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Art tips and techniques, reviews and interviews from my studio. Archived here and at World Famous Comics. Comics 101 for 08/08/2002 Star Wars Gamer #6 - Battle Droids! Week 1: Star Wars Character Designs Hi Everybody! I just got back from San Diego Comic Con International and had such an amazing time. I'm currently working on a brand new project for Star Wars Insider so I figured this month's Comics 101 would be fun to look back at some of my previously published Star Wars artwork. By the way, be sure to check out my News section for my Comic Con wrap up report along with more info in the coming weeks on my upcoming Star Wars projects. Over the course of the following weeks we'll be looking at lots of visuals for the design and coloring process of my 'Battle Droids' art which appeared in Star Wars Gamer #6. When I recieved the assignment to illustrate this battle tactics article for Star Wars Gamer from my art director, the mighty Kyle Hunter, it gave me the chance to come up with original character designs for the illustration based on some brief character descriptions and notes in the text. Before I began to actually design the battle scene which would open the article I had to figure out what the heroes would look like and that was probably one of the most fun parts about this particular job. Designing original characters that exist in the Star Wars universe is the next best thing to actually drawing the more well known and famous characters from the films and books. The following artwork were my original character sketches which helped me figure out details like costume, weapons, race and personality. First up we have the Jedi leader of the group, Mynnic (Ex.A). I didn't have much to go on from the actual text of the article on this particular character except that he was a 'Jedi Consular'. The Consular type character in the Jedi ranks are referred to as healers, negotiators and scholars who are gifted with wisdom, charisma and intelligence. I instantly pictured Mynnic as a Shaman/Native American Indian type of character. Someone wise, spiritual and noble but with the ability to kick alot of butt. I'm also a big G.I.Joe fan so I based this character somewhat off of Spirit Iron-Knife (sans Freedom) as I began sketching. I figured the hi-tech headband might be a nice touch to play off of an Indian headdress and it might also serve a purpose to signify a reverred class or rank from his home planet or people. Pal-Hans-Das (Ex.B) was the 'Cerean Noble' of the group so his overall look wasn't too hard to figure out. He would have robes and a few trappings about his person to signify his class and rank in Cerean society. I decided early on his costume would consist of solid colors like a primary green perhaps and a royal purple to contrast the muted tones of Mynnic's Jedi robes. Being a Cerean I pictured him the 'brains' and tactical thinker of the group but just because he was a noble didn't mean he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. He definitely seemed like an adventurer too since he's hanging out with the like of Jedi and alien gun-slingers. I decided he should look tough and young enough to hold his own and he would be carrying a sporting blaster in the action scene. The Rodian scoundrel, Vinto (Ex.C), was fun to design since he seemed like the oddball, wildcard of this group. Lots of pockets for hidden weapons and treasures, a cape for flashiness and goggles for his big black eyeballs since I thought it seemed a little goofy and impractical for the species and to emphasis how he might be abit off-center. Being a scoundrel I figured he'd work better in dark, almost black tones for his outfit except for his cape which I planned to make red. Again, to just play up he's a bit off-center and perhaps more of a 'Lando Calrissian' type scoundrel as opposed to a 'Han Solo' type of scoundrel. Finally, I had to come up with a design for Wertsnik (Ex.D), a Trandoshan soldier who was definitely the brawn of the group. He was probably the most fun to draw out of all these interesting characters. Aliens are really fun to draw for me along with Trandoshans in general so designing one who could look tougher and meaner than his distant relative Bossk was a blast. I made his costume out of a variety of parts and materials to give him a sense of history like he's been in quite a few battles already. I contrasted his trooper armor with leather based off the Naboo security officer outfit along with arm wrappings/bandages and decided he would have more blue and brown tones in his outfit to signify a more 'blue collar' feel. I also wanted to contrast his colors with the flashiness of the Cerean Noble and the darker tones of Vinto. My favorite parts of his costume were his backpack and huge rifle. I wanted each character to really have a unique feel from one another and to play up the variety of personality and characters that make the Star Wars universe so interesting. I also wanted them to stand out and separate from the hordes of battle droids I had planned to throw against them in the battle scene. We'll look at the rough sketch and line art next week using these characters for the battle scene illustration. -Joe Recent Columns:
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