Tim, Round 27: Batgirl

Hey Look it's Batgirl (and to a lesser extent, finally a new post)! My overwhelming guilt about neglecting this blog finally became to much to bear, and so I drew Batgirl.

-Tim

Check out the original ink sketch over here.

WEEK 27: Batman Begins

I've been watching Bats since I was a kid. Although my first sighting of The Batman was Adam West and Burt Ward, I fell in love with the character enough that I manage to try and steal my dads black ford (with red interior of course) and rip the shower curtains down trying to climb the walls...all at 4 or 5 years old. I read the comics, wore my first Batman costume. And though over the years we drifted apart...he has always been my favorite. (Although I will admit a slight teetering on the fence when I saw The Green Hornet and Kato mop the floor with Bats and the boy wonder in one episode...I did slightly convert for a while to the Hornet. My second childhood hero) It wasn't till years later when my wife bought me a copy of Millers Dark Knight that I had seen what he'd become. Then Burton's two films came along (The rest are dead to me...DEAD I say!!!) and I got my dose of that boyhood adrenaline again. After the following debacle of films...he seemed to lose his luster. Something I'll never forgive Schumacher for.
Then came Batman Begins....and I was blown away. This was the guy that I knew he was...what he was capable of becoming. As you can tell I love Nolans films. And they will always sit as my prize possessions in my DVD collection. This was the scene that did it for me. The moment when Bruce Wayne not only faces his boyhood fears, but decides what he is to become to combat the criminal element of Gotham. This 3-4 minutes of film is just...goosebumps. The bats, the cave..the soundtrack. And though this took me a while to ink the textures...I loved doing it. Hope you like. You can click the link to my site to see the penciled version. As always thanks for lookin. J.

Round 27: The Ventriloquist (Arnold Wesker)

I've been fascinated by the Ventriloquist since first seeing him on Batman: The Animated Series.  A timid man  whose personality split to control an overbearing mobster in the form of a puppet named, Scarface.  Not only is Arnold Wesker afraid of his puppet, but his hired guns and various associates are too.  No one acknowledged Arnold, they only look at the puppet.  Its kind of brilliant.

I wanted to try a lot of different things on this one.  A little bit of line coloring, a dash of perspective, and varying up my textures.  As far as the character, I wanted to make it obvious that it was Arnold doing the killing, but his twisted psyche convincing him that its the puppet.

Go to my personal blog to see the original inks and some work in progress shots: NeedYourDisease

Round 27: Mr. Freeze

My real education in Batman came from, Batman the Animated Series.  Like most around my age I had  met "The Challenge of the Superfriends", gone through a "Superpowers" and 60's "Batman and Robin" phase.  Was blown away by Burton's and Miller's Batmen and glowed with spiteful joy when I first read, "Death in the Family".  This was all immaterial when I found the work of Timm and Dini.  The original animated series was a distillation of everything good about Batman including his rogues gallery.  

My favorite, Dr.Victor Fries*.  He isn't in it for money, glory, a twisted sense of entitlement or even, "...to watch it all burn," he's in it for the love of his wife Nora.  Nothing else matters.  It's hard not to root for him especially in the episode, "Heart of Ice".  Do yourself a favor, if you haven't watched it in a while it's one of the best.

As the illustration goes, it's all vector, it was hard to pass up the pun.  

*Can't get this far into the post without mentioning the character design for Freeze was done by another hero of mine, Mike Mignola.

Round 27: Holy Macaroni Batman!

Woo!! Drawing this made me very happy. F yeah Poison Ivy!

Round 27: The Batman!

With the flurry of posts and busy schedule of the Rust Belt Monsters, we almost forgot to tell you that this Round's theme is The Batman (I always thought that "The" makes it cooler).  We are not immune to the overwhelming coolness that is the Dark Knight.  So in honor of the caped crusader, we will be posting Batman themed works for all to enjoy.  Be sure to bookmark/subscribe for all updates Rust Belt Monster related.