Gobble Gobble, Move Move

My life is temporarily consumed by moving and family stuff, and I won't be online a whole lot this week and weekend. Hopefully I'll be set up with internet early next week and can start catching up, continue finishing commissions, etc. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I can tell you that I'm truly thankful for having such great people in my life -- friends, fellow artists, editors, fans, collectors, everyone. Thank you for supporting me and being patient with my weird schedule. :)

Star Wars Galaxy: Series 5

Series 4 was a massive hit, so it comes as no surprise that the next Star Wars Galaxy set is already on its way! Scheduled for release in February, this new set will feature tons of new base card artwork, lots of great sketch cards, and everything else you've come to love about Star Wars trading cards.

I'm proud to announce that I'll have THREE cards in the base set -- Two of them are brand new commissioned pieces of art featuring Clone Wars characters :) (I can't show them yet - but hopefully soon), and the third card features my 'A New Hope' print artwork from 2007's Celebration IV. Plus I'll be drawing 200 sketch cards. And I gotta tell ya, the Galaxy sets are THE best sets for sketch cards, because we can draw characters from ALL corners and eras of the Star Wars universe. Nothing's off limits. (Except maybe the Holiday Special.) :P

If you'd like to see larger images of the promo sheet, here's some linkage for ya:
Front
Back

It's gonna be an exciting set -- I'm looking forward to showing my work for it, and to see everyone else's. A lot of my fellow artists whom I've had the pleasure of working with and becoming friends with are also heavily involved with Galaxy 5, so it'll be cool. I'll keep you posted with more info as we get closer to the 2010 release!

Keelyvine's Jedi Starfighter

Keelyvine Reus is a new major character appearing in the Clone Wars webcomic. Tom Hodges designed her, and I really dig what he came up with - She's my favorite of the new cast. (And you'll be seeing her drawn by me in next week's chapter!) :) Anyway, I got to design the look of her jedi starfighter, so here's a peek at that. For the record, if they ever make an actual toy of this, I will poop my pants.

I'm All Thumbs

Since my Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars book came out, I've had a couple people ask me, "Do you really use stick figures and shapes like that?" So I thought I'd show some recent thumbnail sketches. I absolutely do use stick figures and shapes -- though, admittedly, they're much messier than the stuff you see in the kids' book. :)

When I start any larger project, be it a comic page or base cards (pretty much anything that I digitally color), my first step is always to grab a notebook and start doodling quick little poses and layouts. The stuff you see above is from an upcoming Star Wars card set, which I'll be able to talk more about in coming months. But essentially this is how much of my artwork begins: A messy little doodle. And once I decide which pose I like best, I scan it into Photoshop, enlarge it to whatever size my actual drawing will be, print it up, then use a lightbox to pencil over the thumbnail image and start my "real" sketch.

A lot of artists go straight to the page, and that's fine. There isn't one magical method that works for everyone. You need to practice and see what works best for you -- what's quickest, what gives you the best results, etc. Over the past couple of years, I've definitely discovered that thumbnailing things out beforehand helps me a LOT.

Movin' again...

Ah, my life is so full of action and adventure. :P I am moving again, and, of course, that means the next couple weeks will be more random than usual. I'm still staying in Minnesota. Fortunately, this time I have far less stuff to pack (a lot of it is still in boxes), so I'm not expecting too much craziness. Anyway, I'm still focusing on commissions and trying to get them done ASAP. I'm still keeping my PO Box address (1769 Lexington Ave. N. #156, Roseville, MN 55113), so no worries there. Hopefully the transition will be quick and smooth.

On a completely unrelated note, tomorrow is an AWESOME day for sci fi lovers. :) Both Star Trek and the new mega-condensed Farscape: The Complete Series hit DVD and Blu-ray. I had hoped to do some fan art for both, but... yeah, just don't have the time. So all you get is this crappy doodle.

More "Draw Clone Wars" Contests

After you check out the Klutz Design Challenge, head over to these other sites for more chances to win a copy of the book! :)

• SciFiChick.com
• GalacticBinder.com
• Fandomania.com

"Draw Clone Wars" Klutz Design Challenge

The publisher of "Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (written by Bonnie Burton, illustrated by me) is holding a fun new contest! All you artists should go check it out:
www.klutzdesignchallenge.com

You can win copies of the book, or even an original full-color Yoda drawing by yours truly. :)
Good luck!

Widevision Artist Return Card: Ahsoka/Twilight

Another one of my Artist Return Cards for the Clone Wars Widevision set that came out this week. This one's up for grabs. If you're interested in buying it, email me at grantgoboom@gmail.com

White Album in Non-Sport Update

NSU posted a sample article from their latest issue (you can find the magazine in all major bookstores). It features The White Album, the Beatles art tribute book that I contributed to. Check it out right over here. By the way, I still have copies of the book available - signed by all 13 artists. If you're interested in buying one, shoot me an email. :)

Widevision Sketch Cards: Batch 3

Clone Wars Widevision releases this week. By wednesday your local comic and hobby shops should have it in stock (and I believe it'll be available at Target, too). Here are three of my artist return cards that are already spoken for. If you're interested in a return card, shoot me an email: grantgoboom@gmail.com. I only have a few left.

Clone Wars Season 1 DVD/Blu-ray

The Clone Wars Season 1 is now in stores! (Read all about it.) I'm pretty excited about the fact that my art appears - albeit briefly - on one of the extra features. On DVD: On the 4th disc, when you're on "Blue Shadow Virus" on the episode menu, click left until the little shape highlights over Anakin, and there's an easter egg promo for StarWars.com. They show webcomic pages by me, Tom Hodges, and Katie Cook. On Blu-ray: On disc 1, look under Special Features, then look under Trailers. The StarWars.com promo should be there. :)

My apologies for the lack of new artwork on my site here lately -- I've been busy working on a few Star Wars related things that I can't talk about yet. Hopefully I'll be able to show something soon.