Back in Action with Khary Randolph's JOKER

it's been a looong while since I updated this blog but, thankfully, everyone still seems to dig this Batman guy, so I figure it's a good idea to keep the blog going.

This piece was penned by my friend Khary Randolph. Aside from being one of my favorite people on earth, Khary is a gifted artist who's worked in animation, print, and comics. His credits include work on Todd McFarlane's Adventures of Spawn and Spawn, the Spider-Clan for Marvel comics, character design work for Wolverine and the X-Men and TMNT, and the Chaotic cardgame. This guy's work may inspire spontaneous combustion followed by catatonia, so be ready to have your mind blown when you follow his link.

Jimenez Takes a Second Stab

at long last, not only an update to this poor forgotten blog, but my response to the awesome contributions made thus far. Pencils and inks by Eric Jimenez. Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg.

Eric Canete Brings the Fury!

Those of you who are not familiar with Eric Canete by name have undoubtedly seen his work. He's done everything from storyboards to comic books; i.e. Aeon Flux, Dark Fury, Superman: Doomsday, Cybernary, and Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin, just to name a few. This guy is pound for pound one of the best (if not just the plain ol' best) artists working in the industry, and he has been kind enough to contribute a monster of a Dark Knight piece. His work is absolutely worth checking out. Just follow the link. Here's what he had to say in a blog post entitled "Madmen."

"More 'Dark Knight' as requested by Eric Jimenez and his Compatriots. He asked if I could stay in the Batman frame of mind after my previous post and after visiting their Dark Knight tribute blog, I thought it'd be fun to have a say. But as most memorable and obvious scenes in the movie were already spoken for, I was at a loss as to what to do. So I decided to take on this little ditty - I thought it'd be a great exercise in how to render something in black and white (Batman and the Batpod, both being completely matte black, are practically silhouettes throughout the entire chase and showdown) and still have it be semi-legible, and also how to represent speed in a still image (they're zipping around at full-tilt speeds though Gotham - especially when he tries to run down The Joker after the semi flips over).So I thought, "Well... that seems easy enough." Heh. Then I start to draw the thing and I think, "Crimeny! This is a lot tougher than I thought!" That and because of the angle I chose, the compostion, and stuff like that, I had to draw Batman's butt sticking up into the air like that. That's just bad planning, man! This one took less than 90 because I didn't have to render too many elements - just a ton of black areas. The only hold up was the fact that I had to find reference on the Batpod. Speaking of which, have you guys seen the thing running? I somehow remember seeing clips of it zooming about with a guy in a red and white jumpsuit riding it. Point being, the sucker works! How awesome is that?!"--Eric Canete

The batMan by Rachelle Rosenberg

Yes, she colors, she pencils, she inks; there is no end to this lady's creativity. Rachelle Rosenberg is a local artist, and, if you dig this, definitely hit that link to her site. It's worth the trip.

Jim McHugh's Joker

Jim McHugh, a New Jersey artist who works primarily with caricatures for various publications, graces us with his interpretation of the Joker. Check out Jim's site. It's chock full of painterly caricature goodness. And he's definitely no slouch. Though he typically works in oil paints, this piece was colored digitally.

Stan Tanaka's Dark Knight (that's John Connor as Batman)

This piece was crafted by an incredible Chicago artist named Stan Tanaka. Follow his link, and add him as a MySpace friend. Do make sure you're sitting when you check out his art, though. Seriously. Oh, and be on the lookout for some Tanaka art on my book, Temporal (insert shameless self-promotion here...wait, I just did.) Stan Tanaka ladies and gentlemen!

Skottie Young Throws Down!

Skottie Young adds his rendition of the Dark Knight's Joker to the mix. This is what he had to say in a blog posting entitled "So Serious." Jeez, if my finished art was as good as this guy's warmups I might be working for Marvel too, eh?

"How many blog titles have used that title? A lot, so let's move past it.
I, like most people, enjoyed the Dark Knight alot. A buddy of mine emailed me today and asked me to do a Dark Knight piece and so I did it for my warm up today. There's not much else to say that hasn't been said already, but Ledger kicks 11 kinds of ass playing the Joker so I had to do a piece.
This was done in Painter and in Photoshop"--Skottie Young

A Titus Cometh

he cometh, and goeth, and this piece has undoubtedly made a few fanboys cometh, regardless of what he might tell you about it. yes, this was Greg Titus' response to the Jimenez Joker piece. Pencils and Inks by Gregory Titus.

aaAAand here we...go

this is the drawing that set Greg Titus into a tailspin. not really. more like lit the flame of ass-kickery. Pencils and Inks by Eric Jimenez. Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg.