Arrive Alive

Arrive Alive is a competition where students submit art that sends a message about drunk or distracted driving. For my project I made it from the point of view of a driver taking a picture of the sunset on his phone.

I first went through old winners of the competition to jog my brain and get some inspiration. I started with a sketch on mixed media paper. I then used different pastel water colors for the sunset and blended the layers out with a brush and water. I wanted the colors to just be a light wash so the words were visible on top and so that the main focus was the car and phone. I used acrylic for the gray, black, and skin color. I traced those parts with a black micron pen just to create a more cartoonish look. I then uploaded a picture onto a digital art app and used cloud-like font to create the words. I wanted it to stand out, but still tie into the sky.

I think the Arrive Alive competition is a really cool idea. Teenagers are always told don't drink and drive, don't text, don't be distracted, but I think making art about it can really help some people connect the idea. It's an important message and it was fun to come up with a slogan for the poster. I wanted to do mine about a sunset because although you might think it's just a quick photo and maybe it looks really pretty it isn't worth it for the consequences you might have.