier. Using two-point perspective, I wanted to train to appear long, as if its never ending to show viewers of my artwork that technology is efficiently used on the train so more commuters can travel. On the train is also a screen that displays the current station. I added this as I felt it created a more realistic feel in my piece of a train.
Lastly, I created more dimension in my piece with toning. Other than giving life to the people in my piece by shading their clothing, face and shadows, toning was also done to the foreground and background. I made the foreground more detailed and darker than in the background. This is to give the illusion of something closer and further. A frontal and symmetrical view is also used to illustrate the symmetry of the train because technology itself is exact and precise.
Hence, I wanted my piece to resonate our own dependence of technology and carry the message the technology is a prominent part in our lives and that it here to stay.