He wins with just his hands...

This is the first in a series of portraits I've started, featuring people I admire. 'Heroes' it could be called. I conceived this Jackie Chan image in context of an article about him in a magazine. I wanted the text & image to work together more effectively than the usual rectangle spot or 1/2 page illustration, although I could've pushed this a lot further.

There's a lot of dichotomy within JC and his films: 'East' and 'West', violence verses pacifism, the fact that his US-made films are beloved of audiences yet strongly disliked by Chan himself. I tried to express the contrast between, on one hand, the fighting and shooting in Chan's films and on the other his distaste for violence and love of comedy, hence the pistol becoming a water pistol. The talisman is from the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon, in which Chan is tasked with preventing these 12 magical chinese zodiac charms falling into evil hands. The tiger talisman has the power of dividing the user into two people: a good side and a bad one, ying & yang. That seemed very appropriate. 

The cartoon is awesome, check it out if you haven't seen it. At the bottom I've posted up the ending theme, which is possibly the greatest song EVER. Even if it is a Wheatus song with the lyrics changed...