Wow, this is bizarre; I remember creating a CD cover like this back in the day. We were given two random words on which to base the concept, mine were 'scaley' and 'edge'. I pretty much drew this scene here, except the guy was a lizard. Great stuff - thanks for the catchup!
Hmm... the pp does make it look a bit like cardboard cut-outs, not that that's a bad effect. Mostly I think this image is very effective in giving an idea of scale to what looks like a highly dangerous job.