A Midsummer Night's Dream

Poster I was commissioned to make for a high school play

Lord Dismiss Us

 

For Valancourt Books

 

Out now on Amazon

Concepts here

The Well

For Valancourt Books

 

Out now on Amazon

Concepts here

Joker

 

 

And so we end the week with The Joker.

 

I love how he doesn't really have a name to go along with his origin story, he was just always known as The Joker. I went the literally insane route with him, picturing him escaped from Arkham Asylum but actually embracing his insanity and wearing it like a badge with his slung-over-the-shoulders-straight-jacket-I'm-a-handsome-fellow look. He wants to look dapper and there is a purposeful nod to Buster Keaton here if you can see it. 

 

Personally I've never been a fan of him having clown make-up on (though I do like his bleached-by-chemicals skin color) so I wanted to avoid what we normally see, yet still have the signature red 'lips' look. So I thought, instead of an exaggerated smile or weird scars or whatever, lets just get rid of his lips entirely (boy, he'd have some fun enunciating) resulting in a perpetually ghoulish grin. I'd love to see cosplay of him if it were possible to recreate his face like I've done here.

You can see concept work here

And the original inkwash is for sale here

Mr. Freeze

Freeze was the first idea I had for this whole thing and he may or may not be my favorite because of it. Since I thought about him so longer before I started drawing I ended up fleshing him out more in my head than any of the other characters. Even figuring out what he looks like under this armor (which you can see a bit of in the concepts) though I knew that wouldn't be shown in the final piece. 

In my version his accident obviously caused a lot more damage than just lowering his body temperature to where he always needs to be in a cryogenic suit. He's almost more machine than human now with a fading mind and cold heart (literally?). But by wearing his old overcoat and Nora's scarf it makes him feel attached to his former life and not be lost completely.

You can see concept work here

And the original inkwash is for sale here

Poison Ivy

Ivy was one of the original ideas I had for a redesign. I spent some time reading each characters bio and did my best avoiding the normal interpretations of the villains so that I could (hopefully) come at it as fresh as possible. With the way Ivy goes about killing her victims, often by a kiss, made it hard to avoid the seductress route. But instead of the normal one piece bathing suit or "strategically placed leaves" for her outfit I thought what if I tried to make her (slightly) higher class looking but still seductive.

I love high fashion runway clothing, where they sport really crazy clothes that no one would actually wear on the street, but we all can admire as a form of art. And with that in mind the fly trap just seemed like a great idea visually and symbolically. Pair that with her not being fully human anymore but mixed genetically with plants in a alluringly grotesque way, and—voilà. My Poison Ivy.

You can see concept work here

And the original inkwash is for sale here

Two-Face

I almost didn't draw Two-face because I didn't think I could make something different than how he is always represented. But then I had the idea of what if I didn't stick with the story of him being disfigured with acid, but say, the chemical splashed on him had a reaction similar to how elephantitis looks/works, and so here we are.

The leg braces I just couldn't shake from my head, I like that he has to use them and that he went ahead and had them made of gold. I assume the weight of his right arm/face now is so heavy his legs can't support him properly.. OR perhaps his legs shriveled a bit with the chemical reaction. Who knows! You figure it out.

You can see concept work here

And the original inkwash is for sale here

Scarecrow

All this week I'll be posting some redesigned Batman Villains.

Check back each day this week to see a new one.

Scarecrow has always been a favorite of mine. His design started with the plague mask idea, to protect him from his fear toxin (even though he's apparently immune to it) but also to up his creepy factor. At least I think those masks are creepy looking... And then I built out from there, I kept a few of the traditional things we always see on Scarecrow but tried to reinterpret them a new way.

You can see concept work here

And the original inkwash is for sale here

4 Years Later

Its been for years now without Cinnamon. 

I always enjoy making a new piece of art each year to commemorate her.

My daughter is almost two now and I really wish they could have met..

The Entity

For Valancourt Books

 

Out now on Amazon

Concepts here