Robotic Editorials 1

This is one of my finished illustrations for the article ‘With Robots, You Can Live Forever’ by Clint Witchalls for the Sydney Morning Herald, which was seen in the Guardian. The article is about how Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes through computer and robotics we will someday achieve immortality. It might be a short article but I really found the subject matter very interesting. It discussed topics about bioengineering and nanobot technology.

The inspiration for my illustration came from one line used in the text which was ‘But the human body, particularly the heart, breaks down too easily. All these things can be improved through technology’. So I came up with the idea of having a mechanical heart inside the body, working like a normal human heart. I wanted the heart to look capable of powering a machine, like an engine for a car. I didn’t want the mechanical heart to look too much like a human heart because I wanted it to look futuristic. I thought that would be pretty pointless because most artificial hearts today don’t look anything like human hearts. I wanted it to be something new and different from what most people think artificial hearts look like.

I am pleased with the outcome for this illustration because the looks as though it is inside the human body doing its job. My favorite part of this image is the colours I used because they are not overpowering. I think the illustration sits well next to the text. The only problem I have with this illustration is that some people may not see the mechanical heart as a heart.