Reclaiming Star Wars

So, back in the mists of time, when I was a boy, I discovered a new thing... Star Wars!

I didn't know anything about it until the cards arrived at the corner shop; they came from America and had real American chewing gum with them! The gum was a novelty in itself, but the cards were a gateway to a world of wonder. You see, back in the day, when a film was released in the US, it took a loooong time to get to cinemas in the UK so the only exposure to this thing I'd seen in the news was trading cards and the Marvel comic. The comics were used as ballast in ships as they were considered worthless, so they took their own sweet time to get to the UK. Port cities got the pick of the crop with the comics, and by the time you got inland, you got the scraps.

I managed to collect a set of the original Star Wars cards, developing a formidable jaw bite in the process. Skip forward a few years, and my treasured collection is languishing in my bedroom drawers. I had collected so much junk in them that my father insisted I throw away some "crap". Needless to say, the cards were considered crap, and into the bin they went, I was gutted!

Skip forward a considerable number of years and I am now an official Star Wars artist through Topps, the same company that made my beloved cards so many years ago. So I thought I would resurrect my cherished cards by drawing them. I'll go through each card and create my own version. I have acquired a new digital sketch pad, so I thought it would be a good project to hone my skills on it.

The first image in the set is, unsurprisingly, Luke Skywalker in his trooper kit. The part that amazes me is the poor quality of the printing, it's really fuzzy!

I got to work with Photoshop and made this, which isn't terrible for a first attempt at this kind of thing.

Since they are meant to be reproductions of the cards, I thought it should go in a frame like the original. I added a halftone layer over the top to make it look more like the 70's style printing Topps used.

I am thinking I may also do some other techniques, not just digital, so watch this space.

I hope you like it.

Love and Glue

Symon X