Wait until they get a load of ME...

So, I took a break from the Bad Girls of Gotham drawing, mostly because I was running out of black Prismacolor pencil. So while I was watching Terra Nova and House the other night, I did a sketch of the Joker based on the one I did on the whiteboard, just for the heck of it. I liked how it looked and decided I should suck it up and paint it, since I'm not that good with media that doesn't require sharpening. I grabbed an old half-finished painting assignment and gessoed over it, and got to working.

I started out with a black and white underpainting, with no midtones, to establish a dark, dramatic lighting. I filled in a dark painter's black of Dioxazine Purple, Phthalo Green (Yellow shade), and Alazarin Crimson. I started the skin on the darkest purple so that I would be bringing the highlights out of the darkness, gradually bringing it to a midtone purple/titanium white blend. I then used a dab of the phthalo to tint some more white to start adding highlights. I tried to do this as alla prima as I could, to increase the color pickup in each layer. I then used some straight phthalo to block the shapes of the hair. I started bringing out highlights in the hair by adding in some Yellow Medium Azo to the phthalo. Finally, a purple tint for the last highlights. The lips are my favorite Napthol Crimson, with the dioxazine for shading. I used the same to do the eyelids. The teeth blend the purple, yellow and crimson to a white/yellow tint. The irises are just the crimson and yellow. I then went back with my Mars Black to do some final shadow work. Then, after snapping this pick, I noticed the nose was missing some midtones to make it pop, so I fixed that. Maybe I'll take a better pic and replace this one.

I've gotten a lot of interest in the BGoG drawing, as well, mostly people looking for prints. So I've decided to give away the painting instead at the midnight event. Meanwhile, I'm still going to finish the drawing and try to find a way to reproduce it, then possibly offer prints somewhere. Not sure how I'll scan it, but I'll figure something out. Meanwhile, time for bed.