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Psyche Inspired
Psyche’s Cosmic Groove
Alexa Jones
December 18th, 2024
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Genre/Medium: 2D Animation done on Procreate
About the work:
A few months ago, the song “Million Dollar Baby” was trending on social media and I scrolled through some fantastic edits using this track. I wanted to animate something to the beat, however I never found the material to use until I started making concept sketches for a Psyche spacecraft character, taking inspiration from fanart from the game “Jet Set Radio.”
The idea was to create a hip-hop skater girl character using the color palette of the Psyche logo, with references to the scientific instruments of the spacecraft. I took heavy consideration into her design, such as her sunglasses replicating the triple-junction solar cells, a minimized Psyche logo on her shirt, the protective coverings on the spacecraft being reflected on her pants, and hall thrusters on her roller blades. I also wanted the instruments of the spacecraft to be a part of her accessories, like the multispectral imager acting as an everyday camera and the magnetometer giving her extra power to ride the magnetic waves to the Psyche asteroid. I intended for the animation to be colorful, groovy and upbeat, hence the final title of the project becoming “Psyche’s Cosmic Groove.” All frames were hand drawn in Procreate on my iPad.
Psyche Inspired Overview
Psyche Inspired is a program that brings undergraduate students from any discipline or major together to share the excitement, innovation, and scientific and engineering content of NASA’s Psyche mission with the public in new ways through artistic and creative works. These works are posted in the gallery above and highlighted on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. View the full resolution images in the image gallery. This year’s Psyche Inspired cohort is known as the Iridium Class.
Psyche Inspired was piloted at ASU during the 2017-2018 academic year. The following academic year, Psyche Inspired expanded nationally! The works from each Psyche Inspired cohort are collected in individual downloadable books that tell the story of Psyche through musical scores, sculptures, painting, 3-D models, photography, acrylic art, needlepoint, stop-motion films, mixed media, and more.
Click here to view all the Psyche Inspired books
Take a look at our comprehensive map that shows how the Psyche Inspired program has grown over the years!
