"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Whenever possible, I tried to tie in the color for "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" with what Lynn Varley did in the original graphic novel. Occasionally I would deviate for dramatic reasons or if there was a scene in the movie that wasn't in the original graphic novel. In the case of the taxi cab scene, it was a little of both. The characters Joanie and Silk were off panel in the book so their colors had to be established. Also, we thought that the lighting in the back of the cab should give a sense of dread and have a claustrophobic feeling. There was a scene in front of a bar in "Mean Streets" that everything was bathed in red, so I thought that would give the right mood. I figured that the taxi driver would have had his foot on the brake and that the red of the brake light was reflecting into the cab's interior. I know, not likely, but it does look pretty cool, right?

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts I did for for "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts I did for for "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts I did for for "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts I did for for "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts I did for for "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

Joker's Playing Cards

Joker's Playing Cards, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Production painting for the "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" DTV movie.

™Warner Bros. Animation.

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" Colorscripts

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts for the "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" DTV movie which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

™Warner Bros. Animation.

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" Colorscripts

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" Colorscripts, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Colorscripts for the "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" DTV movie which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

™Warner Bros. Animation.

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" Concept Art

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" Concept Art, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

This is a concept piece of Gotham City I did for the "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" movie. In this movie, Thomas Wayne is Batman instead of Bruce Wayne and he has turned Gotham into a seedier version of Las Vegas. I thought it would've been cool if we had some of those big digital billboards that Vegas has in Gotham. That idea didn't make it into the final designs (it would've added too much added animation to the scene), but the overall flavor remained intact. I color scripted the entire "Flashpoint" movie and it's only the second time we've done that for a DTV (the first being the "Dark Knight Returns" two part DTV). I'm really happy how the color came out in the finished film. "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" is available now on iTunes and will be available on Blu-Ray/DVD July 30th.

™Warner Bros. Animation.

"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" - Trailer Debut

The trailer for "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" is finally out. I can't really talk much about it, except that I colorscripted the entire movie and everyone is really happy how it came out. I think it's one of the best looking DTVs we've ever done.

Crime Alley development art

Crime Alley development art, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Right after I finished work on "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" I color scripted the two part "The Dark Knight Returns" DTV based on the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. More development went into this DTV than usual because Miller's book is considered such a classic. One of the challenges was to try to translate images from the comic to the medium of film. Not always easy, but every effort was made to do so. Everyone had a copy of the book at their desk and by the end of production, a lot of those books were very dog eared. Many times when a design was shown to producer Bruce Timm and director Jay Oliva, a corresponding panel from the book was along side it. When looking at how "Crime Ally" was presented in the book (upper left), one thing stood out: where was the ally part? I did this concept illustration along with a diagram (bottom left) to explain how we could translate the Miller drawing to the film. The pitch was that the lamp post in the book would be at the opening of an ally. That way, if the Wayne family was walking down the street that the movie theater was on and saw the street light from the next street over, it would makes sense that the Waynes would go down that dark ally because it would be a short cut to the next street over.

"The Dark Knight Returns" ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros Animation

Brainiac's ship

Brainiac's ship, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

Painting for Brainiac's ship from "Superman: Unbound".

™Warner Bros. Animation.

More devolpment art

More devolpment art, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

This is development art for an unproduced project at Warner Bros. Fedja Jovanovic did the original background layout drawing and I did the paint.







™Warner Bros. Animation.

More development art

More development art, a photo by William Joseph Dunn on Flickr.

This is development art for an unproduced project at Warner Bros. Fedja Jovanovic did the original background layout drawing and I did the paint.







™Warner Bros. Animation.