Art

Fan Art Friday: Sunny Days in the Empire

Mei-Mei5 Comments

Welcome back to our Star Wars coloring book club, where every now and then Kiri from Star Wars Anonymous and I color the same image to compare and contrast.  We’re kicking off summer with the next picture in the coloring book, this Imperial mandala.

Once again I had no plan for this one, just picking colors as I went. It came out fine! The colors are bright and summery. Check out Kiri’s version here, which is also bright and summery!

All the circles here, including the Imperial crest and the Death Star, reminded me of a kind of sun/moon/eclipse theme. This, in turn, got me thinking about the most famous moon in Star Wars…not the Death Star, but the Forest Moon of Endor. This moon has always been a bit confusing: is the moon named Endor, or is the planet it’s orbiting named Endor? The answer: both! Endor the gas giant planet has nine moons, the largest of which is also called Endor. The others are totally unpronounceable, like many things in the Star Wars galaxy. (Another moon is Kef Bir, which is featured in The Rise of Skywalker as containing some of the wreckage of the second Death Star.)

I don’t really have a point to this tangent, except that it’s weird for a planet and its moon to have the same name. But it’s definitely not the weirdest thing in Star Wars!

Happy summer everyone! Hope you have plans to spend some time in the sun with your loved ones.

Fan Art Friday: Royal Flowers

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Welcome back to our Star Wars coloring book club, where every now and then Kiri from Star Wars Anonymous and I color the same image to compare and contrast.  This month I picked a flowery image of Queen Amidala because it reminded me of spring!

I didn’t really have a plan for this one; I just started with Amidala’s beautiful outfit and went from there with complementary colors. I’m happy with how it came out, though it does look like she has weird vines coming out of her head 😂

It’s so hard to pick a favorite of Amidala’s outfits, but this one is definitely up there. I love how her hair becomes part of the headdress. But I can only imagine how heavy it would have been for her to wear!

Check out Kiri’s special collaboration with her Padawan here.

Fan Art Friday: Sorry About the Mess

Mei-Mei7 Comments

Welcome back to our Star Wars coloring book club, where Kiri from Star Wars Anonymous and I color the same image every month to compare and contrast.  It’s been quite a while since we’ve done one because life sorta got in the way, but we are excited to be back with a mandala featuring everyone’s favorite Rodian, the bounty hunter Greedo.

I immediately had a rough start with this one because the green I initially chose for Greedo was too light and I had to go back and blend in a darker shade to make it look decent. But after that I got back into the swing of things. The color scheme here is mainly inspired by Greedo and his clothing, which kinda gives it a 70s vibe. Kiri also has a lot of say about Greedo’s clothing; you can check out her fashion critique and lovely coloring image on her blog.

It seems pretty fitting to start up again with this theme, considering that the first time I “met” Kiri was when she commented on a post of mine about Han shooting first in the cantina.

It was fun getting back into coloring this month! This one wasn’t my favorite but I’m happy with how it came out. We’ll be doing these every other month for now and I’m happy to take requests of themes you’d like to see us do haha.

Fan Art Friday: Social Distancing Mandela

Mei-Mei9 Comments

Welcome back to our Star Wars coloring book club, where Kiri from Star Wars Anonymous and I color the same image every month to compare and contrast.  It’s been a while, but we’re finally back!

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My feelings about this image changed dramatically as I went through the process of coloring it, which kind of mirrors my general emotional state right now during our current health crisis and social distancing.

When I saw this mandala, I immediately had a color scheme in mind and was excited to get started.  I did the first, central bit and really loved it.  Then as I kept going, I started questioning my choices and about halfway through I really hated it.  Then when I opened it back up to do the very last bits, I was able to see it more as a whole and now I like it okay.  I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best I’ve done, but I’m happy with how it turned out.

Picking a color scheme
Exciting beginning!
Feeling ambivalent now…

Also, I am unclear how this image is related to Star Wars?  I asked my husband and he was also unable to give a satisfactory answer.  Some of the pieces look industrial, like ships or vehicles or something, but I can’t peg exactly what they are from.  Any guesses??

 

 

 

Fan Art Friday: Remembering Leia

Mei-Mei5 Comments

Welcome back to our Star Wars coloring book club, where Kiri from Star Wars Anonymous and I color the same image every month to compare and contrast.  We’ve been doing this since 2016 and still haven’t run out of pictures to color!

I just got a new set of colored pencils for Christmas, so I was eager to try out all the new colors.  It was nice to be able to have a different color palette, but I felt like I did a lot of blending to get it to look closer to how I wanted it.  The new pencils are really nice to color with though!

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This isn’t the best picture because I had bad lighting and had to do some photo editing to make it look better.  The background is actually shaded with a light blue though it doesn’t show up well here.

ETA: Here is a slightly better picture, though I left the original for posterity 😀

I picked shades of pink and purple for the flowers for a couple reasons.  First, these feminine colors seemed appropriate for Leia here.  Although she didn’t have any agency in choosing this outfit (ugh), Leia does show that it is possible to be feminine and badass at the same time.  Remember, she kills Jabba while wearing this bikini!  Femininity can be powerful.

Second, these flowers look like Forget-me-Nots to me, which can be pink, purple, and blue.  I thought this was also appropriate as a tribute to Leia as well as the actress that played her, Carrie Fisher.  I was so pleased with how they were able to include her character in The Rise of Skywalker in order to give her a fitting send off.  The use of previous footage and visual effects worked so seamlessly, and it was wonderful to see Leia as “Master Skywalker,” even if just for a bit.

Also, check out Kiri’s version that uses the botanical details to reference Queen Amidala’s famous red gown.