Ralph McQuarrie, conceptual artist responsible for much of the look and feel of Star Wars, was once quoted to say, “I just did my best to depict what I thought the film should look like, I really liked the idea. I didn’t think the film would ever get made. My impression was it was too expensive.”
Every piece of art inspired by Star Wars since then has been free of such limitations. The galaxy has been the limit, with not only endless images to draw from but boundless imagination, new tools, and a universe of other sources to draw from.
Today’s artist has taken the challenge to heart: delving into multiple media and sources for his creative hyper-drive. Now padawan finds himself the master, teaching other artists how to channel their talents. And like a Jedi, Ivan Castillo finds balance is the key.
“Star Wars and art have been a part of my life as far as I can remember. I describe myself as quirky and fun and always willing to talk to anyone and make friends.”
“My work is in Watercolor, Acrylic, Color Pencil and Markers, but one style that sets me apart is the use of Craft Foam to create “3D art”, best exemplified in my CAPTAIN REX piece. I also enjoy doing mash-ups, where I combine 2 different Pop Culture characters into one. I have published an original comic book titled “The Outer Worlds” with Award Winning writer, Brett Harris. Many of you may have seen my art at CELEBRATION 2019.”
“I updated design for Tshirts for ROAD SQUADRON (the cars that were on display in Chicago). I designed the Tshirt for SWAG CREW, and the “Star Warriors” patch which was very popular. This summer, I will be an art instructor at Washington College Academy in Tennessee.”
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
As we continue to explore the wide vista of talent that have been inspired by Star Wars we keep discovering that there is so much more magic out there than what shows up on the professional circuit. A generation of young artists have grown up in a digital age, with tools and inspiration at their finger tips that were unheard of when the movies first came out. But the enduring appeal of the Saga continues to spark the flame of creativity.
Today’s artist is still in college but is already preparing for a lifetime of artistic achievement. She debuted on the fandom scene in my home state of South Carolina and she has made it her stage. Prop-making, costuming, cosplay performance, digital design, and visual arts are all crafts she has mastered well beyond her years. Please join me today in saluting Sasha Galvan!
“I’m 20 years old going in to my third year of college focusing on art and design. I’ve been drawing since I was very young. My art work is mostly done I’m charcoal, paint or ink I love focusing on all the tiny details and making things look as realistic as I can. Somehow this spun into a passion for making costume and props which is what I spend a majority of my time doing now.”
“What drew me to illustrate Star Wars as a subject? I guess that would Be Matt Cohen. We met at SC ComicCon while I was in my Jawa costume and later he saw my work on Instagram and told me about the 501st and the fundraisers done with these designs. and got me to do some designs for North and South Carolina garrisons.”
Contact for commissions : spoopyghuleh@gmail.com
Instagram page : @tall_jawa
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Have you ever played scenes back in your head of star ships, robots, wizards, and epic space battles? Ever taken the time to try and draw them out, adding your own special touch? Then you were an artist! Whether you followed up on those sketches with a career or just played around in school – you took up the craft of art and felt the magic it contains. Not all of us followed that path to a professional career, but that’s not a problem – everyone is free to express their imagination. In fact, some still do in their spare time. And what better way to express yourself and have fun. That’s what today’s Star Wars Artist does. Meet Sean Soehl, full time IT professional and part-time artist. He shows us what it means to keep the Force strong in his imagination and we love what we see!
“Hi! Im Sean…an Army veteran who went to the police academy before becoming an IT nerd for a local hospital system here in NC haha. I’m a husband to my hero who is a doctor and we have a sassy little girl. I love painting/drawing Star Wars subjects because it is my favorite movie series and story ever, and so many of the characters resonate with me (like they do with so many of us). I dont actually sell my art yet but I have been told maybe I should start, so stay tuned for that. Thanks and May the Force Be with You, ALWAYS.”
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Star Wars may have originated in the United States but it is hardly limited to an American appeal. Fans all around the world have been inspired by the story and inspiration is just the fuel for artistic creation. Nothing could be more true for Sascha Raabe, our featured artist today. George Lucas made a creative statement with his depiction of the Imperials dressed in stark blacks and whites, and some of the most pure expressions of art shine in a monochromatic palette. Pencils, black ink sketches, dark charcoals: they strip away color to let the viewer see a stark and clear expression of the subject. And that is where Sascha operates. His works are works of creative reduction and profiles of characters seen in a clear perspective.
My name is Sascha Raabe, I’m 23 years old and I live in Germany. I’ve been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a kid. In “real life”, I work in a notary’s office. For me, the Star Wars universe is a place to dream. It stands for creativity, it’s fascinating, inspiring and the perfect place to go when I want to escape the everyday’s life. In 2015, I joined the 501st Legion, which gives me the feeling of being a meaningful part of the Star Wars history. In this great community, I met so many great people that became my closest friends and chosen family. All this makes Star Wars a hobby unlike any else.
Drawing has always been my most favourite thing to do, and of course Star Wars quickly became subject number one. For me as a kid, it was interesting and challenging trying to draw all these different droids, armors and creatures throughout the universe.
I’ve always been trying to improve myself and find my own style. Through the years, I concentrated on pencil drawings. Now I’m at a point where I want to show my fanarts to the public, to be one of the many great Star Wars artists out there.
I don’t offer any products yet. But if there’s a growing interest I will definitely consider it!
You can follow me on Instagram right here: www.instagram.com/allgaeu_trooper
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Community is the concept among humans that if you bring the right people together, they benefit from one another and are better for it. Artists often cite one city or country that drew them in, inspired them, fueled their creativity. It might be the flowers in Japan or the canals of Venice: something about a place or its peoples that help an artist channel their inner vision.
I’d like to think that’s happened with the Star Wars fan community. It certainly seems to be the case for today’s featured artist: Marietta Ivanova, who has both elevated and been elevated by her time in the 501st Legion Costuming Group. She came onto the scene by storm and rocked it with her paintings and her impressive craftsmanship in armor and other mediums of costuming.
Marietta is an illustrator and graphic designer from Finland. She loves making Star Wars fan art, comics and stories, and building Star Wars costumes. One look at her pieces and you realize they come from a special place. Dark hues intermingle with precisely placed illumination to create a very real sense that you are face to face with some of the most powerful figures from another galaxy.
“I make my art in highly realistic style with meticulous details. I often spend hours upon hours researching background material to give a very screen-faithful look to the subject of my art. However I love to mix it up by choosing unexpected topics and highlighting characters that don’t get that much attention. I really enjoy making stories, comics and art about stormtroopers, for example.”
What drew you to illustrating Star Wars as a subject?
“To me Star Wars is the perfect escape to a world of creativity and endless stories to visualize. Nothing inspires me like science fiction, especially the galaxy far far away. Many don’t know that before joining this community, I had been struggling with an “art block” – I didn’t make any art for almost seven years. That period ended when I was so inspired by Star Wars fan fiction by a fellow fan that I wanted to illustrate it. The creativity just caught on like fire and everything else followed.”
“Now I am endlessly lucky to be surrounded by all you wonderful people. In this community we keep on inspiring each other to be creative, to build, to laugh, to go to events and to have unforgettable time, to be international and make new friends, to support each other and to look for new challenges. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to give back to the community in the form of art. Thank you fellow fans and creators for the chance to share this wonderful adventure with you.”
“I am creating only Star Wars fan art, not licensed Disney products. This is why the art that I make is not for sale. But you can view all of them on my webpage and social media. People who like my art style can also contact me to commission a single custom piece of art with the subject of their choosing.“
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Michael Locoduck Duron is consistently high on life and markers. Having jumped at light speed from drawing comics on stapled pieces of notebook paper to being lucky enough to illustrate some of the greatest characters in any galaxy, he’s never looked back.
His earliest professional work began in 2005 with Topps Trading Cards drawing Lord of the Rings, Heroes, and Indiana Jones sketch cards and eventually making his way to Star Wars. In addition to the thousands of sketch cards he created for those universes, Michael has become very well known for his Marvel stylized trading cards from Upperdeck.
He’s more than a one trick ducky, and has also created comic book cover art for Betty and Veronica, Zombie Tramp, and is the creator of several comic book projects including his all ages adventure Sugar Boogarz. When not buried under that work, you can find him creating Caricature and event art all over Central Florida, but particularly at the Walt Disney World Resort. Michael is also an Honorary Member of the 501st Legion, and has created artwork for several garrisons and one of R2-KT’s very first patch designs. You may have also picked up one of his official t-shirt designs for Star Wars Celebration. He recently launched a new webcomic that helps him deal with the dark side of depression called Life N Death.
What drew you to Star Wars?
“Star Wars was the greatest fantasy and escape I could imagine. As a little boy I could picture myself taking on Darth Vader with a light saber one day, or being a scoundrel wooing the princess the next. The sheer amount of fantastical characters that George Lucas created has inspired me to create exciting images of my own.”
“I try not live in the borders of exactness when I’m putting line to paper. With this Universe you can interpret the heroes, droids, scum and villainy anyway you want and still manage to connect with the fans. Not to mention that Star Wars is always growing, and constantly giving us new things to discover and work with. Any artist that plays in this Galaxy HAS to imagine themselves as kid in a galactic candy shop!”
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Today’s feature artist for Star Wars Artist Month has been quietly putting out designs for the Star Wars community that have energized charity causes and raised the profile of fan organizations for years. He has created some of the finest graphic designs, campaign posters, concepts, and logos to make everyone look amazing. Meanwhile he creates vivid sketches of everything from Imperial armored troopers to fantasy figures to Chthulhu himself. All that look like lost pages from a Hollywood storyboard. When you look at Dave’s work you don’t just see a new style, you honestly feel like you’re peeking at an entirely undiscovered treasure trove of living, breathing story content with a lot of thought behind it. It makes you want to know more, makes you want to see where it’s all going. Art is at its best when it triggers the imagination and Dave’s work never just sits on the page. It compels you to take a journey…
Dave Liew has amassed 20+ years in the creative industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He’s honed his skills in interior design, post production, architecture 3d visualization, and character conceptualizing.
In the last eight years he’s been working closely in the performing arts scene. He unofficially joined the 501st as a minder 8 years ago, starting his other creative journey designing for 501st members around the globe. Now he’s officially a member as Snowtrooper ST77107. Dave currently illustrates graphic novels and renders 3D models of spaceships for boardgames for a community-based alternate reality sci-fi storytelling group called Unity Macroverse.
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Star Wars Artist Month has seen artists come from all sorts of backgrounds, and from all over the world. Today’s featured artist is Giancarlo Bockos: a pillar of the Star Wars fan community. His experience in design has given him a creative eye on everything from the visual arts to prop-making and costuming. His creative mind has pushed him to a wide array of mediums all in the pursuit of creative expression.
Giancarlo is an Italian Industrial Designer with 20 years experience in the product design field. Born and raised in Perù, he moved to Italy in his teens and has been working in the US for almost 10 years now.
Star Wars has always been a big part of his life. His first memories of anything Star Wars related was talking about it with his Kindergarten friends, wanting a 12” Darth Vader because the lightsaber was just like the one in the movie (not the “weird” one in the small scale Kenner figure). This attention to detail would reflect years later on his passion for props.
Drawing, model making and building LEGOs as a kid fed his passion for the saga. This led to Giancarlo to all kinds of new roles: amateur comic artist and caricaturist, prop and costume maker, 3D modeler and designer. And drawing characters and vehicles off the Kenner toys catalogs turned into drawing comic strips and illustrations
Giancarlo was part of the editorial staff of the biggest Italian Star Wars website in the late 90’s : guerrestellari.net, Just when Star Wars was coming back he worked with his brother, Piero, on digital comic strips to populate the far art pages of the website. Later some of these strips were published in the “Star Wars Alliance” Italian fan club magazines, as well as in the short-lived Italian publication of the Star Wars Insider magazine.
Costuming
In 2003 Giancarlo and his brother joined the Fighting 501st Legion costuming organization, and have used their art to help the organization ever since. You might have seen the “V-Twins” at Star Wars events like the 1997 Special Edition release, the 2007 501st Rose Parade Spectacular (including the Documentary Star Warriors), or even in a cameo as the Jedi Council guards in the hit fan film Dark Resurrection.
Between them, the V-Twins have created dozens of logos, patches, pins, illustrations, posters, flyers, and caricatures for the Legion’s many Garrisons and members around the world as well as for other Star Wars fan organizations. Some of these include the Static Burst logo (501st online magazine), caricatures for the featured interviewees, the Galactic Academy logos and characters, patches for R2-KT, merchandising for the Italica Garrison as MBO, and many posters, logos and merchandising for Italian Star Wars fan events.
One of the highlights of Giancarlo’s 501st history was being part of the Rose Parade as a Biker Scout.
“This was one of the greatest experiences one could aspire to! On top of that my brother and I were able to meet George Lucas and hand him a copy of our Star Wars strips collection book!”
Propmaking
Building a LEGO X-wing and ED-209 as a kid, a self-designed paper Thunder Tank and a Ghostbusters Proton Pack for his brother led to prop making and his Industrial Design career. Discovering that the modelmakers at ILM during ANH were Industrial Design students made him appreciate his career path even more.
His love and knowledge of Star Wars and his passion about costume accuracy (remember the Vader lightsaber toy?) worked perfect with his 3D modelling and rapid prototyping professional skills. He’s been designing and printing parts for almost 20 years, way before 3D printing was a mainstream tool
Today Giancarlo still creates Star Wars art for himself or friends, t-shirts, merchandising, and more. He will admit he’s got way too many hobbies, including fixing up old motorcycles in his garage.
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
Few artists can boast that their work has passed the approval process of an actual queen. But today’s artist has been involved in projects so broad in their appeal that even he seems surprised at the scope of it. Malcolm Tween got on the radar early, catching the eyes of Lucasfilm with his stellar professional works featuring Star Wars characters. Drawing off the influences of early Star Wars greats like Drew Struzan, famous for his Star Wars cinema posters, Malcolm has managed to bring the original big screen splendor of Star Wars illustrations to the new era of films. Young fans today can enjoy the same larger than life spectacle off the screen as did the original fans. Early experience as a technical illustrator and a kick from Star Wars at a young age steered his imaginative mind to a galaxy far, far away.
Malcolm is an illustrator living and working in the UK. He co-founded Digital Progression in 1997, an entirely digital illustration studio working for advertising agencies, design companies and game publishers. Whilst a lot of his work over the years has been for video-game covers and advertising campaigns, he’s also worked on concept art, animation and even VR. A diverse range of clients includes Atari, Atlantic Records, BMW, Disney, EA, Microsoft, Sega and Sony amongst many others.
He first started working for Lucasfilm in 2004, creating promotional artwork for various projects including Revenge of the Sith and Indiana Jones. Most recently he has illustrated three sets of award winning Royal Mail Star Wars special edition UK postage stamps, featuring characters, creatures and droids from across the films, probably the only Star Wars merchandise to be officially approved by the Queen! The final set was released in 2019 to coincide with the launch of The Rise of Skywalker.
Malcolm has also created exclusive prints for eight Star Wars Celebrations throughout America, Europe and Japan.
We asked Malcolm: what is it about Star Wars that inspires you as an artist?
“Technically I’ve been drawing Star Wars since 1977 when I was six years old, It’s just that I didn’t get to do it for Lucasfilm until a little later down the line! I think for a lot of people who grew up with the original trilogy especially, it’s just built into our cultural DNA, everything comes back to Star Wars. When I started doing work for Lucasfilm I was actually amazed how much freedom we were allowed, I love the fact we get the opportunity to tell our own little stories within these amazing worlds.”
We are honored to share Malcolm’s story today in Star Wars Artist Month and we hope is work like that of other artists will inspire the next generation of kids to embrace the power of the Force within their own minds!
FYI here’s a fantastic article on StarWars.com discussing Malcolm’s experience producing the super secret Star Wars stamps series:
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
When people talk about artists, they usually think of someone slaving away in a loft at a canvas, detached from the world perched in their creative space. But creativity lives in all of us. The magic to breathe life into characters you know and love is only limited by your imagination. And today’s artist fearlessly does just that. Tod Allen Smith is known across the fan community as someone who can weave the magic we only wish for.
Tod Allen Smith has been a Star Wars artist with Topps trading cards, having worked on various sketch card sets since 2007. His dream as a kid in the late 70’s was to be part of Star Wars, and that dream came true. Then in 2019, Tod was asked by the Mandalorian Mercs to draw a special print to use for charity at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. The print was noticed by more than just the casual Star Wars fan.
Along with working for Topps and other trading card companies, Tod has also done illustrations for role playing and table top skirmish games. His work captures the kind of sci-fi and fantasy that resonates with fans. And just like any Jedi master, Tod uses his gifts to teach art to kids and adults alike.
When Tod isn’t hard at work on his art, he works part time for AMED EMS in Altoona Pennsylvania.
Some of Tods work can be found at https://m.facebook.com/ZeroGGraphics/
His earlier work can be viewed at https://www.deviantart.com/norvandell
Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!
