Running away to the Academy

This picture is an extension of the image I made for the Pride Month Art Challenge, and in some ways follows a similar theme. Another influence for this image is that I recently read the Discovery tie-in novel The Way To The Stars, which features Tilly trying to find acceptance and finding her place at the academy.

With this in mind, I came up with an idea to create the bedroom of a teenager called Alex, who lives in a mining colony. His parents expect him to continue their work at the mining facility, but he wants to see the stars (as evidenced by the telescope, posters, starship models etc.) His parents don't approve of his plans to move away, however.

On the monitor is his acceptance letter to the Academy, and underneath it is a handwritten note to his parents explaining his decision. There is also an IDIC on the desk, which he leaves in the hope that his parents will come to understand that it takes all sorts, and that some day they will understand his decision.

In the background is the ship that will take him away from home to his new life.

Hopefully this narrative comes through in the picture, and in any case I hope you enjoy it.

 

I think you did an awesome job there.

 

Wow! This is a fantastic scene. I particularly like the dirty plates left lying around - the true sign that this is a teenager's room
There're some great little details: the photos, the contact list ("Stepmonster", in particular), the to-ing and fro-ing at the Trilobite (which is looking a little bigger than I thought).

 

*jaw dropping*

 

Thanks, I'm glad the little details are coming through (I was hoping someone would pick up on the stepmonster bit hehe)
The ship is 125m long, which is still small by Star Trek standards, but quite big when you stick people in front of it.

 

Great narrative! The only thing lacking is that this feels less of a mining colony, what with all the people walking around. This more looks like an established colony or Federation planet. However, that could be because of the warped expectations Trek has given us. Mining stations and colonies oftentimes look dark and dank and this looks so light and nice that it's a bit harder for me to immerse myself in the "f*ck this place I'm outta here!" feeling. Which makes it all the better though: utopia still doesn't mean everything goes the way everyone wants it...

 

^^Yeah, I have to agree that trek often used the good old underground doom and gloom, however, I do think that it would be hard to land a starship, even a relative small one like Trilobite, into a mine shaft
Also I assume you'd house people up top to prevent them to go bananas.. the planet looks quite barren, I can't spot trees and such and I assume that living inside a tin can metal village also isn't entirely nice even while being in the open.

 

Yeah that's pretty much how I was imagining the mining colony to be set up: all the people (and ore processing) would be in tower arcologies, culminating in landing platforms at the top. There would presumably be the actual mining infrastructure far below.

I had a vague idea that the habitable areas would be far above the ground to protect them from seasonal flash floods, but honestly that part of the idea wasn't all that thought out, as I was mostly concentrating on the character elements.
Usually I'm all about getting the scifi tech all thought out in my images, and the people are secondary, but for this one it's the other way around, which makes for a nice change.

 

The structures look almost like prefab/industrial and still Trek, functional without too much thrills and frills, guess that is also one of the reasons kids would like to leave, it is probably not the most exciting place to live in.

 

Awesome

 

Nice work.