ARTIST INTERPRETATION: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Justin Reed	05.28.2007
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It can be challenging to boil down an entire film into a single image, so instead of illustrating any particular scene I try find the major themes or overall concept of the film as I feel that will generate something much more powerful. With Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind I saw a film that underneath everything else in the story was about two people trying to make their relationship work despite themselves.

I especially liked how the characters of Joel and Clementine were opposites. Using different colors to express mood and emotion rather than natural skin tone is something I?ve been playing with for a while. The complementary colors blue and orange create a natural contrast within a composition and seemed fitting for Joel's moody personality and Clementine's extroverted nature. I also wanted their body language to reflect their states of mind, with their bodies turned away but their faces attempting to look at one another, hinting that these two have some hope in working things out.

The crumbling house is a fantastic visual metaphor for Joel and Clementine's relationship. Compositionally I wanted the house positioned between the two characters, as if their failing relationship were a barrier preventing them from finding happiness with one another.

I have also been experimenting with how I render elements within a painting. With this one I utilized a greater degree of blending with the characters but left the background colors flat, in an attempt to establish a greater sense of depth. All the components of the painting such as color choices and painting techniques were used to heighten the juxtaposition between Joel and Clementine.

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© 2007 text and artwork by Justin Reed

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