This is the first entry in a series of commissions titled "Arkham Clashes", scenes depicting Batman facing off against a rogue or rogues inspired by the Arkham series of video games created by Rocksteady. This piece takes inspiration from the Scarecrow Nightmare sequences in Rocksteady's first entry in the series, Arkham Asylum. In these sequences, Scarecrow is larger than life and towering over Batman, as he runs and takes cover to prevent certain death from Scarecrow's gaze while trying to reach the top and neutralize Dr. Crane. The sequences themselves are very surreal and hallucinogenic in their approach, simulating a true nightmare, and I remember being blown away by them when I first played the game. Even now they still hold up very well.

This piece was done by the amazing Eranga Devasurendra. I had always loved his work, but I rarely do commissions and almost exclusively focus on published covers. After discussing this idea with him, though, he was excited by the challenge, and I was excited for the opportunity. The amount of thought and detail Eranga put into this is incredible, and he spent a good bit of time studying surrealist works to get into the zone for this piece. The Escher and Dali influences scream off the page, with a number of rogues gallery Easter eggs to boot. The off kilter worm's eye perspective fits so perfectly and is as disorienting as it is beautiful. Scarecrow is the thing of nightmares, and he has never looked so scary. Look at reference pics from the game, and you will see that Eranga absolutely nailed him. This is cover quality in every way, and I am hoping for an opportunity to get this one published.

I wasn't content to just have pencil and inks, and Eranga suggested I work with Dennis Lehmann to get it colored. The second image shows the output of that, and he knocked it out of the park. It captures the essence of the game perfectly, and printed as a giclee it looks utterly incredible. Dennis does phenomenal work, and I was so happy with the end result. Eranga + Lehmann is a force to be reckoned with!

Original art is accomplished in ink over graphite on 11" X 17" art paper. Colors were done digitally but have been printed on archival paper as an 11" X 17" giclee print (which Eranga signed / denoted as PP 1/1).

The next 2 in the series are already in various stages of progress, so be on the lookout for more very soon!