Artist Matt Brown hand-painted these Russian nesting dolls as Star Wars characters for his brother’s Christmas gift. (via)
Fan art: Andy Helms’ Dude-A-Day
Andy Helms has embarked on an illustration product to draw a Dude A Day, last year, and several Star Wars characters showed up in November. (via)
New peeks at The Old Republic
The Old Republic site has updated with a number of new screenshots and concept art for the forthcoming MMO.
Yet more Star Wars My Little Ponies!
Great White Snark spotted even more Star Wars My Little Pony customs – Yoda and Darth Maul by DeviantArt’s Anime Amy. Most of her other ponies are indeed anime-themed, but she does have Godzilla, Davy Jones and (weirdest of all) an Optimus Prime ponies.
The fandom minute: Lightsaber restrictions, 501st helmet project, Falcon song, LEGO nativity
Facepalm du jour: Woolworths in the U.K. is requiring that people must be 18 or old to purchase a cheap plastic lightsaber, because it might be mistake for a gun. Meanwhile, I bet anyone can go into the hardware section and buy a working flashlight fully capable of braining a full-grown man.
- Incoming: The 501st is sponsoring the TK Helmet Project. Dave Filoni, Daniel Logan, Dave Dorman, Lawrence Noble, Don Bies and the Robot Chicken folks are among the participants.
- Music: John Anealio wanted the Millennium Falcon for Christmas, and thirty years later writes a song about it.
- Crafts: Check out the Star Wars LEGO nativity!
StarWars.com reveals long-lost Galaxy artwork
Here’s more reason to get excited about Topps’ fourth Galaxy series: They’re pulling some of the art that never made the first three sets! One of these pieces – John Rheaume’s levitating Yoda – has become rather infamous over the years, but others (like Kevin Nowlan’s Obi-Wan at right) will be new to many of us:
As expected, the original artists were delighted by this belated recognition of their efforts. “How great to have my Star Wars artwork finally see the light of day!” beamed Chris Moeller, one of a handful of illustrators showcased in SWG4’s special chase set entitled “The Lost Galaxy.” His unique rendering dared to show what the stormtroopers look like beneath their helmets – a full decade before George Lucas decided that all of these ubiquitous Imperial soldiers were actually clones of Jango Fett. Indeed, Boba’s enterprising father didn’t even exist as part of the Star Wars mythology back in the ’90s.
Intriging! The six ‘Lost Galaxy’ cards will also include pieces by Joe Ciardiello, John Pound, and Tim Burgard.
Fan art: HERD (rat-ATAT-touille) by Adriean Koleric
Designer Adriean Koleric is repainting and modifying vintage AT-ATs for his upcoming show HERD : rat-ATAT-touille. In his own words:
The idea behind the HERD series is to put focus on items of Western Pop culture that has and still influences me in the Design field as well as the new Artistic direction for ITEM. I wanted to show that these type of items, though mass produced and marketed, were infact what I considered art growing up as opposed to disposal product.
There’s plenty of other Star Wars-themed work at his blog, ITEM. Poke around! (via)
More adventures in Holiday Special archeology
The StarWars.com crew did some digging and unearthed several Holiday Special props and other detris – even an animatic reel of the cartoon. There’s also a handful of old articles – one on the art directors and concept art, kicking off with Ralph McQuarrie and an interview with Patty Maloney, who played Lumpawarrump, and Stan Winston on Wookiee makeup/costuming. And finally, learn to draw Chewie’s family.
Fan art: Won Park’s dollar bill origami
Dvice spotted Won Park’s amazing Star Wars (and Trek) dollar bill origami on DeviantArt. Up next? Serenity.
Fan Art: Steampunk Star Wars from Björn Hurri
Björn Hurri has a number of great steampunk Star Wars drawings he’s sharing over at Gorilla Artfare. I was pretty impressed with his Yoda (clickthrough for the whole thing) and Leia, but there’s plenty more and they’re all fantastic: C-3P0, a jawa, a speeder bike, Jabba the Hutt, Fett, a stormtrooper, Chewbacca, Yoda, Han and Luke.