MY HISTORY OF THE JOKER
When I began to this path of doing art, I started out doing comic books. Of course, being an avid comic book reader, I drew superheroes. But, for many years that I got the chance to draw comic book characters for art commissions, I never get to have chance to draw supervillains.
I have to admit, Batman has the greatest rogues gallery than any comic book character that I know of. Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, Madhatter, Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze, and many more. While growing up, I got to watch the 1960s Batman reruns and the Batman: The Animated series. However, I chose Joker. Joker is psychotic and he is Batman’s greatest foe. But what got stuck in my head was the Batman: The Animated one with his awesome maniacal face. So I drew Joker (image 1). I tried to draw the same design as in the cartoon. This was when I had no iPad and just did traditional work. Then when I got an iPad and had played around with it for a year or two, I drew the villain again. This was around the time the artist Jock was involved in drawing Batman in Detective Comics. Jock is one of the artists that I tried to imitate then. From his simple markered lines, ink splatters, half-tone infused that would just make his art gritty and stand out. His style is not the usual superhero style that people see in superhero comic books. I drew Joker again (image 2).
After that, I began getting more influences from other artists like Sean Murphy, Greg Capullo, Bill Sienkiewicz, and many more in order to make myself a better artist in finding my own art style. The one I did previously was rough. But it was a direction that I wanted to go to. Then I drew Joker (image 3) again. The Joker that was in my head was not the animated version. But, the one in the comics. And apparently, this version was the DC Comics’ New 52 version where the Joker had to staple his whole face because his was removed. Like Face Off way. The hardest part of this one was the hair. It was the first time I got to draw someone with the angle of the head. I remembered that it took me two-three weeks till I figured it out. To confirm it, I asked comic book artist Harvey Tolibao for advice during a Free Comic Book Day event. I was pretty happy with it so much that when I posted it, people asked if they could get a copy of it. Thus, I sold art prints of this Joker. I was amazed that it sold so well.
After that, I’ve drew the other Jokers (images 4-6). Experimenting with more lines, less lines, and other different art designs as I try to express on how crazy he is. I did sell two of the pieces as art prints but the New 52 one was clearly the winner by sales. I’ll probably print some of the Jokers and try to sell them again during comic book convention season.
