Sovereign "sinister" Heath Ledger Joker sculpt

Finished this today....

Reminds me of the scene in the trailers in which Joker is in the interrogation room, laughing and displaying his yellow-toothed grin.

I'd like to see your sculpt painted. Most of the Joker's appearance comes from the face paint.

Yeah, I'm curious to see it painted too because I'm really not seeing anything of Heath or the Joker in the unpainted sculpt.

Interesting take on him....
Yes, would love to have one in hand...to see it painted...

I would love to see him painted up !.

Yeah, needs to be painted to be properly judged. We've all been through how the make-up just creates the "likeness."

Definitely looks crazy...would love to see it painted...

I wouldn't call this Heath Ledger...

Painted, tweaked a bit. This has been an interesting sculpt to do. Rather experimental, very open to interpretation. I'm sure it's the end-all, be-all method of critique to look for Heath Ledger in there. Between the make-up and his great performance (what I've seen) I do not see Heath Ledger in that character at all. He really pulled a Gary Oldman with this one. And far as what Heath might look like screaming insanely? Who knows? It's gonna take away a lot from the face we're all used to seeing. An extreme expression is going to distort a person's entire face. Go give it a try look in the mirror a few seconds, then make a crazy face and look again. You'll be surprised how much that other guy doesn't look like you. I had to watch A Knight's Tale and look for frames where he was angry, or yelling to find a few characteristics of his face in that pose. Then I had to combine that with the Joker make-up. I also factored in how those scars might affect facial muscles.

I'm not makin excuses to defend the work, I knew it was rather speculative when I started it. Sculpting study/theory is as much fun to discuss as it is to practice. I think that's why I wanted to do it, the guess work. The only solid stuff I had, the stuff we're all very familiar with, was the make-up, scars and hair.

Looks rocking, painted, Shawn. Some delicate sculpting there, doing him with an open mouth. Risky and rockin. I didn't think it was going to turn out this good. Well done.

Here you go, found a good referrence for ya. good work.

Thanks, man! Haven't seen that before. I didn't do too bad, for guessing.

This is really good. Very expressive.

OK, the final version. Thanks to Imaresqd1 I was able to make a couple adjustments that really stood out to me. I rounded the eyesockets more, widened the nose at the nostrils and softened/beefed up the transition between the bridge of the nose and cheeks. I also made the hair a bit less groomed on the right side, and went a bit broader with the lipstick. I'd like to do a small run, 20 or so. They would be available painted and unpainted. Let me know if anyone is interested......

I still don't see any of Ledger in the sculpt. Sorry.

But it really looks like the Joker if he'd been envisioned by Rob Zombie, which would be a deeply disturbing entity in itself!!

Interesting sculpt but the mouth seems to be sunk in a bit. I'd agree with the Rob Zombie take.

I agree it doesn't look like Ledger, but it is a good comicy sculpt of the Joker.

Suggest toning down the green hair a little though.

Snake Sucker said:

I agree it doesn't look like Ledger, but it is a good comicy sculpt of the Joker.

Suggest toning down the green hair a little though.

Click to expand...

Definitely tone down the green.

OK, have a look at this....


I altered the cheekbones/lower portion of the face. I guess he looked a bit corpse-like, probably what inspired the Rob Zombie comments. I also altered the scars. I had them too low. In the actual still, they come pretty close to his eyes when he smiles.



Digital alterations: I lowered the brow to make his eyes less visible, receded the hairline more and toned down the green. On the sculpt the top teeth are visible, I just took the pic at too much of an angle.


I do need some advice on the eyes. I think lowering the brow makes it seem more accurate, but I'm not sure how keen you guys would be of a sculpt with virtually no eyes. Do you guys think it would look better, or should I leave them more open? Also, do the hair alterations help?