I was lucky enough to catch it at the beginning, and I dropped whatever unimportant thing I was doing when I saw that the package arrived. I flipped through once in that over-excited way that doesn't let you actually absorb what you're looking at. Then I slowed down. I looked at each letter. “J” for Jabba (with a cute Salacious Crumb), “Q” for one of my favorite Jedis, Quinlan Vos, and “V” for Vader. The combination of Star Wars and adorable almost slayed me. I was also lucky enough to get Brandon and Emma to answer a few questions about the creation of the book for me!
GwC: How long have you been a Star Wars fan? What is your first memory of loving Star Wars?
Brandon: Well, I grew up in a household bereft of Star Wars. My dad is an ardent Star Trek fan, which he raised me on from the time I was a baby, and refused to tell me about Star Wars since he thought it was inferior. But somehow I found out about Star Wars anyway, and spent hours reading my best friend’s Star Wars Technical Manual, absorbing everything I could about the universe before I had even seen the movies. I didn’t actually see the classic trilogy until I was in 6th grade, and then the following year the Special Edition came out in theaters and I got to see them all again on the big screen! I’ve been a big fan ever since – though I should state for the record that I still love Star Trek (and many other sci-fi’s) equally.
Emma: I think I first saw Star Wars when I was in 4th or 5th grade…I was at a friend’s house, and only saw bits. I think that was my experience with science fiction in general, actually – I had some random early exposure, but it wasn’t until college (where I met Brandon and many other awesome nerds) that I was properly educated on the radicalness of sci-fi.
GwC: I was so glad to see some of my favorite E.U. characters (especially Quinlan Vos!) in the book; are one of you more into the books/comics/games? What made you choose these characters?
Brandon: Uh, that’s me for sure. The EU is probably my favorite thing about Star Wars – the fact that there’s something interesting around every corner in this universe. My favorite EU stories (the Thrawn trilogy, the X-wing book and game series, the Jedi Knight series of games, the Tales of the Jedi comics and KOTOR games, the Republic Commando game and books) I cherish as much, possibly even more than the Original Trilogy. Sure, those movies are great, but you can’t watch them over and over forever. It’s more fun to experience new adventures within that world.
Emma: I definitely like the Original Trilogy most of all, and while I haven’t read any of the books or comics, I do feel that I have a decent knowledge of the Star Wars universe simply from picking Brandon’s brain. Last summer we both participated in a Star Wars tabletop RPG campaign with a group of our friends, and it really got my creative juices flowing about the whole universe. I had a great time researching my character and creating her backstory.
Now, choosing each letter was a complicated process, and we had several ground rules:
• Characters Only
No ships, no objects, no species names, to keep it simple for a child to visually understand. We broke this rule once, with E is for Ewok, but I’d rather have W be for Wedge than for Wicket, so there you go. Characters are just more fun to draw, and easier to portray is such a childlike style.
• No Prequel Characters
I’ll spare you Brandon’s normal tirade and simply say that, like most Star Wars fans, we prefer the Original Trilogy. Our kids will definitely start with 4-5-6, and only get to watch 1-2-3 once they discover (on their own) that the Prequels do exist.
• But Some Expanded Universe
As Brandon said above, the EU is one of his favorite parts of Star Wars, and he definitely intends to point Tycho towards the right supplementary material.
• No Blasters!
We tried to keep the illustrations as violence-free as possible, which was a real challenge with some of these characters! That meant no guns and no references to fighting. We also tried to minimize the number of “evil” characters…Brandon really wanted to squeeze Darth Revan in there but I wanted to limit our Darth count. R2-D2 is more important and adorable anyway.
So eventually you wind up with a list of options, and you do some shuffling. Originally D was for Darth Vader, and V was for Veers. But Brandon decided that Dash Rendar would be more fun to draw than a stodgy general, so Vader was moved to V and Veers got the axe. We felt bad about leaving out Lando, but L already had Luke and Leia, and we didn’t want to triple up.
Brandon: And you would not believe the number of comments I’ve seen around the internet along the lines of “THIS LETTER should be for THIS CHARACTER OR THING” or “Here’s MY list!”, usually with a very harsh, accusatory tone suggesting that you did this wrong. To those people I say: this is the set that I, a knowledgeable Star Wars fan, wanted to do, with the characters I liked the most or felt were most important. If you don’t like it – make your own!
GwC: Emma, I read that the idea for the project was all you, what made you choose Star Wars?
Emma: When we first found out that we were pregnant, it was a little scary. It was definitely a surprise, and we weren’t sure we’d be up to the challenge. Since we are both artists, I thought that illustrating a children’s alphabet together would be the perfect way for us to not only prepare Tycho’s room for his arrival, but to prepare ourselves mentally as well. After some initial creative head-butting (inevitable when two artists are working together!), the project ended up being very cathartic for both of us.
As far as choosing what to depict with this alphabet, Star Wars characters quickly rose to the top of the list. We both love it, it’s fairly kid-friendly, and there’s definitely enough material in that universe to cover every letter easily, so we wouldn’t have to stretch when it came time for the tricky letters like Q, X, or Z. And I knew that Brandon would want to introduce our children to Star Wars as soon as possible, so this seemed like a kid-friendly first step.
GwC: How long did it take to put the book together?
Brandon: Each illustration began with one or two quick little doodles by me, then a larger, more detailed pencil drawing. For most of the characters, I already had a pretty solid idea in my head about how to portray them or what visual gag to put in – whenever possible, I tried to hint at the character’s personality or a relevant plot point. Ackbar is scared of his trap-like Star Destroyer mobile. Assassin droid IG-88 is juggling a variety of grenades. Kyle Katarn is holding his lightsaber and the Death Star plans he helped steal. Quinlan Vos is spinning a Sith Holocron on his finger, referencing his brushes with the Dark Side. Boba Fett is jetpacking away from a Sarlacc-looking hole of squirming worms. Han and Greedo are shooting finger guns at each other…and Han shot first.
Emma: Then I would scan that drawing and trace it in Adobe Illustrator, creating that clean, vector look. We wanted to minimize the amount of linework in the art, opting for a Samurai Jack-esque style of shapes without outlines whenever possible.
I then chose the colors, tweaking them endlessly. I tried to stay away from the color black so as to keep the illustrations friendly and fun. This was difficult, given that about half of these characters dress in black! The color palette of Star Wars is really quite drab, most of the time. So I would substitute a deep blue, purple, or brown. Then it was back to Brandon for the type treatment and a final joint approval on each illustration. All in all, we probably spent an average of 5 hours per letter, or about 130 hours for the entire alphabet.
These illustrations were originally planned as wall art (and we have a very nice copy for ourselves), but collecting them into book form was extremely easy too. The only extra work we really had to do was an additional family portrait illustration for the book’s introduction.
GwC: Did you expect the almost viral nature of the book? It feels like I saw it all over Facebook, Twitter, and the blogs I follow!
Brandon: In retrospect, the equation of “Star Wars + Cool Art = Internet Sensation” seems obvious, but I was honestly blown away by the amount of traffic my site got, to say nothing of all the people who re-blogged, etc, to spread it to the far corners of the internet!
As you probably know, we produced a limited number of the books as thank-you gifts to friends, family, and others who donated to Tycho’s college fund. The donation drive was only intended to run for the month of December, but we ended up having to close it after about a week due to the excessive demand!
GwC: Do you have plans to make more of these available, and can you maybe give a hint as to when?
Brandon: Sadly, not at this time. It was only intended as a super-limited thank-you gift; Emma and I simply don’t have the time and money to keep producing and shipping these! I would love to sell them outright, of course, but that could be construed as a copyright infringement against Lucasfilm, which we certainly wouldn’t want.
I had considered simply releasing the art for public download and peoples’ personal use, but once you let the hi-res files get onto the blogosphere there’s no going back. I’d be concerned that people would alter our art, or attempt to pass it off as their own for profit, which would be super not cool.
That said, I would love to release the illustrations in an official capacity, if there was any interest from The Powers That Be at Lucasfilm for an official book, wall posters, etc. So if anybody’s got any connections… ;)
Emma: Seriously, though, this project was just a way for two designers to prepare a room (and themselves, mentally) for their first baby. We’re both thrilled and a little humbled that so many people have enjoyed the illustrations. We’re not looking to make a profit here – Brandon is already running a successful one-man design business – but we would love to find a Lucasfilm-sanctioned way to disseminate this to a wider audience. Star Wars has given us a lot of good memories over the years, and we wanted to pass that on to Tycho…and maybe, Force willing, some other people as well.
cross-posted at Geek Girls Network
so cool!
ReplyDeleteSomeone has got to get Lucasfilms involved and get this thing out there. This is genius, I am so jealous I am just now hearing about this. The art is great, and witty enough for true fans to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI agree Lucasfilm really needs to know about this talented pair.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis little book of pictures is AWESOME! I'm happy to have bought it and helped Brandon & Emma pay for young Tycho's college! Way to be creative and fun, and thanks for the help getting my little one addicted to Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteI show the book to every Star Wars fan that comes into my house. :) I am so glad I got my order in, and I hope they are able to share it with more people some day.
ReplyDelete2016-5-20 leilei
ReplyDeletepolo ralph lauren
coach outlet
puma shoes
oakley sunglasses
louis vuitton handbags
louis vuitton handbags
ray ban outlet
nike free flyknit
mont blanc pens
cheap nike shoes
nike air max 90
michael kors outlet
ray ban sunglasses outlet
true religion
louis vuitton outlet
reebok shoes
coach outlet online
kate spade outlet
coach outlet
ray ban sunglasses
timberlands
nike huarache white
cartier watches for sale
gucci handbags
burberry handbags
michael kors outlet clearance
ralph lauren outlet
adidas stan smith
coach outlet online
louis vuitton factory outlet
coach outlet store
tiffany and co jewelry
christian louboutin shoes
ray ban outlet
adidas nmd runner
coach outlet
canada goose sale
fitflops shoes
coach outlet
chenlili20160630
ReplyDeletelouis vuitton handbags
authentic louis vuitton handbags
louis vuitton purses
cheap rolex watches
rolex watches
nike roshe run
louis vuitton outlet
louis vuitton handbags
louis vuitton
cheap toms
kate spade outlet
coach canada
coach outlet store online
coach factory outlet online
michael kors outlet clearance
michael kors outlet clearance
discount jordans
adidas running shoes
louis vuitton outlet
kd 8 shoes
nike sb janoski
asics shoes
gucci outlet online
louboutin shoes
louis vuitton
ray ban sunglasses
air jordan shoes
louis vuitton outlet stores
jordan retro 8
christian louboutin
ray bans
ralph lauren outlet
oakley sunglasses outlet
tory burch boots
louis vuitton outlet
replica watches
nike outlet store
hollister clothing
ralph lauren outlet
cheap jerseys
7.20lllllyuangiuseppe zanotti outlet
ReplyDeletegiuseppe zanotti shoes
gucci outlet online
gucci outlet
gucci sunglasses uk
gucci sunglasses
longchamp handbags
longchamp outlet
hermes bags
hermes outlet
hermes belt for sale
hermes belt
hermes birkin bag
hermes birkin
hermes outlet store
hermes outlet
herve leger dresses
herve leger outlet
hollister canada
hollister
hollister shirts
hollister uk
hollister clothing store
hollister clothing
hollister clothing
hollister
hollister shirts
hollister uk
hollister sale
hollister
instyler ionic styler
instyler
iphone case uk
iphone case
true religion jeans
7.20
20170221 leilei3915
ReplyDeleteghd hair straighteners
swarovski crystal
christian louboutin shoes
louis vuitton
nike huarache
nike foamposite
swarovski outlet
fitflops sale
cheap jordans
louis vuitton handbags
oakland raiders jerseys
ReplyDeletepandora jewelry
buffalo bills jerseys
michael kors handbags
cleveland browns jerseys
jordan shoes
jimmy choo
nike huarache
lebron shoes
louis vuitton pas cher
longchamp bags
ReplyDeletemichael kors outlet online
jordans for cheap
yeezy boost
nike mercurial
longchamps
tory burch shoes
michael kors outlet
links of london sale
lebron 14
nfl jerseys wholesale
ReplyDeletemarc jacobs outlet
broncos jerseys
toms
michael kors bags
polo ralph lauren outlet online
discount oakley sunglasses
kate spade bags
pandora charms
birkenstock outlet
170626yueqin
surveillancekart
ReplyDeletecctv system
cctv installation
home security system
cctv camera installation services in gurgaon
cctv camera installation services in gurugram
cctv camera installation services in delhi
domino qiu qiu
ReplyDeleteThis information is very useful. thank you for sharing. and I will also share information about health through the website
ReplyDeleteObat Sakit Mata Belekan Alami
Cara Mengatasi Diare
Obat Sariawan Alami
Obat Penghancur Batu ginjal
Cara Menghilangkan Varises
Obat Sakit perut melilit paling Ampuh
Beberapa tips cara menggugurkan kandungan dengan selamat untuk anda dengan menggunakan obat penggugur kandungan cytotec , terbukti obat aborsi sangat ampuh . Jika anda telah haid obat telat datang bulan juga manjur , kami jual obat aborsi ini secara online cara menggugurkan hamil
ReplyDeleteI am happy with your article, Fajartoto think your website is pretty good. Many articles are very useful for everyone. I am sure your website will grow in the future. Fajartoto will always support your website, hopefully more advanced. keep the spirit... thanks
ReplyDeletetogel online
bandar togel terbesar
bandar togel terpercaya
bandar togel sgp
situs togel resmi
togel online terpercaya
agen togel
agen togel terpercaya
prediksi sgp
syair togel hk
Finding the best healthcare research paper services and Healthcare Essay Writing Services is not easy unless one is keen to establish a professional healthcare assignment writing service provider & healthcare homework help online.
ReplyDeleteThere are many Online Coursework writing services and Help with Coursework Writing services to choose from for those stuck with their psychology coursework writing services and nursing coursework writing help services.
ReplyDeleteOnline law research paper help services are very common nowadays since there are very many students seeking Law Research Writing Services and law essay writing services.
ReplyDelete