One of the perks of working at Lucasfilm is getting to select a few pieces from Lucas' vast artwork collection to display around one's workspace. With Lucas Online's recent move into a new building with empty walls, the staff was able to choose from a collection of recently acquired paintings, illustrations, and photography to hang in and around the offices. As luck would have it, Terese Nielsen's original paintings for Wizards of the Coast's Legacy of the Force miniatures collection had just become available, which I and others immediately snatched up to display around the Online office.
Nielsen had first grabbed our attention with an elegant Padmé illustration she'd composed for Celebration IV, memorable for its decidedly Art Nouveau style and stunning depiction of the sultry blaster-packing senator. Padmé was soon followed by several more highly-stylized portraits of Star Wars denizens courtesy of Nielsen's work for Wizards of the Coast, who tapped her to illustrate the packaging for their new line of Star Wars gaming miniatures.
Wizards' latest series, The Clone Wars, is Nielsen's third set of three paintings done for the line, giving fans nine fantastic portraits of Star Wars characters rendered in Nielsen's elegant, carefully composed style. We asked Nielsen about her work on the Wizards series, and about the Clone Wars set in particular:
When did Wizards first approach you to illustrate their gaming figures packaging?
The art director, Paul Hebron, contacted me in April of 2007 to see if I would be interested and available to work on the Star Wars minis line. I've worked with dozens of art directors throughout my illustration career, and Paul manages to perch right there at the top of the list. A rare quality these days is to hear an art director utter the golden phrase, "You're a professionally trained illustrator, and I trust that you're going to depict the character in a way that's going to blow people away." What a delight! Paul presents me with the characters that need to be illustrated, describes the overall attitude he wants each character to have, and then lets me run with it.
Your artwork for the miniatures series has a very Art Nouveau feel with the circular motif backing the characters along with a pleasingly balanced composition -- what inspired this style?
A couple of things. Circles, by their very nature, have the bullseye effect to focus a viewer's eye right to the area you want them to look first. My all-time hero, Alphonse Mucha, was masterful at this. In March of '07, just before I was commissioned to create art for the Star Wars minis packages, I painted a Mucha-inspired version of Padmé, which was created for the limited edition Celebration IV print. Mucha has been a major influence in my work for many years, and whenever I have the opportunity to pick my own dimensions for a piece I lean towards the tall, narrow, elegant format. This tall narrow package design had already been established and it just happened to fit the Mucha-esque proportions that I adore. So, I carried the same feel of the Padmé print on into the art for these minis packages.
You like to utilize deep, sensual tones -- what medium do you work in?
Adding color is, by far, my favorite part of the process. Successfully designing the composition and drawing the character is of paramount importance, but for me, color is where the fun and life comes in! Much of my inspiration and color preference stems from the Pre-Raphaelites who used rich, deep, evocative color combinations. As for what mediums I use, I use anything I can find on my table. This always includes two palettes (one with acrylic, one with oil) two drawers full of colored pencils, and an air brush roosting behind my elbow. Each medium has a unique ability to achieve a specific 'look' better than any other. Rather than spend extra time replicating what one medium does naturally, I layer them into the piece as I need them. (You can learn more about Nielsen's artistic process by visiting the demo area and Star Wars section of her blog here)
The new Clone Wars miniature series showcases the characters realistically rather than in the stylized look we know from the animation. Why did you choose this look?
This was 'one' of the many decisions that Paul made, not me. He feels that the overall continuity of the product, and who it is geared to, would be complemented best with the style that I have. The animated work (as cool as it is) is made to appeal to a younger crowd. Another reason is that the minis themselves are sculpted in a realistic style, not the stylized animated look. So, the figures harmonize stylistically with a more lifelike illustration.
Are there any characters that you'd love to illustrate that you haven't been asked to yet?
Some of the first work I created for the Star Wars world was for the Dark Horse comic covers, followed by The New Jedi Order book covers, and more recently several sets of packaging art for the miniatures line. Out of all of these images, I've yet to have a crack at painting Han Solo, Chewbacca or Darth Vader. They'd all be fun! As all of you know, the Star Wars universe is huge, and I particularly enjoy the variety from the original characters to those which only appear in the Expanded Universe.
What characters can we look forward to seeing next?
I got the o.k. to mention three more coming up. We've got one sporting an all-new image of Leia in a Boushh disguise. Also in this trio is the blue-skinned, red-eyed Admiral Thrawn, and the nasty Emperor leaning forward, hurling Force lightening at our face. Rest assured, there's a steady stream of great characters coming down the pipe! If, however, I divulge any more information, it's likely I'll be jolted out of my dream state with an E-11 BlasTech hard against my temple and stormtroopers fencing in my bed. I'd better just keep painting.
Look for The Clone Wars booster and Starter Set in stores on October 31st!
