WHERE DID I GO?

SO...after that first Star Wars gig, Star Wars Galactic Files Series 2, for Topps I continued on taking baby steps into the world of sketch cards, following up with my next assignment on Mars Attacks: Invasion. I was pretty stoked because I loved the idea of being able to contribute to a new concept adding to the amazing original series released back in the '60s. New bugs, mutants and Martians!

Mars Attacks: Invasion

After that I was fortunate to be asked back for a new set of Star Wars trading cards called Star Wars Illustrated: A New Hope! The set was based on the radio drama from the early '80s. As a kid I would tune in every week and listened religiously to an expanded universe I was crazy to know more about. Yeah, no tablets, phones or fancy gadgets to watch Star Wars back then cept a VCR. With the radio drama you had to imagine what it all looked like in your head! Crazy, right? While working on these I took a trip to the New York Comic Con for the second year in a row to check it out and see what it's like. One day I'll maybe make it in their artist alley so I wanted to see what I might be getting into. My hotel was coincidentally next to the Topps building and it seemed like maybe something was coming full circle with my artwork. Something...in the Force. For once I was working on a professional gig and was travelling to NYC and working on these cards in the big city! A tiny slice of my ultimate dream to live there and pursue my artwork!

Star Wars Illustrated: A New Hope

So at this point I'm rolling along and after coming back from a trip to NYCC, I decide it's time to move on from my pretty all-consuming job at the time and find something to balance out the time I was going to need to dedicate to my artwork. I took two months off at the holidays and found something a lot less involved. During my time off I reached out to other trading card companies, sending emails with samples of my cards and landed a gig with one of my favorite companies called Monsterwax. My first set was Legendary Lovecraft. While I was vaguely familiar with the works of Lovecraft I had no idea how amazing and influential his writing was until I jumped into reading it all. A great deal of modern horror sci-fi has roots in his ideas from Alien, Predator, The Thing and so much more. To see how much of the movies I have loved my whole life were influenced by Lovecraft blew me away. This dude was the real deal! Some of his descriptions are pretty crazy detailed but it was an awesome challenge trying to capture his vision in that set of sketch cards. The really cool part was that there was little visual reference or illustrations for Lovecraft stories so I had to interpret these creatures as faithfully as I could from my head. These cards have a lot of personal value to me because I did them at time when things were changing in a big way for my artwork.

Legendary Lovecraft

From Antarctica it was back to a galaxy far, far away! Star Wars Chrome Perspectives was really nifty! The cards were smaller and they were inserted into a framed card which created a really beautiful collectible! I'm a nut for monsters and aliens so I had to draw Hoover, a Swamp Snake and other obscure creatures for the set!

Star Wars Chrome Perspectives

SWCP Final Product with the frame (AP Vader in Flames)

From this point on I had some down time between card sets and decided to submit samples of my work to be considered for the Star Wars Celebration Art Show in Anaheim. But that is for another post! For this entry, I'll just say that I made it to the concept round which was really cool but I didn't make the final cut. That was an experience in itself and I learned a lot from it. Working on official Star Wars sketch cards for Topps qualified me for eligibility as you can only submit if you have done work for Lucasfilm or one of their licensees. It was a tremendous opportunity to have some really cool people see my work that just doesn't happen every day. I learned so much that I want to write about all of that separately. I've never found any real documentation of artists experiences who have the opportunity to be considered for a Celebration Art Show. So for anyone thinking about going for it one day maybe my experience will help in some way. But again, that's for another post some other day.

Back in the saddle for more sketch cards, I had two sets for Monsterwax back to back with Monsters & Maniacs followed by Dinosaur Galaxy! Monsters & Maniacs I felt really was some of my best work. I hit a stride in the middle of those cards and they might be my favorite sketch cards to date. I think my line work really pops in those! Dinosaur Galaxy was another big leap with composition as I added more backgrounds and multiple creatures. Both sets had some fun colors too!

So here we are now!

I just wrapped three new sets! One is Star Wars Illustrated: The Empire Strikes Back and the other two I have not been given the green light to show my work yet. Both are my first sets for new companies I hope will lead to many more exciting projects down the road.

Oh! I am also working on two other sets I can't say anything about yet either. One I could say is a follow up to a set I've done before and the other is such an honor to be involved with because of the history of the set. I promise it will be really cool stuff!

Then there's an awesome secret project for an online comic I have the great fortune to be involved with as well. It's a humbling experience as it's with some amazing writers and artists headed by my own personal Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yeah, can't say anything about that one either.

For more current news on what I am up to, check me out on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/tyrantdrawnwest or for ALL of my artwork you can always see my work on Deviant Art here http://tyrant-1.deviantart.com/.

Stay tuned as I delve into the world of commissions and conventions. Woohoo!!!

Thanks for the support!

 

 

 

 

A Day Long Remembered

The 12 inch Darth Vader was the only thing in the world I wanted for my 5th birthday. We looked and looked and could never find one. I sat on my bed looking out of the window waiting for my dad to come home that day. I remember seeing my dad pull into the driveway carrying a present wrapped in green shiny paper with a big white bow. 

When I was a little kid I would draw Star Wars pictures. Darth Vader with a glowing lightsaber or TIE Fighters chasing X-wings. Big space battles with a Death Star and explosions everywhere...with the sound effects of course as I drew them. My mom and dad always told me one day maybe I would draw pictures of Star Wars for new movies and books and all kinds of stuff. They planted a seed in my head.

It's always been a dream of mine to draw Star Wars officially in some way shape or form.

Last August my wife and I attended the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando. She is the best and has always supported my art. When I saw Troy Alders from Lucasfilm would be reviewing portfolios, I had to go for a day or two, and she said lets go for the whole event. She is amazing! We were first in line for portfolio reviews!

As events unfolded going to see Troy reminded me of Neo going to see The Oracle in The Matrix. My only expectation was to see what advice he would give and hope he wouldn't tell me to keep my day job.

He was a super nice guy and had encouraging advice. He suggested I stop by several of the companies at the show and have them take a look at my work. He said my work was clean and very stylized and should be able to find work with someone there. That my style was suited for comics, t-shirts and also to maybe work on a larger scale (very cool cause I also paint murals).

Among the companies at the show, Topps was one of the ones he really suggested I go see. I was so stoked he said Topps. You see, I collected Topps Star Wars cards since I was that little kid in the picture above. Lots of Star Wars cards and lots of bubble gum. Two of my favorite things as a kid! I also collected the Galaxy card series religiously and was inspired so much by all of the artists on the set. I was fortunate to meet many of the artists at the Celebration and learn how they got into the industry. Super cool people and very kind to share their experience and advice.

My next stop at the Topps booth started to bring things full circle. It's all really too much to write in this entry but another encouraging portfolio review and some emails later...I have completed my first set of sketch cards for Star Wars Galactic Files Series 2.

When I got the invitation I read it like fifty times before I woke up my wife. I actually thought I clicked on the wrong folder. I thought it was an old email and I wasn't looking at my inbox. I thought it was also just a notification the series was coming out. No, it was an invitation to be a part of the series doing sketch cards. I ran downstairs like a little kid at Christmas. I told my wife. I called mom and dad. This was real. For real, real. I was going to draw Star Wars. I couldn't stop shaking for the next three hours. I also couldn't sleep that night.

I could not have done this with out a lot of people behind me along the way. Mom and dad are the best for encouraging me and believing in me. My wife is the best for being there to support me. My best pal Roger [link] who taught me so much I can't even say, has always been a huge inspiration. I also have to say thanks to Joe Hogan [link]. Dude has inspired and encouraged me along this path the last year. Joe's journey really made me think I could do this. Allen, your time is coming man. Thanks so much to all of you who have followed and supported my artwork and all of the kind words and inspirations you have shared.

It's been quite a journey to this point. I can't thank you enough and can't wait to share more of the journey ahead. 

So here are two sets for Star Wars Galactic Files Series 2:

That kid in the picture above. That's how I feel right now. Today I finally get to tell the world I drew Star Wars. 

It will be a day long remembered.

-Chris

HERDING THE CATS RUNNING AROUND IN MY HEAD

Through my whole life people have asked me how I know what to draw. How did I see the picture in my head? It's kinda hard to explain if you don't experience it. It's like trying to describe something exactly from a dream. You see it but every detail isn't quite there. Certain main things are there and that's the easy part. The rest you can logically kinda fill in. Sorta.

It is elusive. Like herding cats at times.

Funny thing is the idea for the main picture I'm going to write about  started with a dream. Clearly influenced by bubblegum cards from my childhood and some Salvador Dali. Right before I woke up I saw this image. Basically all the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back forming an image of  Darth Vader. So I sketch it up. I started with a basic line drawing of Vader.

Taking one step back before this I did draw a simple line drawing of Vader as the base for the image. Based on the lines I envisioned what lines could be shared lines of the base Vader image. Some weren't there but I incorporated some where I could. Like Bossk's shoulder and Vader's mask.

Once I knew who was going where then I went ahead and fleshed out the image and figured I'd tackle each one separately. I did question if I should maybe try doing this as one big image instead. Yeah, no. 

So I thought Fett would be the easiest. He's awesome and I was really into it.

Yeah well the initial sketch was cool and there are things I really like but clearly his head is off center and his right shoulder is wonky. I also had to reference his rifle because it is different in Empire and Jedi. Image still wasn't working for me.

So I tried this idea and once I finished the line drawing I grabbed some markers and filled it in. Again. the idea has potential but that's not it. Plus the orange background wasn't going to work. Thought was to have swirling clouds around him from Cloud City to help form lines in Vader's helmet.

Then I saw it. I separated the clouds from Boba and I could see it. Here's that moment people ask about. I don't know how I saw it but it was there. Seemed obvious to me. But I had to take the image to this point to see it. I stopped several times and came back to this picture. I knew this other version wasn't it but I had to keep going. Just felt compelled to keep on. 

So here it was. Clouds the same. I realized my dimensions were off and it was boring. So I gave him his rifle and made a smoking barrel instead of clouds. The background for all the other hunters is a blue-green-grey color. So away with the orange.

Now his rifle looked stupid. This looked like a canon. Not a rifle.

Changed the rifle then it was all good.

I colored it up in Photoshop referencing a million pictures and action figures. I found a pretty clean image online and saved it. I opened in Photoshop and sampled the colors for my pallet.  Not only is his rifle different but the  color of his suit and armor is a tinge different from Return of the Jedi.

Still working on the ultimate assembling of the colored versions. But here's the B&W with the whole gang.

In the end I'd say about 70 hours went into this one. Like I said though, still one or two more colored versions to come.

Almost there. Two more cats running loose.

STAND IN THE PLACE WHERE YOU ARE

Funny how all the bounty hunters from Empire Strikes Back get so much hype for not really doing very much more than standing in line. Don't get me wrong. I love them. Of course countless comics, novels, video games and cartoons have expanded these characters into the bad-asses they are. Represented as such in the movies, not so much. Still, never really knowing who these cats were was part of what made them so cool. For my generation, having seen them on the big screen when Empire was first released (without all the other media tie-ins mentioned above) they looked so cool, deadly and freaky you knew Han was in deep crap now that Vader was sending goons after him. As if it wasn't bad enough Jabba wanted him caught or dead, now Vader was throwing his hat in the ring. Sucks to be Han.

Here are three of the six hunters I have been working on. If you look closely you will see where I am going with this beyond individual pics. I'll need to add some more tweaks to each once they are all complete, but it's getting there. I don't want to be so obvious and point out the "big picture" until all the hunters are complete.

Hope you dig my pics of these cats while they just STAND around in their mysterious deadly coolness.

Makes me think of the REM song. I bet they would like it.