One week ago today I got to do something truly incredible. I visited the Lucasfilm headquarters at the Presidio in San Francisco.
I was joined by a few friends from the Pennsylvania Star Wars Collecting Society for a tour. It was unreal - being in the actual place where Star Wars is made. Much to my surprise our guide told us we were welcome to take as many photos as we wanted... just no video. So I ended up taking over 200 photos.
I still need to go about processing those photos, but I wanted to start by sharing this one. I have a feeling this might be somehow important in an upcoming Star Wars project...
I hope to post a full review next week if I'm able to get it all together.
It's been a super crazy busy couple weeks, but I did find a few moments to finish the inks on my KS:
It really turned out spectacular (if I do say so myself). I also scanned it in, and I'm ready to begin cleaning up the inks. I do this by making a new "black lines" layer in Photoshop then giving it an 8-pixel red stroke. This makes all the stray specks really obvious and easy to erase.
Check back next week for some colors!
Droids Custom Klaatu Skiff: Almost entirely inked!
As you can see, I used a Vintage Kenner Skiff to fill out the background. I think it turned out really nicely. With that complete, last night after work I sat down and began inking.
I wasn't super happy with the way my ink flowed while drawing my last Droids custom, so I tried watering down the ink quite a bit before I began. That ended up being a very smart decision, cuz the inking went' fantastic.
Inking stuff like tentacles is right in my wheelhouse. I'd say it's just super easy because they're alien rather than real and you can get away with a lot, but whatever the reason mine always look great!
I finished the session working on the teeth in the Sarlacc as well as some of the walls of the pit. I didn't finish completely, but what's done I'm super happy with!
I'm about to head away on vacation for a week, so I won't have any progress to share next Wednesday. So stop back in a couple weeks to see the finished inks and hopefully a lot of color.
Much to my own surprise I began working on my next Droids Custom over the weekend. The last batch of bubbles I have in-hand are for Klaatu Skiff Guard. And I was faced with a dilemma. I already did a Klaatu custom, (which is honestly among my favorites), and that Klaatu was depicted on a skiff, so I couldn't do that again. So I struggled for a while with what other thing this new Klaatu could be doing.
I was initially playing with having him on the deck of the Khetanna. But I couldn't land on anything interesting for him to be doing there. Manning the huge cannon? Shooting Luke's hand? None of that really excited me. Then out of the blue it hit me...
So I began by roughing out the pose. Then I refined it...
Happy, I began adding details.
That went pretty well, and so here is the art as it stands now:
I love that's it's very dynamic. Klaatu's face is a bit of a pain to draw because it has so much detail, but I'll get there. Now I just need to decide exactly what I want in the background. I have a couple ideas in my head. Check back next week to see where I go with it!
The evening before the 2026 PSWCS Summer Social, I arrived with my buddy to Emmaus, PA to help with some prep work. We got there a bit earlier than the host was ready for, so we decided to stop in a random beer store named Shangy's. Little did we ...
It's been a slow summer here on Creature Cantina. I've been crushed with design and prep work for Star Wars Celebration LA 2027, none of which I'm allowed to share. As such, I haven't had much to post.
Finally the PSWCS Summer Social gives us something to write about, even if it is entirely self-serving. Each year PSWCS reaches out to companies to donate raffle prizes for the social. In return for the sponsorship, PSWCS promotes their gifts and links to their sites. Creature Cantina donated something you won't find anywhere else (unless you attended previous PSWCS Summer Socials or Sithmas parties...):
When I visited Tunisia, I collected and successfully smuggled out sand from all the filming locations I visited. And I've been gifting vials of the sand over the past several years. And people really seem to like them! They're typically one of the first prizes to be claimed.
So hooray to us for being so generous and giving away awesome stuff!
It's been a busy summer for me, prepping stuff for the PSWCS Summer Social and Star Wars Celebration LA 2027. Last week I really needed to buckle down on things, but I still found the time for a little road trip.
Weird Al Yankovic play the Erie Insurance Arena, which is a bit over a 2 hours drive for me. But that effort was worth seeing him, especially when it was from ON THE STAGE!!!
I'm the tall one on the right...
I was pretty anxious about performing choreography, but I think I nailed it.
Let's see if all my hard work pays off. Today I release my THIRTY-FIFTH Droids Custom: Death Star Droid. Inspired by the colorful cartoon version of C-3PO, these figure were stripped of their chrome, sprayed blue, then hand-painted with details.
Produced in a 1-time run of 21 pieces, they'll include a numbered COA. The cost is $155 shipped in the USA, or $150+ shipping international. PayPal payments are F&F only.
"How can I order one of these amazing pieces of art?" I hear you ask? Well... I have unfortunate news for you. They've already sold out.
