The Arkham challenge
Introduction: I am starting to try and hone in how I draw. I explored this topic a lot in my previous article with some in depth analysis of my favorite artists, and with that new-found knowledge I knew the next logical step was to find a project to help put that research into practice. I was thinking about what would be a good way to provide myself a cohesive theme to practice with, but also making sure I had a diverse cast of characters to draw. My initial thought was to just work on some original characters, and stockpile them for current and future stories. I am currently working on my next comic, and this seemed like a perfect idea. However, I soon realized that designing every single aspect of the character was nearly as much work as the drawing. It dawned on me that interpretation of characters could provide me the stylistic drawing challenge I was searching for, but I would already have a character history to refer too. I began my search for something that thematically worked together, but within its confines had enough diversity that I could practice different features, shapes, and anatomy. It didn't take me much longer than that to realize that the villains of the Batman universe were absolutely perfect for this challenge. All of the villains of Batman have spent at least some time in Arkham, and because of this they would all have a mug shot. This became the perfect background "story" for what I wanted to do. If this is something that you might be interested in trying for yourself here are the challenge rules:
Prompt:
Arkham Asylum is home to some of the most nefarious criminals that the world has ever seen. Recently, there has been a problem with the patients radically altering their appearances and/or working under an alias after they escape from the facility. To help combat this problem, Batman and the Gotham City Police Department have finally rounded up every known criminal of Gotham, and they have a new plan to help prevent any misinformation about these criminals. With the help of the Doctors of Arkham, the Gotham City Police Department, and Batman himself; the city of Gotham needs all of their artists, that were willing to brave the property of Arkham, to assist in the creation of an all-inclusive catalog of the patients at Arkham Asylum. It is the contention of the Batman himself, that every artist should complete a drawing of the inmates. It is through these different drawing styles that a catalog of mugshots can be created to prevent any future misconceptions of the villains working under a different alias and/or change of appearance. Gotham needs good artists to rise to the challenge, and help defend the city.
Rules:
1. Select your 10 favorite villains from the Batman universe.
2. Choose your medium to create the mugshots.
3. You have a time limit of 1 hour per picture. (*Optional* Try and work on the project for 10 hours straight.)
4. Create your 10 pictures, and document the process. (*Share your process pictures using the #ArkhamChallenge)
5. Finish your contribution to the catalog of villains, and share your work using #ArkhamChallenge
Prompt:
Arkham Asylum is home to some of the most nefarious criminals that the world has ever seen. Recently, there has been a problem with the patients radically altering their appearances and/or working under an alias after they escape from the facility. To help combat this problem, Batman and the Gotham City Police Department have finally rounded up every known criminal of Gotham, and they have a new plan to help prevent any misinformation about these criminals. With the help of the Doctors of Arkham, the Gotham City Police Department, and Batman himself; the city of Gotham needs all of their artists, that were willing to brave the property of Arkham, to assist in the creation of an all-inclusive catalog of the patients at Arkham Asylum. It is the contention of the Batman himself, that every artist should complete a drawing of the inmates. It is through these different drawing styles that a catalog of mugshots can be created to prevent any future misconceptions of the villains working under a different alias and/or change of appearance. Gotham needs good artists to rise to the challenge, and help defend the city.
Rules:
1. Select your 10 favorite villains from the Batman universe.
2. Choose your medium to create the mugshots.
3. You have a time limit of 1 hour per picture. (*Optional* Try and work on the project for 10 hours straight.)
4. Create your 10 pictures, and document the process. (*Share your process pictures using the #ArkhamChallenge)
5. Finish your contribution to the catalog of villains, and share your work using #ArkhamChallenge
1. Selecting ONLY 10 villians. - It is way harder then I thought it would be to select my 10 favorite Batman villains. No other character has such an iconic and eclectic gallery of rogues, and no matter who you choose you really can't go wrong with any of them. After some serious internal debate (and a PokemonGo walk to contemplate my thoughts), this is the list that I ultimately came up with. There are some honorable mentions that I would like to mention, and who knows maybe I will end up completing a second round of this project.
Top 10:
1. Joker - Has to be on this list. Best villain of all time.
2. Riddler - Love the design, and love the wit. Would be great in a feature film someday.
3. Mr. Freeze - Great backstory for a villain, and his motives seem to always hold true. I can almost see him walking the line of being a hero in the right storyline. Maybe someday?
4. Catwoman - So many iterrations, but most of them do a great job off of playing on the personality of both Batman and Bruce.
5. Penguin - Another great backstory, and such a solid design. Not always utlized to his full potentail, but a great character none the less.
6. Two-Face - Probably higher on the list for some, but in Teir 2 for me. However, it is hard to argue all of the duality at play with this character.
7. Harley Quinn - A fan favorite for sure, and has a lot of design potential. Hopefully, Suicide Squad goes well for her.
8. Bane - He broke the Bat.
9. Scarecrow - Always seems to be blurring the line of even being human. Almost a phantom in some cases.
10. Poison Ivy - Green and red, but not Christmas. Hard to pull that design off. A lot of different versions of this character too.
Honorable Mentions:
- Clayface
- Mad Hatter
- Red Hood
- Ra's al Ghul
- Phantom Menace
- Killer Croc
- Court of Owls
- Deadshot
- Calendar Man
- Carmine Falcone
Top 10:
1. Joker - Has to be on this list. Best villain of all time.
2. Riddler - Love the design, and love the wit. Would be great in a feature film someday.
3. Mr. Freeze - Great backstory for a villain, and his motives seem to always hold true. I can almost see him walking the line of being a hero in the right storyline. Maybe someday?
4. Catwoman - So many iterrations, but most of them do a great job off of playing on the personality of both Batman and Bruce.
5. Penguin - Another great backstory, and such a solid design. Not always utlized to his full potentail, but a great character none the less.
6. Two-Face - Probably higher on the list for some, but in Teir 2 for me. However, it is hard to argue all of the duality at play with this character.
7. Harley Quinn - A fan favorite for sure, and has a lot of design potential. Hopefully, Suicide Squad goes well for her.
8. Bane - He broke the Bat.
9. Scarecrow - Always seems to be blurring the line of even being human. Almost a phantom in some cases.
10. Poison Ivy - Green and red, but not Christmas. Hard to pull that design off. A lot of different versions of this character too.
Honorable Mentions:
- Clayface
- Mad Hatter
- Red Hood
- Ra's al Ghul
- Phantom Menace
- Killer Croc
- Court of Owls
- Deadshot
- Calendar Man
- Carmine Falcone
2. Tools - By no means are these the only tools that you can use for this project, but this is what I wanted to work with. Some of these supplies are not of the most professional quality, but they everything I used was great for practice in my opinion.
A. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen - $12 - This is the brush recommended by some absolutely legendary artists, and with good reason. This pen allows for phenomenal control, has refillable ink cartridges, and will last for a very reasonable amount of time. I had my first one of these pens and used it heavily for about 2 years. Honestly, I probably pushed it a bit too far with two years of use, and once I opened up a new one the lines were a lot more precise. If you have not used one of these pens yet, I would highly recommend it.
B. Canson 12X18 Watercolor Paper - $15 - I had some of this paper laying around, and I cut it in half to use for these portraits. This paper is okay, but after some shopping around and testing of different brands I have to say that my favorite would be Strathmore. However, I would really only use that paper for really finished products because it is slightly more expensive. If you are just looking for some large sheets to cut down to size for practice, Canson will probably do the trick for you.
C. Prismacolor Col Erase - 24 Set - $14 - These are probably my favorite pencils to use for a daily sketch format. The colors also blend in decently for watercolor painting as well. There are many artists who would recommend these pencils as your drawing workhorse tool, and especially for the price it would be tough to disagree. I also like that they can be sharpened to fine point for precise line work, or left dull for gestural shapes. Whatever your color preference is, you should really pick up a set of these pencils.
D. Artist Loft Watercolor Pan Set - $5 - Oh Michaels. For $5 this watercolor set had a pretty diverse set of colors. They are not perfect, and the pigment is not always the most vibrant, but for practice this set is perfect. If you can paint with this set, I would imagine that you can paint with any watercolor set out there. Get this set to try out things, but don't expect to be blown away.
B. Canson 12X18 Watercolor Paper - $15 - I had some of this paper laying around, and I cut it in half to use for these portraits. This paper is okay, but after some shopping around and testing of different brands I have to say that my favorite would be Strathmore. However, I would really only use that paper for really finished products because it is slightly more expensive. If you are just looking for some large sheets to cut down to size for practice, Canson will probably do the trick for you.
C. Prismacolor Col Erase - 24 Set - $14 - These are probably my favorite pencils to use for a daily sketch format. The colors also blend in decently for watercolor painting as well. There are many artists who would recommend these pencils as your drawing workhorse tool, and especially for the price it would be tough to disagree. I also like that they can be sharpened to fine point for precise line work, or left dull for gestural shapes. Whatever your color preference is, you should really pick up a set of these pencils.
D. Artist Loft Watercolor Pan Set - $5 - Oh Michaels. For $5 this watercolor set had a pretty diverse set of colors. They are not perfect, and the pigment is not always the most vibrant, but for practice this set is perfect. If you can paint with this set, I would imagine that you can paint with any watercolor set out there. Get this set to try out things, but don't expect to be blown away.
3. Image Gallery -
10. Poison Ivy - Not a radical change in design, but I reall do like all the different colors of red incorporated here. I thought about that many different types of green, but was worried it would clash too much. Always hard to make red and green not look like Christmas, but Poison Ivy makes it look easy.
9. Scarecrow - I think the concept of this one was really strong, and I do throughly enjoy the background. However, my quilted patchwork look was a little bit interrupted by some interesting color choices on my part. If I redid this piece I would keep the idea, but change the square colors around a bit.
8. Bane - This almost looks like Bane if he were to be featured in Mortal Kombat. Which, given the way he fights, might not be a bad fit for him. I like this one, nothing too fancy but certainly different from the original.
7. Harley Quinn - Cool background, meh on the portrait. This was a tough one, because in her very short time in the Batman universe she has already been reimagined quite a bit. I would probably need to think of something truly unique to make this work, because this is basically a mix and match of a bunch of different styles.
6. Two-Face - I really like this one. Using watercolors is a great method for making a unique version of his burned side. There is a lot of depth here, despite the fact that this picture is straight on. I really wouldn't change anything here.
5. Penguin - This picture isn't bad, but it doesn't really scream penguin enough. If removed for the context of this project it could just be old crime boss guy. However, I could probably push the penguin design a little further with some extra accessories and keep this same face. This one needs a little work.
4. Catwoman - I always thought purple Catwoman was awesome, and I really like her hair here as well. A little bit different texture to the background as well, and again for being a straight on picture I think it has good dimension.
3. Mr. Freeze - This is definitely Mr. Freeze, but it probably needs more of my own spin on it. I do truly have an affinity for the classic version of this character, but I should not have let that hold me back. I like the Riddler just as much, and went off the wall with him. May come back to this in the future.
2. Riddler - Clearly the most radical redesign for me. Did I push it too far? Maybe a little bit, but I still think this Riddler has a clear story to be told that we haven't seen yet. I love the mannerisms of the Riddler, and I feel as though this design plays to that as a strength.
1. Joker - Simple and classic. I think that less is more with the Joker, and the most dramatic change I made to him was his clothes. A full character design would let me work on that a little more, but I think the checked shirt is a good look here. (Shout out to Woody and his cowboy shirt, basically what I used here.)
4. Conclusion - I hope you enjoyed my little rouges gallery from the Batman universe, and I think I'm ready to get back into my comic after a little break with this small project. Don't forget! If you like to take this challenge to post on social media using the #ArkhamChallenge. If you tweet at me with this #, I will be sure to retweet your work. This project taught me a lot even though it did not take a huge time commitment on my part, if you are looking for a project to learn from, this will surely do the trick. Best of luck everyone!