From one of the world’s most high-profile film careers, to an increasingly prolific musical career and a rather acrimonious recent divorce, Johnny Depp has long courted headlines. Now, he is attracting attention for the speedy sales of a collection of silk-screen prints he has painted of several well-known faces, including Heath Ledger and Bob Marley, and have reportedly fetched £4.5m in the first week.

"For many years, I really held myself strictly to just the day job of the film business, even though in my heart and forever I’ve been a musician, and I’ve always needed to escape into a blank piece of paper, whether it be writing, drawing or painting a blank canvas," Depp says in a release.

The four-piece edition series  are priced each at £17,500 (the total revenue price includes the sale of proofs). It follows an earlier set of works by the star, which included depictions of Al Pacino and Elizabeth Taylor, and which were sold last July for a total of £3.5m.

The works are being presented by Castle Fine Art, a subsidiary of the Washington Green Fine Art retail group, which has also offers works by Bob Dylan, Billy Conolly and Marvel.