'Down the rabbit hole'. Making a Matrix Poster.

Here's a very literal journey down the rabbit hole as we take the red pill and see just how Dave Kennedy's anniversary artwork for 'The Matrix' was made.

About the artist:  Dave is a UK-based freelance illustrator, currently working as a comic artist with Storm King Comics and the mighty John Carpenter.  

James Hobson (Moor-Art): We've loved Dave's work for quite a few years now.  He taught us everything there is to know about selling art at conventions. Detailed but invaluable insights over an Instagram DM that probably could/should have been about 5 emails.  He's an absolute fountain of knowledge and enthusiasm. I think we sealed the deal on a Matrix project over a (second) breakfast, mid 2024.

Dave Kennedy: Whenever I draw something, I want to make something I haven't seen before. And The Matrix has a LOT of art out there - very good art too. I wanted to try and make something that stood out from what I'd found, so I tried to think outside of the box a little.

My influences are legion, but up there at the top of the list are Katsuhiro Otomo and Kim Jung Gi. Some of the unique viewpoints those guys conjure up are incredible, and I thought The Matrix deserved something unique - something where I felt I was pushing what I could do.

Dave Kennedy: This was the first idea I had. I did pitch a couple of other concepts, but I liked this one the best, as it felt ambitious enough to push me out of my comfort zone - which is always a good thing, so I was pleased when Warner Bros went for it.

James at Moor Art was keen on all my ideas, and great at getting my ideas across on our behalf, but he agreed that this was the strongest.

I wanted to try and see my favourite scene - the lobby shootout - from the viewpoint of the Matrix itself.

I sketched a few other angles, but nothing worked as well as looking at the entire scene at once from beneath. There's just something kind of dizzying about it.

James Hobson (Moor-Art):  Dave sent a bunch of ideas that were all great but this was the standout.  Even at this stage he was going into meticulous detail about the positioning of characters with colour coded figures moving through the lobby having watched the scene over and over for research. It was clear we were dealing with a nutter. A pretty brilliant one.

Dave Kennedy: I tidied up the rough sketch so that people didn't think I was a gibbering idiot who had seen the Lizard God and was trying to translate what grand admiral Zink wanted me to tell the people of Earth.  In other words, I had to make the idea a bit more presentable/understandable.

Thankfully, the lovely people at Warner Bros understood it enough to give me the green light. 

 

James Hobson (Moor Art): It was clear to us and the licensor from this rough that this was a really strong idea and visual.  But there was a possible obstacle for approval even after this point.  The use of weapons is closely controlled in artworks and we had to make sure that we made the scene visceral, with deaths too, but also keeping that in mind.

Dave Kennedy: And so, the lengthy process of mapping out the lobby itself began. I wanted to have a fisheye effect so I could get as much action in one place as possible.

I may be my own worst enemy, because that decision gave me so many brain-aches, I lost count. Imagine seeing Neo stood at the bag scanner and deciding it's a good idea to look at him from underneath, then try and position him in the right place in the lobby and draw him from an angle that doesn't exist. Then multiply that by 40.

I'm an idiot.

What was fascinating was that this scene is so tightly scripted and executed that, even after an extra thousand or so watches of it, I can appreciate it even more now.

When Trinity is attacking the guards, she's doing it to stop them shooting Neo, and Neo is doing the same. Each guard's position helps both of them advance through the room and every time they shoot one of them, the wave of action gets closer to the exit point - the elevator.

Man, this bit was hard work, but also insanely satisfying. A bit like the entire project, to be honest. 

James Hobson (Moor-Art):  It was around this point that we got to see the progress from early visuals and we were loving it.  The iconic Neo & Trinity poses are so instantly transportive but from an entirely new angle.  The way that the guards are being thrown against walls with trails and puffs of smoke and cement is just immensely cool.  The artwork was checked by WB at this point and we looked to be okay on the violence and gunplay aspects.  The only thing removed here and going forward was blood.  You can see that on the chest of the fallen character on the right. 

Dave Kennedy: Last thing I wanted to tackle was placing the entire scene within the Matrix itself. Luckily, the falling green symbols are so recognisable, I could have just dropped the pen and made a bunch of nonsense marks and people would recognise it when the green glow was added. Unfortunately for me, I'm a stickler for detail.

So I ended up pausing the movie and recreating a bunch of symbols myself, so I could manipulate them to make it look like we were beneath the lobby, with the Matrix code falling around us.