The Launch

Year

2024-2025

Artist

Ash Soriano

University

Arizona State University

Major

Media Arts & Sciences

Title

The Launch

Tags

Spacecraft

Overall Mission

Genre/Medium

Digital (Procreate)

Category

digital still

Current Location

Digital Only

Description

“The Launch” is a short poster comic as well as my fourth and final project for Psyche Inspired! After spending an academic year learning more about the Psyche mission, I was really inspired (if you will) by the story of how Psyche came to be, particularly the launch! I loved hearing the perspectives from the folks who were there to witness liftoff in person, and I wanted to pay homage to that experience. There has been so much talk about the potential of Psyche (both the spacecraft and the asteroid) but sometimes it is easy to forget about what humans were already able to accomplish in getting the spacecraft out there in the first place. What a feat of curiosity, intelligence, and, truly, imagination! I wanted to capture that in “The Launch” as much as I could, especially in depicting the beginning (building and preparation), middle (the launch itself), and the ongoing story (the spacecraft on its journey) of Psyche. I created this, much like my other pieces, digitally using Procreate. I opted for a dominant blue palette with some textured brushes to give it more of a “storybook” feel, almost like a nostalgic memory. I also tied in some textured brushes I used in my very first project to kind of bring it full circle as a nod to where I started at the beginning of this internship— much like this piece pays homage to the beginnings of the mission!

Artwork Link

https://psyche.ssl.berkeley.edu/gallery/the-launch/