No One Can Be Told What the Matrix Is...

Okay, here is the final piece.

This baby measures, at its full size, 17 inches high and 33 inches wide. So, honest to john, I even had the beginnings of a three-page background spread I was going to draw and color behind all the characters, but I just didn't have the time between this, finals, friends in town, other projects, etc. I will come back and do it at some point, but you'll at least get this for now.

I've talked enough about these movies this week, so just take my word for it - they're great. Even when they're not great, they're still great.

Please, Call Me... Larry

And last but not least: The Architect!

Now, of all the cool characters from the Matrix universe, why pick The Architect? Many people say that he is where the entire film franchise ran off the rails. I disagree completely. Until The Architect, Reloaded was okay - cool visuals, great fighting, and a little hollow. I wasn't quite sure where it was going. Then we walk unto a room filled with computer screens and get our minds blown.

Everything we thought we knew about The Matrix was blown up in a garble of crazy existential lingo. It was awesome. In a short, confusing monologue, we learn that everything is just a cog in the machine and if anyone manages to step out of line, the entire human race will be wiped out. The idea of destiny turns into slavery - you're trapped in the role you have to perform. And if you step outside destiny, everyone dies. You're no longer free to choose your path.

Plus, this parody spoof is my favorite thing ever. Skip forward to 5:50 to see the best part. And the other main reason I love The Architect.

Mr. Anderson welcome back...we missed you

At long last something is finally done, feels like all I've been doing for weeks is trying to catch up. So I loved the matrix, love it love it love it, I'm not to big on the sequels, and in particular reloaded but I take them for what they are. Good movies that are let downs by comparison of the first one but that doesn't mean there aren't things I like about them and a 1000000000 agent smiths would be one of those things

The Matrix Does Have Attractive Women

Another reason to love the sequels:

Persephone. Or, moreso, Monica Bellucci. One of the most beautiful people ever. Not only is she gorgeous, but she was a great "human" character ("human" meaning a character with humanity, not an actual human (cause she was a program)) in Reloaded (which had a lot less humanity than the first one when Neo went from being "Whoa" to "Superman"). She was a fun, complicated character. She was apathetic, yet caring. She hated the Merovingian (who was awesome and stole every scene he was in) but wouldn't hurt him directly cause she loved him.

Follow the white rabbit

I kind of liked the duality that the Matrix developed between Neo and Smith, the whole "promised one" (who wants to liberate the minds of the people and let them choose) and the "opposite" (the one who wants to control everything or drag them all down to hell with him). Anyways, just wanted to do a little bit on that idea.

Matrix; The Twins

So I had a really hard time coming up with something for the matrix, only because there were so many cool things in the franchise, I couldn't decide. I liked these guys though, and I always thought that these two were like the Sentinels personified in the Matrix world.
enjoy
dove
ps I added some color versions too. Done traditionally.

Welcome... to the real world.

Morpheus

While I feel bad that Carrie-Anne Moss will never be thought of as anything other than Trinity, I don't feel bad that Lawrence Fishburn will always be Morpheus. Cause he's awesome. Through almost the entire trilogy, he's a real man. Heck, he takes on Agents left and right *knowing* that he's going to die. But he believes in the prophecy (more than anyone in the movies) and he'll die for it. When Neo gets too busy whining about whatever, Morpheus reminds us that some men still have a backbone in the Matrix.

Black Leather Robot

And Trinity.

So, for all the pieces I'm doing for this week, this one worked the best beginning to end. I spent a while drawing all the characters until I could figure out what Trinity was going to be. I didn't want to do the standard, hovering in mid air pre-kick thing. Once I figured this figure out, all the rest changed and got drastically better.

Though she had about as much chemistry with Keanu Reeves as I do, you couldn't help but like Trinity. She was cold and hard and kicked major butt in skin-tight black leather. What's not to love (other than the lack of chemistry between he co-star even though their love was supposed to be the one factor that cause the defeat of the Matrix)?

Mister Anderson

Next up, Agent Smith!

How cool was this guy in the first film? One of the things I really like about the sequels is how they subverted expectations (which, I can also understand why most people don't like them for that very reason). Do you remember what you thought the sequel(s) was going to be like after you finished the first one? Wow, it was going to be crazy and epic and almost entirely not like what it ended up as.

That's what make them great. The second one goes from what you might expect (similar themes and fighting, but on crack) and evolves into a new direction you would never expect - that the entire plot that's been built up doesn't matter at all. That the entire "fight for the humans" is merely a sham perpetrated by the machines to keep the humans as slaves. And that "The One" is a carefully designed program that isn't meant to defeat the machines at all, but keep them going.

And then they manage to weave Smith back into the narrative. He goes from being a cool bad robot to the one factor that throws a wrench into the whole system. He's more the good guy of the whole trilogy than Neo. The end would have never been possible without Smith.

Pretty cool, huh.

There is No Spoon

I love the Matrix. And I'm one of four people in the world who LOVE the sequels. I love the entire trilogy. I own the 10-disc Ultimate Boxed Set. I watch them fairly regularly. So, for Matrix Week, I've decided to shake it up a little bit and do a character a day for the week, ending on a pretty cool image if I can pull it off.

So, first up: Neo.

Every couple of years, a movie comes out that changes the way we view and make films. Movies like Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Lord of the Rings, and, of course, The Matrix. Do you remember when this came out? Man, a real visual revolution. And even though most people didn't like the sequels, watch them again - the action, alone, is fantastic. No one had shot fight scenes like this before. The lobby-scene from the first is absolute pure-testosterone awesome. The coolest scene of the film.