Batman Time!

Ever since I was little kid seeing the live action BATMAN and animated shows on TV, along with getting the comics I really got into the character of Batman. Heck it seems like at least once or twice a week I draw him or characters from his universe in my sketchbooks. The Batman character now has been around 75 years and is still going strong! So in tribute to that and in part I am going to be in major pop culture mode being at the San Diego Comic Convention in a day or so here are some more finished Batman images I have created over the last few years. Some even are in tribute to other artists takes on Batman. A couple of the images are even my take on a possible future Batman. The images below were created in Illustrator, Photoshop, ink pen and acrylic paint.

The Dark Knight Arrives!

I was a big fan of Frank Miller's twisted Batman tale THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and remember eagerly buying all four issues! With me being a big Batman fan it was one of those great comic book moments! It is not the ultimate Batman story to me, but I thought it was really an engaging one. Something about a bitter older Batman trying to work through some of his issues while dealing with a battered Gotham city of the future appealed to me at that time. Yes this Batman tale may seem a bit dated now with some of it's story elements and a bit over the top with other elements, yet I still like the Two-Face/Joker stories and how they wrapped up mixed in with the satire. As for the Batman/Superman conflict it was fun to see those two characters differences played out!  

Flash forward to the present an animated adaption of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS has been produced and the first part was released this week. This image below I had started to create for a contest connected to the release of the DVD. I got side tracked with work and did not make the deadline, but decided to finish it up anyways. The image was created by drawing over a pencil rough in Illustrator. I looked at many pages of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS comics to get inspired when creating this and decided to create my own take on the scene from the junkyard where Batman and Robin take on some mutant gang members. So that is it in a long winded nutshell and I have heard rumors there was a sequel to THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. I hope it is a rumor as I think the TDKR story ends just right, but that is just my opinion.

Rick and Mike WonderCon Sketchbook Pages

I helped out at my friend Mike Bennett's booth at WonderCon April 1-3, 2011 where we drew the two pages above from my newest sketch book. The right page is Mike's which he drew first and the left page is mine I drew last. Friday was a bit slower so we drew these pages at the booth and based the figures roughly on people that wondered near the booth. I will soon have many pictures posted my Facebook section from all three days at WonderCon. I am working with Mike on a comicbook project right now and have been helping him get his work into this part of California. Mike is from the LA area and has worked in the animation business. Here are two links dealing with his life and work. Bennett Blacklight and MVBennett IMDB.