Star Wars Countdown

Today is the day. A day that will be long remembered. The conclusion of the Skywalker saga. 40+ years in the making. Nothing short of profound!

For me, I’m a bit sad to be retiring the countdown...  at least for awhile. Though, I’m equally excited to have the weight lifted of having to ensure I post as close to once daily as possible, which at times has been incredibly difficult to keep up.

However, the reward for me was not only getting to curate some of the most incredible Star Wars artwork into one jaw-dropping collection, but also getting to discover so many amazing artists, and even getting to meet some of them over the years. I was able to watch artists grow out of obscurity into full time working artists and some have now been tasked with creating official Star Wars artwork, which puts the biggest damn smile on my face!

So, 2,234 days after starting this journey on November 7, 2013, the day they announced the release date of the as-yet-unnamed Episode VII, I leave you with a few more posts. This artwork, an absolutely beautiful poster, is by Hugh Fleming.

And with that, I hope you all enjoy the movie and I look forward to whatever comes next!

May the force be with you...  always.

Today is the day. A day that will be long remembered. The conclusion of the Skywalker saga. 40+ years in the making. Nothing short of profound! 

For me, I’m a bit sad to be retiring the countdown...  at least for awhile. Though, I’m equally excited to have the weight lifted of having to ensure I post as close to once daily as possible, which at times has been incredibly difficult to keep up. 

However, the reward for me was not only getting to curate some of the most incredible Star Wars artwork into one jaw-dropping collection, but also getting to discover so many amazing artists, and even getting to meet some of them over the years. I was able to watch artists grow out of obscurity into full time working artists and some have now been tasked with creating official Star Wars artwork, which puts the biggest damn smile on my face!

So, 2,234 days after starting this journey on November 7, 2013, the day they announced the release date of the as-yet-unnamed Episode VII, I leave you with a few more posts. This artwork, a fantastic call back to the Revenge of the Jedi poster, is by Rich Davies, aka Turksworks. 

And with that, I hope you all enjoy the movie and I look forward to whatever comes next!

May the force be with you...  always.

JUST 1 DAY TO GO!

Or, for some of us, we’ll be seeing it tonight!!!!!!

Movie posters are an art form. From Saul Bass to Drew Struzan, they take on so many styles, approaches to subject matter and color palettes. In today’s world, it’s hard to beat a poster by Paul Shipper! And thanks to Paul, we get a rare look at this art without the billing block and written elements of the poster!

His poster design for The Rise of Skywalker certainly falls in the now traditional approach standardized by Drew, but his ability to capture the essence of the characters, balance the elements in the poster and add nuances that may not be evident at first but are essential to the overall composition, are profound! I always look forward to his artwork and posters, they are an absolute delight to look at and admire!

JUST

ONE

DAY

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only 2 days to go!!

And with 2 days, I couldn’t decide between two amazing pieces of Rey artwork, so you get both!

The first piece is by @jenbartel, which she did for the cover of  the Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy book. I LOVE the style and color of this piece, it really stands apart from most other Rey artwork.

On the other hand, the second piece is by Joshua Esmeralda and is a much more classic portrait of Rey, but really captures that timeless elegance of Daisy’s character. I really love this piece too!

I just re-watched The Force Awakens last night and after my first thought of “wow, I can’t believe how young Daisy looks!”, I began to take note of how incredibly well she played the character. She really did a phenomenal job and I cannot wait to see how the character will finish the trilogy. 

TWO

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Only 3 days to go!!!

From the first teaser for The Force Awakens, when Kylo pushes through the forest and ignites his crossblade lightsaber, I was 100% all in on this new villain!

Adam Driver has played Ben Solo / Kylo Ren to an almost bewildering perfection. He’s angry, dangerous, reactionary, but flawed and conflicted and tempted by Rey all at the same time. It’s a delight to watch and I can’t wait to see how his journey concludes!!! 

Of all the spectacular Kylo Ren art I’ve featured over the years, my hands down favorite Kylo Ren artwork has been done by @jodeeeart. I think she’d freely admit to being infatuated with Kylo and she’s been able to capture his many different sides so incredibly well. That, in turn, has led to her being able to create this dual Ben Solo/Kylo Ren piece for Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren by Charles Soule.

Thank you so much, Jodie! Can’t wait to see what this last movie inspires in you!

THREE

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

So, the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker was tonight in L.A., and while I wasn’t able to attend, I know others who did and I say this to them and anyone else who saw the movie tonight...

DON’T

RUIN

THE

MOVIE!!!

No Spoilers, please and thank you!

Just 4 days to go!!!!

Finn has been hit or miss for me. I loved his journey in TFA, but I was not a fan of his “mission” in TLJ and felt like he’s worth a much better story this time around, so looking forward to see what’s in store for John Boyega’s character!

The amazing portrait of Finn / FN-2187 is by Aleksandra Lech / @nlmda

FOUR

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Just 5 days to go!!!!!

It’s tough when beloved characters die on screen, but when the actors who portray them pass away in the real world, there is a profound sense of loss, both from the real world sadness that comes with losing someone, but also knowing that we’ll never get to see the character on screen again. 

When Carrie Fisher passed away tragically in 2016, the collective Star Wars fandom and many many others all felt this type of loss. And while we will actually get to see Leia on screen again, one last time, in The Rise of Skywalker, we all miss the spark, the charisma and singular personality that was Carrie Fisher. 

Since this is the final countdown and this will be the last time I feature Leia on the countdown, with 5 days to go, I wanted to do one more tribute to the amazing character, so from top left, clockwise, these 5 amazing pieces of artwork are by:

Jeff Lafferty

Cindy Handoyo

Marcus Andersson

Thiago Lopes

Alexis Collao

FIVE

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Just 6 days to go!!!!!!

I really felt like Lando had to come back to this new trilogy. I’m so happy he’ll be in TROS, no matter how involved the character is, it’ll be awesome to see Billy D back in the role again.

Artwork by Tony Foti. 

SIX

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Just 7 days to go!!!!!!!

Super excited to see Keri Russell in TROS as Zorri Bliss (or Zorii?). And not because we just marathoned The Americans either. I LOVE the character design for this one, the deep purple and that helmet, damn that’s badass! 

Artwork by @daztibbles

SEVEN

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Just 8 days to go!!!!!!!!

General Hux is quite the sniveling, loathsome villain, but is played so fantastically by Domhnall Gleeson! And now we get Richard E Grant joining as Allegiant General Pryde! I do really love the portrait of Hux by @zlatokryletz / Sea Zlatokryletz

EIGHT

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Just 9 days to go!!!!!!!!!

I love this idea of Chewbacca effectively being Ben Solo’s “nanny” when he was a young boy. I’ve wanted to post this artwork by Jenny Dolfen for a long time, so better late than never!

NINE

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Just 10 days to go!!!!!!!!!!

This great Poe Dameron artwork is by @feredir.

TEN

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

This is weird to say, and I’ve not had much time to even think about it, but this countdown, which I started on Twitter on November 7, 2013, is almost over. Once I finish these last 11 posts leading up to the release of The Rise of Skywalker, I will no longer be posting on any regular or consistent basis. 

It’s been terribly fun, and though there were a couple lapses due to travel and a few other obligations along the way, I’ve tried to keep it up the best I can, posting nearly every day, featuring hundreds and hundreds of incredibly talented artists and getting to see some of them rise from relative obscurity to some pretty spectacular acclaim. 

I had thought about trying to monetize this, and there are certainly ways to capitalize on a platform featuring awesome fan art, but in the end, I’m just a huge fan of Star Wars and in a way, this was a chance to connect with tens of thousands of you fellow fans and that’s been pretty awesome.

So, for my final non-TROS related post of the countdown, with 11 days to go, I wanted to feature this awesome work by a favorite of the countdown, @hydro74-blog. I first featured Josh’s work, a Darth Maul piece, on April 14th, 2014, with 613 days until an as-yet-unnamed Episode VII and then featured his work many times since. 

I really dig this Mando artwork and the show is totally awesome, so it felt like a fitting piece to feature and Hydro74 killed it! Hat’s off to you, sir, thanks for doing what you do!

ELEVEN

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

“Through Passion” by Eva Soulu

TWELVE

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Fantastic fan poster for The Force Awakens by @jakebartok

THIRTEEN

DAYS

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Badass Rey poster for TROS by Tracie Ching

FOURTEEN

DAYS

(TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!)

UNTIL

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER