When Lucasfilm licensee Acme Archives approached me about creating a new series of enlistment poster style illustrations focusing on the Rebel Alliance I knew I wanted to capture the struggle between good and evil to elicit the emotions which might motivate someone to stand up again the Empire and fight for the Rebellion. 

To instill that sense of urgency in the viewer I knew it would not be enough to create heroic images of the Rebel ships. I would need to juxtapose the Rebellion against the Empire by creating images of the two in combat.

I start my process by creating concepts using tonal silhouettes to create the basic composition as well as mocking up any typographic elements I have in mind. I always make the typography part of the design process. This ensure the lettering works cohesively with the artwork. I also know from past experience if the composition works well and is easy to grasp in shades of gray then it will work when fully illustrated in color. 

With all the design elements composed the grayscale concepts are sent to Lucasfilm and the licensee for review and approval. Lucasfilm may suggest some changes to the wording or provide additional input for the artwork. Once approved, I move forward with the final illustrations.

Once again I set to work drawing the illustration using Adobe Draw for iPad. This application allows me to draw naturally using the Apple Pencil while keeping the limited colors I use organized for later. I can also export the finished drawing in Vector format for use at any size from a postcard to a mural on the side of a building. 

I love drawing the At-At walkers, they are always a favorite. The Snowspeeders are good fun too but also more of a challenge to draw with all the odd angles playing off one another. It takes time to get everything looking just right yet when I stand back and look at the final illustration it was definitely worth the effort. As a bonus easter egg I add in the Rebel transport ship escaping the planet Hoth in the background. The perfect finishing touch.

The final illustration in this series is titled, Rebels for Victory. I created a few mock-ups and concepts for this before landing on the final design. Even then, if you compare this final illustration with the grayscale concept you will see I made further revisions by eliminating one of the Star Destroyers and making the Death Star II larger and more prominent. I feel this touch really upped the stakes for the Rebels in this illustration as the threat of the Death Star II looming near feels much more imposing than the distant version in the concept. Now we can really feel the intensity of the battle between the Rebels and the Empire as seen in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. 

As you can imagine I spent days drawing all the tiny details on the Millennium Falcon and other Rebel ships in this scene but it was definitely worth the effort to create the sense of the ships flying right at you. 

With the three illustrations complete I export the artwork from Adobe Draw on my iPad over to Adobe Photoshop on my iMac where I adjust the colors as needed, drop in my hand crafted halftone patterns to help a few shades of each color look like many fine variations, and make any final clean-up and adjustments needed. 

Next I finalize my typography and add my signature as well as the all important © & ™ Lucasfilm LTD. text before turning the finished illustrations in for final approval. 

This series of illustrations were released as a limited edition silkscreen fine-art prints by the licensee Acme Archives under the Dark Ink Art imprint. All three completely sold-out in record time. More of my officially licensed artwork for Star Wars can be seen at Dark Ink Art.