How to draw Joker – Joaquin Phoenix

A portrait-style bust captures the Joker mid-transformation, that heavy-eyed, painted-face look pulled straight from the 2019 film, and this tutorial on how to draw Joker – Joaquin Phoenix walks through the clown makeup and shading in 12 steps. It sits alongside other film and comic superheroes guides on the site, though this one leans more toward dramatic realism than action poses.

A Portrait Built Around Clown Makeup and Dramatic Shading

This is a bust composition, no hands or costume details to worry about below the shoulders, so all 12 steps focus on the face structure, the heavy theatrical makeup, and the color work that defines the character. The shading on the white face paint and the red smile are where most of the detail sits, and the somber expression means the proportions need to stay tight to keep the likeness intact.

Key Visual Features of This Character

• Green shoulder-length hair, slightly wavy
• White face paint with teal eye markings
• Red painted brows, nose, and wide smile
• Dark red suit jacket with green shirt and tie
• Heavy downward expression with hooded eyes

If you want more DC-adjacent character practice, Donna Troy and Starfire are both on the site with full step-by-step walkthroughs, and Hawkgirl is a solid option if you want to tackle a character with a more complex costume setup.

Reading the Step Colors in This Guide

Each step uses a three-color system to show what is happening at that stage:

• Red Color: lines added in the current step.
• Black Color: lines completed earlier.
• Gray Color: base sketch for structure.

How to Draw Joker – Joaquin Phoenix: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 01

Step 02

Step 03

Step 04

Step 05

Step 06

Step 07

Step 08

Step 09

Step 10

Step 11

Step 12

Finished the Drawing? Share It and Keep Going

Drop your finished Joker portrait in the comments below, it’s always good to see how different artists handle the shading on that white face paint. New tutorials get posted to Facebook and Telegram as soon as they go live, a new YouTube video based on existing guides goes up every single day, and Pinterest stays updated regularly if that’s where you save references. For more DC work, check out Alan Scott the Golden Age Green Lantern or Superman in the fist-first flying pose as a next challenge. If you want to support the site, the Patreon page has unique hand-drawn coloring pages available to patrons.