Isn’t that a lovely image? It’s John Watkiss’ version of Sherlock Holmes, done as part of the supporting pitch for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. According to the report at Newsarama, Watkiss was approached to by one of the producers of the movie to produce a series of images to form part of the pitch based on the story at that point.
It appears to have done the trick. Now, how about someone convincing John Watkiss – missing for far too long from comics if you ask me – that he’s the man to do a comic adaptation of the new movie?
(Another Watkiss image from the pitch to the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie.)
John Watkiss has a very out of date blog and an art site for your perusal. On his blog you’ll be able to see more fantastic imagery including these from a pitch to sell Sandman as a movie a few years ago. Watkiss did full paintings to accompany the talk by Neil Gaiman and Paul Levitz did to Warner Films. Such as this one from Season Of The Mists:
Watkiss is one of those artists who seem to skirt the periiphery of comics, much respected and admired by the few who see his work, but never particularly well known. I’ve always found his work visually stunning, with a sharpness of line that creates incredibly striking work, perfectly demonstrated by these panels from James Bond, borrowed from the Lambiek profile of the artist:
Sun, May 24, 2009
Art and animation, Comics and cartoons, Film, TV and radio