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Star Wars Artist Month – Giancarlo Bockos

Star Wars Artist Month has seen artists come from all sorts of backgrounds, and from all over the world. Today’s featured artist is Giancarlo Bockos: a pillar of the Star Wars fan community. His experience in design has given him a creative eye on everything from the visual arts to prop-making and costuming. His creative mind has pushed him to a wide array of mediums all in the pursuit of creative expression.

Giancarlo is an Italian Industrial Designer with 20 years experience in the product design field. Born and raised in Perù, he moved to Italy in his teens and has been working in the US for almost 10 years now.

Star Wars has always been a big part of his life. His first memories of anything Star Wars related was talking about it with his Kindergarten friends, wanting a 12” Darth Vader because the lightsaber was just like the one in the movie (not the “weird” one in the small scale Kenner figure). This attention to detail would reflect years later on his passion for props.

Drawing, model making and building LEGOs as a kid fed his passion for the saga. This led to Giancarlo to all kinds of new roles: amateur comic artist and caricaturist, prop and costume maker, 3D modeler and designer. And drawing characters and vehicles off the Kenner toys catalogs turned into drawing comic strips and illustrations

Giancarlo was part of the editorial staff of the biggest Italian Star Wars website in the late 90’s : guerrestellari.net, Just when Star Wars was coming back he worked with his brother, Piero, on digital comic strips to populate the far art pages of the website. Later some of these strips were published in the “Star Wars Alliance” Italian fan club magazines, as well as in the short-lived Italian publication of the Star Wars Insider magazine.

Costuming

In 2003 Giancarlo and his brother joined the Fighting 501^st Legion costuming organization, and have used their art to help the organization ever since. You might have seen the “V-Twins” at Star Wars events like the 1997 Special Edition release, the 2007 501st Rose Parade Spectacular (including the Documentary Star Warriors), or even in a cameo as the Jedi Council guards in the hit fan film Dark Resurrection.

Between them, the V-Twins have created dozens of logos, patches, pins, illustrations, posters, flyers, and caricatures for the Legion’s many Garrisons and members around the world as well as for other Star Wars fan organizations. Some of these include the Static Burst logo (501^st online magazine), caricatures for the featured interviewees, the Galactic Academy logos and characters, patches for R2-KT, merchandising for the Italica Garrison as MBO, and many posters, logos and merchandising for Italian Star Wars fan events.

One of the highlights of Giancarlo’s 501^st history was being part of the Rose Parade as a Biker Scout.

“This was one of the greatest experiences one could aspire to! On top of that my brother and I were able to meet George Lucas and hand him a copy of our Star Wars strips collection book!”

Propmaking

Building a LEGO X-wing and ED-209 as a kid, a self-designed paper Thunder Tank and a Ghostbusters Proton Pack for his brother led to prop making and his Industrial Design career. Discovering that the modelmakers at ILM during ANH were Industrial Design students made him appreciate his career path even more.

His love and knowledge of Star Wars and his passion about costume accuracy (remember the Vader lightsaber toy?) worked perfect with his 3D modelling and rapid prototyping professional skills. He’s been designing and printing parts for almost 20 years, way before 3D printing was a mainstream tool

Today Giancarlo still creates Star Wars art for himself or friends, t-shirts, merchandising, and more. He will admit he’s got way too many hobbies, including fixing up old motorcycles in his garage.

IG: the_vtwins

FB: The V-twins

teepublic.com/user/the_vtwins

Many thanks to our partners at Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Rebel Scum, Force.Net, and Bantha Bricks for supporting SWAM 2020 and sharing our posts. What a great way to share the magic of the art community! Check them out and see just how big the galaxy really is!

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Malcolm Tween

Few artists can boast that their work has passed the approval process of an actual queen. But today’s artist has been involved in projects so broad in their appeal that even he seems surprised at the scope of it. Malcolm Tween got on the radar early, catching the eyes of Lucasfilm with his stellar professional works featuring Star Wars characters. Drawing off the influences of early Star Wars greats like Drew Struzan, famous for his Star Wars cinema posters, Malcolm has managed to bring the original big screen splendor of Star Wars illustrations to the new era of films. Young fans today can enjoy the same larger than life spectacle off the screen as did the original fans. Early experience as a technical illustrator and a kick from Star Wars at a young age steered his imaginative mind to a galaxy far, far away.

Malcolm is an illustrator living and working in the UK. He co-founded Digital Progression in 1997, an entirely digital illustration studio working for advertising agencies, design companies and game publishers. Whilst a lot of his work over the years has been for video-game covers and advertising campaigns, he’s also worked on concept art, animation and even VR. A diverse range of clients includes Atari, Atlantic Records, BMW, Disney, EA, Microsoft, Sega and Sony amongst many others.

He first started working for Lucasfilm in 2004, creating promotional artwork for various projects including Revenge of the Sith and Indiana Jones. Most recently he has illustrated three sets of award winning Royal Mail Star Wars special edition UK postage stamps, featuring characters, creatures and droids from across the films, probably the only Star Wars merchandise to be officially approved by the Queen! The final set was released in 2019 to coincide with the launch of The Rise of Skywalker.

Malcolm has also created exclusive prints for eight Star Wars Celebrations throughout America, Europe and Japan.

We asked Malcolm: what is it about Star Wars that inspires you as an artist?

“Technically I’ve been drawing Star Wars since 1977 when I was six years old, It’s just that I didn’t get to do it for Lucasfilm until a little later down the line! I think for a lot of people who grew up with the original trilogy especially, it’s just built into our cultural DNA, everything comes back to Star Wars. When I started doing work for Lucasfilm I was actually amazed how much freedom we were allowed, I love the fact we get the opportunity to tell our own little stories within these amazing worlds.”

We are honored to share Malcolm’s story today in Star Wars Artist Month and we hope is work like that of other artists will inspire the next generation of kids to embrace the power of the Force within their own minds!

FYI here’s a fantastic article on StarWars.com discussing Malcolm’s experience producing the super secret Star Wars stamps series:

www.starwars.com/news/mini-masterpieces-artist-malcolm-tween-on-his-royal-mail-star-wars-stamps

You can follow Malcolm and see more of his work in the links below:

https://twitter.com/MalcolmTween

https://www.behance.net/malcolmtween

http://www.digitalprogression.com

https://www.instagram.com/malcolmtween

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Tod Allen Smith

When people talk about artists, they usually think of someone slaving away in a loft at a canvas, detached from the world perched in their creative space. But creativity lives in all of us. The magic to breathe life into characters you know and love is only limited by your imagination. And today’s artist fearlessly does just that. Tod Allen Smith is known across the fan community as someone who can weave the magic we only wish for.

Tod Allen Smith has been a Star Wars artist with Topps trading cards, having worked on various sketch card sets since 2007. His dream as a kid in the late 70’s was to be part of Star Wars, and that dream came true. Then in 2019, Tod was asked by the Mandalorian Mercs to draw a special print to use for charity at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. The print was noticed by more than just the casual Star Wars fan.

Along with working for Topps and other trading card companies, Tod has also done illustrations for role playing and table top skirmish games. His work captures the kind of sci-fi and fantasy that resonates with fans. And just like any Jedi master, Tod uses his gifts to teach art to kids and adults alike.

When Tod isn’t hard at work on his art, he works part time for AMED EMS in Altoona Pennsylvania.

Some of Tods work can be found at https://m.facebook.com/ZeroGGraphics/

His earlier work can be viewed at https://www.deviantart.com/norvandell

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Pete Hague

The wild nature of art means that it’s open to a wide range of creative sensibilities. Like the Force, art canvasses everything from order to chaos, from light to darkness. Some styles savor the darkness, speak to the chaos, and channel the inner fugue we all entertain. And it is sheer beauty to behold.

Today in SWAM we delve into the depths and our tour guide is a brilliant artist who is also a member of the 501st Legion. We know him as a Stormtrooper, and you can know him as Professor of the Dark Arts. He has a knack for capturing the macabre, dishing it out in slick designs and caricatures any band would kill to have on their album cover. The Dark Side never looked so good!

Tell us a little about yourself:

“Hi, I’m Pete. I’m an animator, illustrator, and designer who attempts to make video games, music, shirt designs, patches, pointless doodles, nonsensical scribbles, and anything else I can waste time doing creatively. I’m a drummer in a metal band (Distances), so I’ve been fortunate enough to design a few shirts and album covers here and there. I went by the pseudonym “Robo Tarot” for a spell because I created a tarot deck comprised of robots. These days, the folks in the 501st and Rebel Legion tend to keep me busy with patch, pin, and coin design.”

“Same as every other kid in the 80s, I obsessed over Star Wars, Transformers, Nintendo, Marvel Comics, Ninja Turtles, etc. Once I found my artistic sea legs, no Post-It note or text book margin was safe from my mind barf. Darth Vader vs Wolverine. Samus vs Optimus Prime. you name it.”

I have a TeePublic shop at: https://www.teepublic.com/user/peterthehague

Also, feel free to kick your feet up and poke around my work at: https://ramenandrobots.wordpress.com

or on Instagram @peterthehague

Lastly, if you dig music of the heavier variety, Distances just released our new album at: https://distances.bandcamp.com/

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Joe Corroney

The beautiful thing about fantasy sci-fi and art is that you can dream up anything and it becomes real to the mind’s eye. Today’s featured artist can top that, taking an imaginary galaxy we’ve all seen and create stunning heroic monuments to our favorite characters. Behold: larger than life heroes and villains, displayed like they stood for their portraits, draped in the ornaments of their victories. Or, imagine them in scenes that live only in the mind’s eye. Joe Corroney is a stellar performer operating at the highest level of the business. But meet him and you’ll meet a fan like yourself, just as full of rapture in his subjects as his works create in us.

Joe has been illustrating official Star Wars artwork for books, games, trading cards, comic books, fine art prints, posters and magazines since 1997. He recently created exclusive Star Wars art for Disney WonderGround Gallery, Disney Parks and Disney Classic Collectibles, Star Wars Galaxy Series 8 Trading Card Series and Women of Star Wars Trading Card Series from Topps.

Other projects touched by Joe’s magic have included artwork for “Star Wars: The Rebel Files”, “Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy”, Star Wars Insider magazine, and Star Wars Paint By Numbers for Becker and Mayer! Books, Disney Interactive’s “Star Wars: Assault Team” mobile game for iOS devices, “Star Wars: The Imperial Handbook: A Commander’s Guide”, “Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett” and “Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion”. Over the years Joe has also created official Star Wars artwork for Hasbro, Acme Archives, Dark Horse Comics, Wizards of the Coast, IDG Entertainment, West End Games, and Paizo Publishing.”

But before you think Star Wars is Joe’s only outlet, other properties he’s illustrated for include Marvel’s Avengers, X-Men and Spider-Man, Indiana Jones, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Doctor WHO, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, X-Files, Farscape, Firefly and GI Joe. Not too shabby! Wherever your fanciful mind may take you, chances are Joe has been there and lent it his personal touch.

We asked Joe, what is it about Star Wars that interested you to create such masterpieces?

“Star Wars was always a huge influence in my life and it was the main reason I pursued illustration work with Lucasfilm right out of art college. I saw Episode IV when it was released in 1977. I was only three years old at the time, going on four that Summer. But I remember the experience of seeing the movie for the first time vividly. It just felt so visceral to my young impressionable mind. I grew up with all the Kenner Star Wars toys too of course and I was collecting anything and everything Star Wars I could all the time well into high school and college. I also collected the Star Wars comics from Marvel and in those days before VHS the only way to relive the movie as a kid was to read the comics and play with the toys. I did that all the time, but I was also drawing the characters and scenes from the movies using my imagination and of course the comic books and toys as inspiration too. So Star Wars was very instrumental in my development and desire to become an artist.”

Learn all about Joe’s works on a healthy selection of links to Joe’s website, his official art store and his social media :

http://www.joecorroney.com/

https://www.facebooke.com/JoeCorroneyArt/

https://twitter.com/joe_corroney

http://joecorroney.storenvy.com/

https://www.instagram.com/joecorroney/

https://www.twitch.tv/joecorroney

https://www.youtube.com/user/JoeCorroney

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Asia Ellington

George Lucas has been quoted as saying that Star Wars was designed with kids in mind. It’s no knock on the saga that it is a galaxy envisioned through the eyes of a child: we’ve all beheld it with child-like wonder. Some artists can capture that wonder and give us a peek into what _really_ happening in those scenes crowded by grown-ups and hi-tech. Today’s artist is a maestro of child-like wonder and her works will leave you feeling as giddy as a kid when you see them. Weaving magic ain’t kids’ stuff – it’s hard than it looks. But Asia Ellington specializes in weaving magic and fans of her work are so grateful for the chance to see the magic through fresh eyes!

Featured last year in Voyage LA, Asia Ellington is a freelance illustrator who lets her “culture, passion for character design, fashion, film, musical theater, and pop culture” inspire her work. You can feel the golden age of Hollywood in her work while still sensing her playful spirit. Please join us in saluting Asia Ellington!

Asia Ellington is a Character Designer and Visual Development artist born and raised in the Bay Area, California, and is currently a Character Designer for various unannounced projects at Disney Television Animation. She got her first start drawing officially licensed Star Wars art through the Topps Trading Card sketch program in anticipation for The Force Awakens release. She uses her love for film, history, vintage fashion, and pop culture to influence her personal work and style. Coming from a family just as equally in love with all things Disney and Star Wars, she has always drawn and surrounded herself with her favorite characters from a galaxy far far away. Asia is also a member of the 501st legion (Golden Gate Garrison) and enjoys trooping with her family at conventions and charity events, and lifting the spirits and hopes of those in need.

What drew you to illustrating Star Wars as a subject?

“The endless amount of creativity and wonder. It’s always blown my mind to see the amount of innovation and creativity that’s gone into every film in their sets, costumes, visual/practical effects, props, etc. For as long as I can remember Star Wars has been a great outlet of fun and escapism that not only teaches us to live to our full potential, but also that we can go after any goal we set our minds to no matter the odds, and examine how it reflects our own history and how to stand up for what’s right in the real world.”

Please feel free to check out more of Asia’s work on Instagram and Twitter @asiadraws, or asiaellington.com

While Asia is not currently selling any work she does occasional charity sketch commissions to help donate to many human rights causes. Links and resources for how to help others including (but not limited to) the NAACP, ACLU, Black Lives Matter, the Yemen Humanitarian and Hunger Crisis, Native American COVID-19 Relief, and Homeless Black Trans Women Fund, can also be found on her Instagram.

Asia’s motto : “Continue to stay strong, listen, and have hope.”

Website: https://ellingtonasia3.wixsite.com/website
Email: ellingtonasia@yahoo.com
Instagram: @asiadraws
Facebook: @asiadraws
Twitter: @asiadraws

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Jonathan Myers

Jonathan Myers is an imaginative illustrator who works in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, myth, fable and folklore. He has completed work for comic books, graphic novels, childrens’ books, puzzles, apparel, novels, trading cards, games and film. He works predominantly in pen and ink and paints in colored pencil. He has two decades of experience illustrating for a variety of clients and high profile properties. He first saw the original Star Wars film as a small child at the drive-in movie theater in 1977 and he was mesmerized by the story of Luke Skywalker. The spectacle of light, sounds and cinematic magic absolutely captivated his imagination and he fell in love with George Lucas’ visual masterpiece. Jonathan has completed many paintings featuring the characters, creatures and worlds of Star Wars and was honored to complete several pieces for R2-KT at the invitation of 501st founder, Albin Johnson. The artist’s work features enigmatic wizards, frightening monsters, beautiful damsels, heroic warriors and fantastic realms. You can follow his work at the following websites:
https://www.facebook.com/jonathanmyersart1974/
https://www.deviantart.com/jonathan-lola-myers
https://www.behance.net/odysseyill020a

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Desmond Kaine Tay

Another part of Star Wars art is iconography: the science of creating powerful and memorable logos, emblems, and symbols. The 501st Legion and other Star Wars clubs have done a great job creating a wide array of colorful logos to capture our attention. And today’s featured artist, Desmond Kaine Tay, has risen to the occasion to really bring extra magic to make everyone’s units and their emblems look better. The clean lines, the right colors, and design elements make fans know that these cats live in a galaxy far, far away!

Desmond has been drawing ever since he could hold a pencil. Inspired in equal parts by novels, manga, anime, comics and a Galaxy Far, Far Away!
As a young boy, his uncle would 1st spark the embers of his love for Sci-fi and Fantasy when he gave Desmond Conan The Barbarian and John Carter books, and various comics.

Desmond was first introduced to the amazing Galaxy created by George Lucas, when he watched Empire Strikes Back on TV. After that fateful weekend he would become a life-long fan, as he fondly recalls:

“I still remember after 1st watching Empire, I went kinda nuts in school, I kept gushing to my classmates about Darth Vader.It kinda annoyed one of my friends to the point she asked if I was some kinda Star Wars evangelist.”

Desmond would come to discover various Star Wars artbooks, Concept art, and Ralph Mcquarrie’s work. He would begin to draw his own comic strips, a lot of which would clearly show the influence Star Wars had on his early work. Desmond would later be inspired to become an artist, and would grow to become a self-taught Graphic Artist.

An experienced Graphic Artist who has worked from advertising, broadcast media, animation and even designed some toys. Desmond has produced content as far ranging as kids shows for television to posters for exhibitions and conventions.
Granted a Singapore Government Scholarship to study CGI where he learnt 3d Modeling and would meet someone who would become a good friend and would ultimately introduce him to the 501st Legion. He was happy to join a worldwide community with who he could talk about Star Wars all day!

Desmond would design his first patch for the 501st for the grand opening troop of The Sandcrawler Building in Singapore, of which, one would be presented to Geroge Lucas who was present to officiate the event. He also created an R2-KT patch for her visit to Singapore on May 4th for Star Wars Day, the proceeds of which went to charity.

Desmond has spent countless hours not just illustrating but producing physical works of art from the Star Wars Universe in the way of various costuming props and blasters. He’s made his creations come to life not only on the page but in spectacular 3D as blaster props proudly borne by troopers and costumers everywhere. He loves what he does and is continually creating art and props in his spare time.

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Piero Bockos

The wonderful thing about art is that it takes so many forms. We typically think of art hanging in a gallery like a painting or a statue. There’s also music, dance, acting, and the list goes on. But even if we drill down to just focus on the visual arts there are categories within that field finally getting the respect they finally deserve. The most rock and roll of them all? Tattoo art! And nothing could be more true than the tattoo art of Star Wars, now showcased in its own track at Star Wars Celebration. So allow me to introduce a Star Wars tattoo artist who’s taken the fan community by storm: Piero “Tat-twin” Bockos!

Piero Tat-twin is an Italian tattoo artist, born and raised in Perù. He has a Master in Design and is a resident tattooer at Phobos Tattoo Gallery, in beautiful Verona, Italy. He’s been tattooing for over 10 years and specializes in New School and Realism. He’s an appreciated award winning artist working conventions and doing guest spots all around the world. And if you haven’t met him behind the tattoo machine, chances are he was wearing some armor!

Star Wars art has always been a big part of both his life and his brother’s, both long standing members of the “fighting 501st”. They joined in 2003 and they’ve always used their art to help the Club. They’ve designed posters, t-shirts, logos, etc., both for their local Garrison and legion wide. You can meet them at most Star Wars events: from the 1997 Special Edition release, to the 2007 501st Rose Parade Spectacular (including the Documentary Star Warriors), to a cameo as the Jedi Council guards in the hit fan film hit Dark Resurrection.

As a tattoo artist, Piero is a member of the team Ink Fusion Empire which -among many others-partners with Lucasfilm Ltd to bring their world famous Tattoo Pavillion to Star Wars Celebration. As a member of the team, Piero has been attending every Celebration since CVI in Orlando, making sure fans went home with the BEST possible “souvenir” from the show! As a matter of fact at Celebration Chicago just last year he took home the 1^st Place as Best Black & Gray Tattoo of the show!

His love and knowledge of Star Wars and his passion about costume accuracy (he’s also a prop maker)show on all his tattoos, attention to detail is definitely one of the highlights of his work.

Piero is also one of the featured artists on the Star Wars body art book The Force in the Flesh Vol.2.

In the last three years Piero has been the Italian ambassador for Ink Fusion, bringing his experience to Cartoomics (Milan based show with over 90k visitors) where he runs the Tattoo Pavillion with a crew of amazing geek artists personally chosen for the show.

He also spends his time wrenching and customizing old school choppers and muscle cars, but that’s another story!

WHY STAR WARS?

“Me and my brother have ALWAYS been fans. I’m old enough to have managed to play with the Kenner figures, and have memories of watching ROTJ at a theater. Even during the “dark times”, we would get our hands on anything Star Wars including books and comics. In the late 90s we started contributing to the biggest Italian fan site at the time with comic strips we created. That, collecting and costumes helped keep Star Wars alive for us. The Saga influenced our career choice, since both of us became designers. When I switched to tattooing I discovered the world of SW tattoos, and the book The Force in the Flesh (first published book about Star Wars body art). Thanks to my buddy Jeremiah McCabe I found my new tattoo family in the Ink Fusion team! A bunch of likely minded geek tattooers who cared about each other and went crazy over pop culture tattoos! Marc Draven took me in and invited me to my first join Star Wars Celebration as LFL licensed tattoo artists. Dream. Come. True!

Today I’m lucky enough to have a whole lot of my tattoo work focused on Star Wars.

I’m fascinated with the ‘used’ look and the design of props and costumes of a galaxy far, far away, such a rich universe, I think I could keep tattooing Star Wars forever!”

LINKS

facebook: Piero Tat-twin
instagram: @pierotattwin
email: info@tat-twin.com

Line Art

Tattoo Art

Life of the Tattoo Artist

http://www.banthabricks.com/

Star Wars Artist Month – Katie Cook

The Star Wars community over the last couple decades has taken the galaxy to ever greater heights. Chief amidst the strongest of the Force have been the artists. Our mission for SWAM is to highlight these artisans and bring their works to light. Well, few need to be reminded of today’s artist: Katie Cook. Katie made her name making the rounds at cons and online with her adorable and smart renditions of characters from all over fandom. She broke into the big leagues by giving Star Wars fans a new way to look at their favorite characters. She even makes it available to kids learning their ABC’s! Anyone who’s met Katie at conventions is met with a warm and wry sense of humor. It shows in all her work, which has become a hot property for Star Wars publications and is now a hit web series ironically called Nothing Special (how hip is it? hint: my teenagers have been reading it for over a year and can’t stop talking about it). Katie makes Star Wars approachable for a whole new segment of fans and reminds us just how relatable our favorite characters can be. We love her work and we love how many have discovered her.

Katie Cook is a comic artist and writer that hails from the mitten state (as in Michigan, not that she is in the state of being a mitten). She is the creator of the comic Nothing Special on Webtoon and Gronk: A Monster’s Story. She spent several years writing IDW’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Katie is the illustrator of several Star Wars children’s books and has also done extensive work for Marvel, Disney, Fraggle Rock, and so much more! Her mother thinks she is funny. Her Star Wars credits include art for the Clone Wars online comic, illustrations for ABC-3PO, OBI-123, Search Your Feelings and Creatures Big and Small.

What drew you to illustrating Star Wars as a subject
“I’ve loved Star Wars since I was a kid! Even if I wan’t getting paid to do it I’d still be drawing porgs.”

Links to Katie’s panorama of work: