30 September 2016

A Star Wars Sketch Card and Decorating the Walls of My Office

I'm going to keep the sketch card theme rolling with a Star Wars sketch by artist John Soukup, whose work has been featured a lot on this blog. 


This card illustrates the briefing room scene in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope prior to the Battle of Yavin, which led to the destruction of the first Death Star. The sketch comes from the 2013 Topps Star Wars Galactic Files: Series 2 set.


I recognized the scene right away when I saw the card, but here is a screencap from the film. This is the part where they talk about a weak point they've found in the Death Star's defenses, a thermal exhaust port that is vulnerable to a torpedo attack that could lead to a chain reaction that would destroy the base.


I am a pretty big fan of Soukup's work, and I recently also acquired a full-size painting of his for my new office at work. It's a pretty big painting, and I've had plenty of compliments on it from my coworkers. This cell phone picture sucks some of the color out of the painting, which is unfortunate. I have it hanging in front of my desk so I can look at it when I need to zone out for a second. That flame in the middle of the painting glows in the dark.


I also finally hung up some prints we bought from artist Mike Maydak at the Emerald City Comic Con in 2012. They depict the three characters my kids are named after. I don't know what I'll do if we ever have another kid. I guess I'll have to track him down and see if he's got a print of whatever character's name we come up with. He's got some cool stuff. It would be really neat to snag one of his original paintings, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

6 comments:

  1. Soukup's work is so unique you just have to love it. I really dig the Maydak Thing print.

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    1. Soukup's got his own thing going on, but a lot of the source material for his art is the same stuff I grew up with, so I am naturally drawn to it. The Thing print seems to be the most popular one among people who have commented after seeing all three of them.

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  2. That's a cook sketch. I am a big fan of those

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    1. I am pretty happy with the sketch, and all the other artwork.

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  3. That is a really cool & unique sketch card on its own merits, and it stands out even more because of how wildly hit-or-miss the sketch cards in Topps' licensed Star Wars products can be (which is understandable considering the massive amount that have to be produced, but still).

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    1. They do put out a lot of sketches. I don't think Topps is completely out of the woods yet, but I do think they have raised the floor on sketch quality quite a bit over the last couple of years. There are still some clunkers that get through, but maybe not quite as many. I know quality is a subjective thing when it comes to artwork, but in a lot of cases you can tell when an artist just hasn't made an effort.

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