Comic Book News: BATMAN AND ROBIN # 1 Cover Variations

Just a quick post, DC Comics just recently released BATMAN AND ROBIN Number One the other day & so far it seems like a total success. Now, I have not read it yet but all I have been hearing is really great things so that’s cool. One thing I wanted to mention is that this comic book has three different covers to collect. The 1st one photo shows the regular cover. The 2nd one is the variant cover. The 3rd is the special “Sketch Cover”. Personally, I have always hated when comic book companies do this. I mean, they’re just trying to get everybody to buy multiple copies. But I gotta admit that these are pretty cool! Just wondering, has anybody read this thing yet? If so, then please leave a comment down below & let us know what you thought about it, thanks. ( Oh yeah, click on the small photos up above for larger pictures ).

THE JOKER: Batman Desktop Wallpaper Backgrounds

It’s Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday again & this time I thought I would go with a Joker Theme. Everybody loves the Joker & I also thought it would be nice to do “something old & something new”. First, the “old”. This graphic was sent in by a Bat-Blog Reader who has really great taste. Why? Well, for one, He enjoys reading the Bat-Blog ( ha ha ) & two, because he loves the old Golden Age era artwork by Dick Sprang. This art shown here was a 2-page spread from some publication featuring Sprang’s awesome style. The Joker is prominently featured in the center so I thought that was enough so that it could pass as “Joker Wallpaper”, right? OK, on to the “new” background. Right now you can’t get any more “new” than the soon-to-be-released BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM Video Game. This graphic, showing the Joker’s large evil grin with a picture of the Arkham Asylum building in it, is going to be the cover to the next issue of Playstation Magazine. They have a World Exclusive Story on how the Joker will be a special character you can play only on the Sony Playstation 3 Console.

BATMAN TATTOO ART PHOTOS: Catwoman, The Joker, Riddler, Penguin, & More!

Last night I got an e-mail from a friend named Wes. It looks like he has been pretty busy getting more tattoo work done! In fact he’s got an entire “arm sleeve” of work done. He sent us some really great photos showing the new work & it’s totally amazing art! Just check out the pictures if ya don’t believe me, ha ha! ( Click on them for larger images with more detail ). He now has Catwoman, The Joker, The Penguin, & The Riddler! Previously he had Batman & The Scarecrow. Dang! Wes, these are seriously awesome & very well done. I love the coloring & the clean sharpness…they’re GREAT! Thank you for taking the time to take these photos, I appreciate that. Also, please let the tattoo artist know that we here at the Bat-Blog think that he ( or she ) is a true art master! I guess I’ll shut-up now & just let the photos speak for themselves, ha ha! As a side note I would like to invite any other readers who have got some Bat-Tat work to please send us some pics too, thanks.

ART GRAPHIC PAINTING : THE JOKER With German Batman Hand-Puppet

Longtime Readers of the Bat-Blog might remember awhile back we posted 2 Desktop Wallpapers that featured artwork by the Graphic Artist / Painter named Tom Dougherty. One of them was Poison Ivy & the other one was The Penguin. I know you guys remember “The Penguin” one because I got a lot of e-mails about it. He was done to look just like Alfred Hitchcock. It was really cool & people went nuts, ha ha! Actually most readers liked both of them very well. Anyways, Tom just did another piece of art recently with The Joker & it’s amazing! Basically it’s the Joker, looking totally insane, & on his right hand is a Batman Puppet ( Be sure to click on that graphic for a larger, more sharp, version ). The funny thing is, as soon as I saw it, I recognized the hand puppet as being one that was featured here at the Bat-Blog awhile back, ha ha. It’s a “German Bootleg Toy” of Batman and I posted a pic down below to jog people’s memory. Now, once I started to get past the whole “puppet thing” I suddenly realized that this graphic is painted extremely well. The coloring is great! The composition is wonderful. Everything about it is awesome! OK, now if you like this guy’s work then you need to check out his blog because he has a lot of artwork showing there too that’s pretty cool. There’s a LINK BUTTON down below. Plus, I think it’s neat to see what artists are up too. You know, you always have to keep an eye on them…make sure they’re now causing trouble, ha ha! ( Thanks Tom for sending the cool pic ). One last thing, if you click HERE you can see those 2 Poison Ivy & Penguin Desktop Wallpapers I was talking about, they’re beautiful!

Art : THE JOKER & HARLEY QUINN Custom Converse Shoes / Sneakers

A new friend to the Bat-Blog, named KEN, sent us these amazing photos of some custom art he recently did. And when I say amazing I actually mean extremely freakin’ cool! Ken took some plain boring white-canvas-style Converse Sneakers & made these shoes true works of ART! One shoe has graphics drawn all over it of The Joker while the other shoe is Harley Quinn. Check out the pics, they’re pretty neat, huh. I wanna thank Ken for sending these awesome photos & I know he has an amazing Batman Toy Collection so I hope he sends some pics of those too ( Ken – hint, hint ). But seriously Ken, you did a great job on these! Nice coloring, sharp lines, they’re just totally unique & clever! OK, as always I wanna extend an invitation to ALL Bat-Blog Readers who have any kind of info or pics that are Batman-related to please send them to us. Sharing the love of the character, doing fun art, & toy collecting is what this page is all about!

Tom Richmond: The MAD ART OF CARICATURE Exhibit Opens August 1st at Toonseum!

Starting August 1st, 2009, the TOONSEUM at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh will have a special art show titled TOM RICHMOND:The MAD ART OF CARICATURE. Basically, since 2000, Tom has been one of the main artists for Mad magazine. This show will feature tons of his original artwork & the reason I’m posting it here is because there will be some Batman drawings shown too. Plus, I’m a huge fan of comic art & it’s my blog, ha ha! But seriously, if you live in the area ( Pennsylvania ) then you should check it out because I bet it’s gonna be a real treat to see. The show runs until October 4th. For more information, please be sure to visit their website by clicking HERE!

BATMAN AND JOKER Themed ART GALLERY SHOW – Albuquerque, NM – Aug. 8th, 2009

This post is just a friendly reminder of a Batman-related event that happens tomorrow. So, don’t forget! On Saturday, August 8th, 2009 ( 5:00pm – 11:00pm ) in Albuquerque, New Mexico the TRILLION ART SPACE ( 2nd & Marquette ) will have an art show titled, “WHY SO SERIOUS?”. The show will feature art work in many shapes, forms, & sizes but all of it will have a special focus on Batman and/or The Joker. There will be paintings, photos, colleges, etc…To celebrate the event I made these 2 WALLPAPER BACKGROUNDS you can use on your desktop as a reminder. Also, if anybody goes to this thing then please let us know how it went & send us some photos if ya can, thanks!

COOL BATMAN Comic Book Art WALLPAPER BACKGROUNDS

The focus of this week’s “Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday” is going to be some totally amazing Batman artwork! The 1st background uses some vintage 1960’s comic art from an Italian BATMAN Comic Book Reprint. I’m not quite sure who the original artist was ( Is it Carmine Infantino’s work? ) but it’s just really great! The next one is a lot more modern-looking. This is a detail of a painting done by Joe Jusko for a charity auction at the San Diego Comic Con in 2007. The art is just amazing & has a highly realistic feel about it, very cool! Plus, the FULL MOON backdrop is a really nice touch. Now remember, we post 2 FREE Batman Background every week so if you have a suggestion for a certain character then please drop us a message. Our e-mail button is always on the top right-hand side of this page ( it looks like an envelope ), Thanks!

JOKER ART GALLERY: GRAPHIC ARTWORK of The Prince of Crime!

I just recently joined a Message Board called the “Drawing Board”. It’s for artists & illustrators to share tips or information. Plus, it’s just a great place to see a lot of neat Comic Book Style Artwork, Pin-Up Girlie Art, Portraits, Cartoon Graphics, Animation Videos, & Graphic Styles of all kind. Now, speaking of graphic style, here’s an example. They had a thread where people were invited to post their personal artwork of The Joker. They call it an “ART JAM”. Well, this thing must have been pretty popular because a TON of awesome artwork got posted. Because of space limitations I can only show a few as an example but, really, at the website there are many many more! So if you look at these you can see what I am talking about. I sort of picked some out at random. They all have their own unique style but also very different from each other. Some artists draw things very realistic, like replicating a photograph, while others have a “Cartoon Style”. I know a lot of readers of the Bat-Blog are extremely creative people who work as artists so this post works on another level & that is, you should join the “Drawing Board” to help you become a better artist. If not in your craft, then maybe just to network with other professionals. You can visit their website by clicking HERE!

Video: BATMAN Comic Book Art – Drawing Sketch in Time Lapse

Here’s a video showing you the different drawing stages in making comic book art like sketching, inking, coloring and final rendering. All is done with very cheap materials: like Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen, Letraset Twintip Markers ( they are not as expensive compared to Copic Markers ) and Watercolors. This is sort of a “How To…” Instructional Tutorial Video. So, anyone who loves drawing comics can do this without spending a lot of money & get a nearly professional result.