Batman x Mike Mignola

Batman x Mike Mignola

ESMA 2023

Gimp, Inkscape

The first illustration project of my second year at ESMA.
We were given four characters from the Batman comics (Batman, The Joker, The Penguin and Poison Ivy) and three artists (Enrique Fernandez, Mike Mignola and Jamie Hewlett).

The idea was to re-create a character in the style of our chosen artist in a different universe (European medieval fantasy, Pirates, medieval Japan).

I chose the Penguin because I think he is a lovely and uncommon villain. For the artist, I chose Mike Mignola because his style attracted me. His black shadows and violent cutting of shapes were absolutely perfect.

Step 1 : Analysis

Analysis boards were I studied the attributes of the Penguin. His shapes, his iconic signs, but also his comics style. Same for Mike Mignola. I reproduced a drawing of Hellboy.

Step 2 : Moodboard

A moodboard to find inspiration for our universe. I chose European medieval fantasy. As usual, I took a lot of artistic references from movies, and documentary references from Wikimedia Commons. I already had some ideas for my Penguin so some images are precisely for one idea.

Some sketches were required to highlight some concepts for our character.

Step 3 : Silhouettes

Eight silhouettes of different character ideas.
During the moodboard, I had the idea of the Nun Penguin, and it immediately became my favorite.

Final board

The board must contain a 3/4 digital color drawing of our character, an action pose with the proportions mannequin, a portrait and an argumentation note. We could also write a short text about the lore of our character.

I decided to draw the character in vector drawing with Inkscape. This was the most effective way of imitating his style.

Thank you for watching !