Dark Knight Sketches

Here a couple of sketch cards that I drew for a friend.  They are sketches of Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker.  These are drawn on my own personal sketch cards and are the types of sketches that I produce for commissions.

On a side note, I loved the new film.  However, I'm still unsure what to think about the new "Batsuit."  I think that the film series' visual designers should be moving the look of Batman more towards the look of the character in the comics instead of further away.  A fabric based suit could look cool (like Spidey's duds in the new films... he doesn't look silly) and still have the implication that the suit is armored underneath.  I found myself constantly checking my mental images of Batman while Bale was onscreen in the new suit and asking myself, "Does this check?  Do I feel like I'm watching the character I've known for so many years?"  I'm not sure.  I think the new suit is too "faceted," for lack of a better term.  There's too much going on, visually, in areas of the suit that should be streamlined and simple.  I have to admit, though, it has grown on me a bit since seeing the first images of the suit many months ago.  

I think when you are watching a film character that has such an established past, you shouldn't have to keep forcing yourself to accept that character design as the character you expect.  Think about Spiderman, for instance, his design is updated but doesn't completely conflict with what you expect to see as the image of Spiderman.  I think that the "powers that be" behind the look of Batman on film would be well served to keep this in mind.