Star Wars Artist: Terese Nielsen

Star Wars...

I've been wanting to post a few new finds to the wacky-world of Star Wars. Although I had no intentions for this blog to become a Star Wars blog it certainly has the look of one so I guess to a certain degree it will be...I just can't help but share some of what I've come a cross. So I hope that who ever reads this blog will enjoy these posts as much as I enjoyed finding them!

A few weeks ago I was at the local comic book shop and noticed some really cool art work on these boxes for a new Star Wars game called "Star Wars Legacy Miniatures" anyways, the box had a really great painting of Luke in an outfit that I really didn't recognize but the likeness of his character was spot-on. The following week I asked a co-worker if he was familiar with the artist...and he did!

So I would like to introduce Terese Nielsen, her blog is really cool (click on her name for a link) and she has some great examples and tips as to how she approaches her work. As well she talks about the Art Direction and the feedback she gets on her pieces as she develops and finalizes her paintings. Something else she does that I thought was way cool is she posts her photo reference and in one instance she posted a pose she did for reference.

Very cool of her to share her talents and experience and definitely worth your time to check out!

More to come.

...i

Dreaming the dream

Luke Skywalker, he didn't really need those power-converters after all.

Pretty busy week...

But I actually thought of something to talk about other than just posting a bunch of cool random stuff, although I plan to do that from time to time as well.

I was thinking about how damn lucky I am to work at Lucasfilm Animation and at Big Rock Ranch it's really more than a dream come true and honestly I never even really considered Lucasfilm as a remote possibility for employment.

A friend of mine just recently came up to the Ranch for a visit and said something to me that really stood out, she said working for George Lucas seems "unattainable". That really got me to thinking about how I felt while I was going to school for animation, while in school it dawned on me that there's not too many people in this world who actually get to do what they dream of doing. I know plenty of people way more talented and driven than I am who wanted to work in the animation industry but never made it.

The best advice I can give to anyone who has a desire to work in animation...is really just keep at it. Although there may be times where you end up working a long line of crap jobs there's always something to be learned along the way, even if it's just perseverance. Bottom line is if you give up you'll never come across that opportunity that you've been waiting for.

I'm inspired by stories that I can relate to, stories about personal trials and hardships seem to be easy to find in just about any story. The story of Luke Skywalker leaving behind everything he knew to become a Jedi is just my all-time-favorite hands down, I thought the image of Luke looking out into the horizon was a nice reminder of that.

...i