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 Art tips and techniques, reviews and interviews from my studio. Archived here and at World Famous Comics. Comics 101 for 07/10/2003 Chewbacca Memorial Painting: Week One - Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good paintbrush at your side, kid. This week I'm prepping to leave for Comic Con International in San Diego, CA July 16th-20th and later this month gearing up for Wizard World Chicago, IL August 8th-10th. I'm also busy with my new Moonstone Books comic book project currently so I'll be re-running an archived feature from Comics 101 for this month and early August. If you are heading to either of these shows be sure to find me in Artist Alley for both events where I'll be signing and selling my original Star Wars artwork and drawing sketches for fans. I'll see you in San Diego next week and enjoy this look back at this previous Comics 101 feature! I was offered the task of creating artwork as a cover illustration for a Star Wars fan magazine when I was contacted by it's main editor. They were dedicating an entire issue to the walking carpet and lovable fuzzball, Chewbacca, who was killed off recently in the 'New Jedi Order' novels (a Lucasfilm decision to make the main heroes, who always escape tragedy, more vulnerable to the new, alien threat attacking the Star Wars universe). I felt somewhat compelled and honored to have the chance to illustrate him so I accepted the assignment. The parameters for this cover illustration were very open to me as long as I made Chewie the main focus of the piece. I could work in any medium I chose also. Knowing I wanted to create more full color work for my portfolio, to attract more assignments from future clients, I decided to brush up and expand upon my painting skills. Acrylics are the medium I often work in when I choose to do traditional, full color, painted illustrations. Often, it's a mixed-media technique when I add airbrush and color pencils to the piece as I did in this instance. The more you plan up front, the more successful your artwork will be I often find. Though, there's always room for... uhm... happy accidents (that's a 'Bob Ross' term doesn't it?). The acrylics I'll be using are Liquitex brand though they are just my preference. Any art supply store should have a suitable brand if they don't carry these popular paints. I use a very wide variety of flat and round tipped Windsor Newton brushes from the smallest being triple zero to beyond a size twelve or even larger depending on the painting. I often use larger size brushes to block in large areas of paint quickly. I also have a tacklebox full of Berol Prismacolor and Design Spectracolor pencils that I'll be using. For the background of the painting and some lighting effects, I'll be using my Paasche double action airbrush and a diaphragm air compresser. ...the first step into a larger world As with any illustration, I begin drawing rough 'thumbnails' or small sketches in my sketchbook until I find a design that speaks to me (Example A). With Chewbacca, I also decided to draw some of the other characters with the closest association to him in the Star Wars mythos. Of course, what would Chewie be without Han and what would Han be without Leia? What would Han and Chewie be without the Millenium Falcon (it is essentially another character)? And finally, what would any heroes be without an arch nemesis? So I chose to illustrate everyone's favorite enigmatic, galactic bad-ass, Boba Fett. I basically wanted the chance to paint all of these great characters for my portfolio. I also designed the drawing to have Chewie somewhat as the protector of Han and Leia keeping himself between them and the danger of Fett. But Han is no sissy so I wanted to also have him reacting to the gunslinging pose I created for the villainous bounty hunter.  Example A Since I planned on painting from photo reference, to get the likenesses of such recognizable characters as accurate as possible, I actually prepared my design after referencing the many Star Wars books and hundreds of photos I have in my personal library. Narrowing down the photo reference I wanted to use before I began sketching helped me compose my design more effectively and efficiently also (plus it's always fun for me to look through all my cool Star Wars books as an excuse for work). The dominant image of Chewbacca was taken from my personal photo reference that I shot while visiting the 'Star Wars: Magic of Myth 'exhibit in Washington, D.C. I liked this photo of Chewie that I took and felt it was appropriate for the emotion and theme I wanted to convey in the painting as more of a memorial piece. I wanted to portray him not as a vicious, intimidating animal, which is what Stormtroopers usually see, but more of a gentle, heroic creature. This is also why I added the detail of the ceremonial medallion identical to the ones Luke and Han receive at the end of 'Star Wars'. For the secondary design elements of Han and Leia, I tried working from stills that weren't very often seen printed since hundreds of artists everywhere usually end up illustrating from the same convienent photo reference that is out there. The image of Fett was actually composed from about four different sources from photo reference to create a unique and original pose for my drawing. By adding my own technique and skills as a painter, my design sense, and my use of color, I try to the best of my ability to not just copy the photo but to create an exciting looking illustration. As a final touch and a nice accent to the design, I decided to illustrate the image of the Millenium Falcon blasting away towards the lush green planet of Kashyyyk, Chewie's planet, as if he were finally going home. The next step in the creation process was for me to take my thumbnail design and begin redrawing it to full size on board. I use cold press illustration board (for a more textured surface) that is 2-ply (for thickness and sturdiness) and cut it beyond the 11x17 inches final size at about 14x 20 inches (in order to give myself some bleed or extra space around the frame of reference to work with). Working larger than the final 8.5x11 print size allows for my painting to tighen up with sharper detail when reduced. I completed the final sketch with a number 2 pencil on the illustration board (Example B). I keep the drawing at this stage very tight. I've learned the stronger the drawing is, the stronger your final painting will be. Strong and well developed drawing and design skills are just as imporant to the painting as the final technique. When I complete the drawing, I email it to the editor for approval after scanning it into my computer.  Example B Next week I'll discuss the first step of the painting process as we begin to add color to the illustration. -Joe Recent Columns:
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