Harley Quinn & The Joker

This is my submission to the SuperPunch Blog, which I visit regularly.  They are having a contest to create a mock-up of a movie poster based on a DC character and win a DC Chess Set, so here it is.

 

Here's the process:

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STEP ONE:  As usual, I used a mixture of gesso and size (glue) to prime a 10" x 15" Crescent Illustration Board (#215).  I then drew out the image with a blue pencil, as it seems to smear a little less when I'm working with it.  I didn't have a reference for Harley Quinn at the time I sketched it, so the head dress is a little off character.  I also didn't bother to use picture references for the painting, either, so I suppose that is fitting.  I also wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with Harley Quinn's hand, so I left that sort of vague at that moment.

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STEP TWO:  I did some black-and-white wash underpainting, trying to determine some vague modeling for the figure.  For complaining about the concept of underpainting in some previous posts, I sure seem to use it a lot.  Anyway, I then started laying some acrylic color over top the black-and-white washes.  Also, I didn't feel the Joker's eyes were quite "crazy" enough in the pencil drawing, so I tried to correct that a bit.  And I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with Harley's other hand not holding the giant hammer.

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STEP THREE:  Here's the finished painting.  When I took the picture, there was a bit of glare on large chunks of the background of the painting from the lighting (you can sort of see it in the previous picture in STEP TWO).  So, I decided to use the Dodge-and-Burn tool in PhotoShop to darken and burn-out highlights for the background, rather than just use the paintbrush to give it a single color.  That seemed to work.  And, I **FINALLY** decided to give Harley Quinn one of those guns with a "Bang!" flag in it.  It seemed in character.

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STEP FOUR:  I added the lettering in PhotoShop for the faux poster and submitted it to SuperPunch.

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Speaking of the SuperPunch Blog, I was in one of their Illustration Roundups for February 21, 2012 with my "Watchmen: The Squid" cover.  It was very surreal seeing my stuff on someone else's blog (with credit AND a link to my blog--that's especially nice).  Especially as it is a blog I read every week or so and I wasn't expecting it at all...  Cool!

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This was done with acrylic paint on 10" x 15" gessoed Crescent Illustration Board

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