Heath Ledger, The Joker, Art and Subtle Acting

As far as a drawing of Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight. Well right now everyone and their mother did art of him. A perfect storm of Great new character, dead celebrity and huge hit movie that led to this glut of Ledger art.

Some may not know.. but I do not draw the recently departed. I am not a vulture and always wait about a year to honor someone without trying to profit from their death. (By the way Warhol did the Monroe silkscreen the week she died in tribute to her beauty... and that is fine since he was one of the pioneers and felt a desire to express his sentiments... but some of the art I have seen .. just seems opportunistic).

Also I work directly from the movie and try my best not to work from stills anymore (yes there are still some). My goal is always to present a new image that never existed before. Good example is the Sopranos art. There is still like that. I paused the DVD for the face, added the suit and cigar. That ended up being a very portrait type shot compared to my other drawings but I liked it.

My Frank Sinatra Art is another that you will not find and fans have never seen. (would have made a more interesting U.S. stamp than the photo someone repainted earlier this year.)

So back to Ledger (who I think gave his best performance in Brokeback Mountain) did such a great job as the Joker that people forgot the iconic Nicholson version. Have to say my favorite performance in the movie was Aaron Eckhart not just as Two-Face but the White Knight Harvey Dent. A lot of times people only notice the showy performance and don't give credit to impressive subtle work (Dustin Hoffman performance was perfect in Rain Man... but Tom Cruise had the much harder role with character arch and reactionary acting).
Now if I was going to do art....Two-Face is much more visually appealing to me thans Dent (O.K. Maybe I am weird).

In the end I would love to draw a Ledger Joker if I feel it is a strong work of art... and that I will not know until I watch the movie (frame by frame).

Please check LAartwork.com often and join the mailing list for notifications.

Also Warner Brothers does not like artists expressing their sentiments on their characters or films. So if you see snatch it while you can if it does go up for sell.

So let's hear your thoughts or what you would like to see.

Thanks,
Leon Jimenez