"It's been a personal goal of mine to work on as many Star Wars projects as possible and it's led to a long line of fun and interesting jobs over the years," Trevas reveals.
"Since their previous sketch cards proved to be so popular among the fans, Topps wanted to involve even more Star Wars artists for Heritage," Trevas explains. "My friend and fellow Star Wars artist Joe Corroney suggested they contact me and I joined the project. I think it's great to be able to do work directly for the fans and it's an opportunity for them to own an original hand-drawn piece of Star Wars art. When I was doing the cards I would sit at a table with a pile of Star Wars books and just flip through them. I would choose a character to draw on a whim, starting with a quick pencil sketch and then refining them with permanent ink, erasing the pencil lines at the end. I tried to keep it spontaneous and draw a wide variety of humans, aliens and droids. Of my 200 cards I basically drew equal amounts of characters from each of the six movies."
Like many Star Wars artists, Trevas considers legendary artists Ralph McQuarrie as a big influence on his work.
"I remember collecting The Empire Strikes Back cards as a kid and trading with my friends to get all the 'Space Paintings' cards featuring the original concept art," Trevas recalls. "Much later in life, studying McQuarrie's paintings inspired me to work on environments instead of always concentrating on characters. Several years ago, I met Ralph McQuarrie and was able to share with him my own Star Wars landscapes. That was a great experience to talk with the man that was such an early influence."
Trevas also counts iconic Star Wars poster artist Drew Struzan as a special inspiration to his work, as well as upcoming digital painters.
To paint digitally, Trevas says he primarily works in Adobe Photoshop using a 9"x12" Wacom drawing tablet.
"I've become so accustomed to working in the computer that I tend to even draw directly in the program, though I do use pencil and paper occasionally," Trevas explains. "I still consider the process of creating final art 'painting' because the process is similar even though the tools are very different. Photoshop gives me nearly limitless possibilities with textures and effects that are impossible or too time-consuming with paint. Admittedly always being able to hit 'undo' allows me to take more risks using the computer. For line art and graphics I use Adobe Illustrator."
"I also work with advertising agencies doing storyboards for commercials, mostly cars since I'm in the Detroit area, the Motor City," Trevas says. "I did a painting for the Detroit Zoo which they use for their brochure cover, posters, and banners around the park. I've even worked on a couple Arena Football team logos, the New York Dragons and the New Haven Ninjas. The Ninjas are on hiatus now, but the Dragons have been doing well. I enjoyed watching the team on NBC with the dragon I drew emblazoned everywhere from the helmets to the stadium to the on-screen graphics."
"One of the most memorable fan experiences for me was at the first Star Wars Celebration," Trevas remembers. "I was signing Star Wars Kids magazines for a bunch of young fans. The little ones would come up with their parents and be all nervous. I'd say hello and talk to them a bit while signing their magazine. They were always so quiet, but as they were walking away they'd have the biggest smiles on their faces -- It was an incredible feeling."
To learn more about Trevas and his work, visit his site: christrevas.com
