Droids Custom DSD: First art!

by Bill Cable
on 2026-06-03, 09:47:57

I made a lot of good progress on my next custom. It started with finishing the base coat on my figures:

I discovered just about all of them had one spot or another I'd missed as I pulled each off the paint stand. But it was quick work to finish each with a few bursts of spray paint. I figure if I find any more uncovered areas I can touch it up with a brush when I'm painting the other colors. I haven't started that cuz I'm terrified...

So I began something with which I'm entirely comfortable instead - drawing! It took me a while to come up with an idea in my head that I liked, but when it hit me I was really happy with the concept. Why are some Death Star Droids black while others are silver? Is there some explanation behind that? And what if our Death Star Droid was unexcited by the prospect?

I began with some sketches of a cowering DSD, but I could not get the pose I liked. And when I tried to Google what I had in my head, the stock photos that popped up just weren't right. So I took the drastic step of handing Lynda my phone and said "take a pic of this...

Now that's what I call cowering! So I began drawing...

There's a nice little Easter Egg in there that I'll let you discover. So I had the general idea, but what about a setting? Then I realized if DSDs were doing maintenance, they'd probably do it in the maintenance room on the Death Star! I found some screen grabs for reference and completed the background.

I even began inking the thing, and made some nice progress yesterday!

So that's where things stand. I intend to begin painting details on the figures and finishing the inking over the next week, so next week's update should be quite exciting. Until then...