Art: Inception - The Big Under

My entry for the Inception "The Big Under" comic book cover contest. I've been working on this nonstop for the past week or so, even on the plane flying back home for holiday break. We rented the movie, and I'm a little embarrassed to say I watched it seven times while painting (and three times in theater when it first premiered). Cobb's face is referenced from a shot in Fischer's hotel dream before he kicks in the door of Room 528. This is the text-less version. The text version is on my deviantART.

I went for a painted look since I thought I could better convey drama through light, color and value than line. In my mind, the core of the story is Cobb manipulating the relationship between Saito and Sonia. Hence, I left out Arthur and Nash (as much as I love Arthur). Along the same lines, I left out guns, samurai swords, rosaries, and the camera - since they facilitate the plot but don't relate directly to the core. I chose to focus on Cobb crossing mental barriers between dream worlds - so his background is a maze - something with infinite possibility but no reference to something that exists. I put Cobb's legs in a way to form a triangle up into the more detailed parts of the image. The PASIV device and the wires are another mechanism to lead the eye around the otherwise dark area. The running pose is homage as well to the promotional material from the movie itself (the poster with Arthur in the rotating hallway). Again, to focus on the relationship between the characters, I wanted the arms of the lovers to connect, and form a subtle but dynamic triangle with the Extractor. Another tactic I used to keep the eye circling is re-using the red from the title in small articles on each character. Here are some detail shots as well: