The Dark Knight returns to my blog

This came out a little thicker and heavier than I like Batman to be, though a far cry from the bulky bodybuilder version I've seen recently. And I do love this classic costume. He doesn't seem to have a waist though, the ribcage is jammed right down against the pelvis. I hate when that happens.

Looks pretty good with some color on it. 

This is my attempt at the slender Batman. I imagined him somehow having a quiver on his back and pulling an arrow from it or something. Lol, didn't make sense when I drew the cape on. So maybe he's scratching his head. Hey, bats can get fleas.

These were copied from something—probably by Jim Aparo.

For the top one the idea was he's high on the wall of some warehouse over a river, letting himself fall back gracefully, doing a tuck-and-roll, and then emerging in a perfect dive. I really liked the much more graceful and acrobatic heroes of the 70's—Daredevil was another example.

Every once in a while, even during my Summer of Superheroes, I still just did generic figures in action poses. But I was definitely thinking superheroes.

This one was undoubtedly conceived as a Batman pose. 

This drawing is from one of my 90's sketchbooks. Man, I was really drawing powerfully and intuitively then!! This is one of my favorites from that period. So I decided to color it in...

I think if I kept working it I could turn this into something really good, it would just take some work. But I lost interest when the energy of the original sketch got lost. Now it's midway between that rough sketch and a more fully developed painting.

Actually, scrolling up and down this page, this piece jumps out from the rest, probably because of the unusual darkness and coloring, plus the fact that we're viewing him from the shadow side rather than the lit side. All very eye-catching.