Mad Love

After putting off this piece for too long I'm pleased to finally have this up and posted. The plan was to have this up to coincide the release of Suicide Squad, but my busy schedule combined with the not so great end result of the movie put this on the backburner for bit, until now.

The Joker and Harley Quinn are undoubtably pop culture icons, now more than ever. Their looks and representations across media have been a joy to behold, from the comics, to the much-acclaimed Animated Series, to video games such as Injustice, and now for the first time ever for Quinn, in the silver scree. For this piece however I wanted to go back to the basics, and with that, I opted to do my own personal rendition of the ever-famous Alex Ross cover to the Harley Quinn one-shot from the No Man's Land saga.

Drawing Harley was a delight, and there was no doubt I was going to depict her in her classic black and reds considering the Batman TAS version remains to be the real deal when it comes to the character. She's changed her looks up ever since then, however I still dream for the day she goes back to her original duds, which just had so much character in it and oozed more sexiness than her skimpier modern outfits which I've grown to despise.

The Joker was more of a challenge as I wanted to put my own definitive style in portraying him. My take is undoubtably inspired by the TAS version as well, with the slicked-back green hair, thin and pointy jaw, and that iconic smile accentuated by his dark eyes. I originally planned to depict this piece with Harley and Ivy behind her (because c'mon who doesn't ship those two), but I couldn't pass up getting to draw the Clown Prince of Crime so I opted to go for a straight up rendition of the Alex Ross piece.

While the pose may not be original, I hope I was able to add enough of my style to make this piece stand out from other renditions of the same work. It truly is an iconic piece of art, and when it was featured briefly on Suicide Squad I couldn't help but jump in excitement. While the movie left much to be desired, these two clowns will carry on being a thorn in Batman's side, and will always be one of the most iconic duos in comic book history despite their self-destructive relationship.