Epilogue – Painted Movie Poster Art Series – Feature #4: “The Dark Knight” 10th Anniversary

Series Overview:
– Epilogue Art Series is a mixed-media series by artist Damon Kardon honouring classic horror/sci-fi films and the creative promotional art that was presented to the public at the time of their premiere dates. All films represented in this art series celebrate a milestone anniversary of the films’ release and the impact they have made on pop culture history.

Kardon has chosen specific films that influenced him over the years through their distinct tone, cinematography and direction. He is expressing his emotions felt from viewing each film through his art process, painting key images and colors that also represent the story of each film. Each poster design starts as a painting and then is manipulated in Photoshop.

As a kid who loved going to the movies (and also enjoyed the classic painted poster designs of Drew Struzan ), Damon has dreamed of bringing his art style into the world of interpretive movie posters. The term “Epilogue”, in film, represents the final scenes in which a recap or narrative of what happens to the characters is given. It can be represented in a montage, which is how Damon interprets these works he is creating.

Sneak Preview :
– Be sure to enhance your viewing/reading experience by watching the original movie trailer for The Dark Knight, released on July 18th, 2008 via Warner Bros. Pictures.

About the Painting:
– The Dark Knight was released in theaters 10 years ago on July 18th, 2008. It was and still remains the quintessential superhero movie! It just has the perfect balance of suspense, action, despair, revenge and retribution. What makes this movie such a classic, though, is its inspired and crafted performances from its actors and actresses. I can’t say more than what has already been said about Heath Ledger’s Joker, only that looking at it again after ten years, it just gets better with age. It really makes you miss him more and wonder where his acting career would have taken him next. This role already was some next level shit.

Christian Bale also delivers his most lived-in, emotional take on Batman than in any of the trilogy. He never fails to deliver. Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent (as well as an excellent Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon) round out this amazing cast. I just still can’t get over how much talent filled this movie. Hand it to Director Christopher Nolan who was the master at giving these Batman movies heft and emotional depth, all while making them so thrilling.

This is one of my favorite movies and I really wanted to capture the key ingredients in this painted poster. I wanted the key players to be represented along with one of my favorite scenes (when the bat-cycle ejects from the bat-mobile and zooms through Gotham City). – Damon Kardon

Feature #4: “The Dark Knight”:
– Check out Damon’s creative process by scrolling through the photos below.

“The Dark Knight” – Original Poster Art from 2008:

The Series & Future Artwork:

– Coming up in Feature #5… “Vertigo”.

– Feature #3… “2001: A Space Odyssey” 50th Anniversary
– Feature #2… “Rosemary’s Baby” 50th Anniversary
– Feature #1… “Christine” 35th Anniversary