In the upcoming documentary I Am Heath Ledger, the late, titular actor is painted as something of a Renaissance man. Though his career was made in front of the camera, he was often holding one of his own off-set, constantly recording home videos and documenting the world around him. He loved taking photographs, capturing stills of the London Underground, the contemplative faces of former girlfriends, and deserted Australian landscapes. Now, you can see exclusive images of Ledger’s experimental artwork in the gallery above.

It’s a fascinating, little-known side to the actor, who was celebrated in life for his performances in films like The Dark Knight (for which he earned a posthumous Oscar) and Brokeback Mountain. The documentary delves into the life of the man behind-the-scenes, a restless creator who loved to moonlight as a photographer, then give those photos a personal touch.

He’d often take a marker, paint, nail polish to a print, swirling on an abstraction of primary colors. A black and white image of a train is cheered up by swaths of blue and yellow paint; an image of a much younger Ledger is swiftly Jackson Pollack-ed, whipped into a frenzy of black and red and orange strokes.

His friends were similarly artistic. In the documentary, Ledger’s best friend Trevor Di Carlo accompanies him on all his filming escapades, snapping rare images of the raffish star in his downtime. You can see those images above as well; one captures Ledger as he leans in the middle of the floor, camera in hand. In another, he’s running down an empty street in Australia. Ledger took the latter photo and marked it up, scratching in ghostly stick figures as though they too were running with their arms outstretched on the wide open road. The result is kinetic and wild, like much of Ledger’s personal artwork. It’s the same expressive quality that carried over into Ledger’s work as an actor, cementing his reputation as a multi-faceted movie star—one whose work is still worthy of discussion and admiration long after his untimely death in 2008.

I Am Heath Ledger, directed by Derik Murray and Adrian Buitenhuis, opens in limited theatrical release on May 3, then will air on Spike on May 17.