Star Wars Artist Series: Russell Walks

In addition to films, books and comics, Walks found inspiration in other artists -- most notably the legendary Star Wars artist Drew Struzan. "Clearly, Struzan is a big influence," Walks says. "For a long time, I think that my unconscious goal was simply to copy him, and my definition of success was whether or not the finished piece looked like something he could've done. Over the last several years, I've finally started to come into my own, and I can see more of me in my work. Additionally, I really, really admire artists like John Singer Sargent and Andrew Wyeth -- realistic artists whose work has an emotional content. I see that same emotion in 'commercial' artists like Maxfield Parish, and Norman Rockwell, and in comic artists like Jeff Jones and Neal Adams (particularly their stuff from the '70s)."

In 1992, after earning his B.F.A. in painting from Montana State University, Walks bought a copy of The Artist's Market and sent out over a hundred promotional flyers made with rub-on letters and spray-mounted photos onto a sheet of paper. His flyers did the trick and he almost immediately landed a job working for Cricket: The Magazine for Children.

"I was hired to illustrate a story entitled 'The Lively Soccer Ball,' and I was so excited to get the job that I handed in finished work four days after receiving the assignment --- six weeks before my deadline. A month or so after completing the Cricket job, I met Marvel editor Marc McLaurin at the San Diego International Comic-Con. Marc liked my stuff enough to give a job on Hellraiser, and that led to a piece for Cheval Noir at Dark Horse, which led to some Indiana Jones stuff for Diana Schutz. When Diana introduced me to Lucy Wilson at Lucasfilm and I did my first Star Wars painting -- a Chewie card for Topps'Star Wars Galaxy -- 'the circle,' as Darth Vader would say, 'was complete.'

Fans can spot Walks' work in Star Wars Insider magazine (including a 15th anniversary Return of the Jedi poster), several different trading card series for Topps (Star Wars Galaxy I & III, Star Wars Finest, Heritage, Revenge of the Sith), the 25th anniversary Celebration II Star Wars poster, Celebration III Star Wars poster, Tales of the Jedi covers for Dark Horse, and plates for The Hamilton Collection. Most recently, Walks created the 2006 Star Wars Disney Weekends poster.

"Disney approached me with a proposal to do some realistic artwork based on an already existing concept of 'Now that the movies are over, the characters from the movies want to relax -- so they go to Disney World!'" Walks says. "Although I usually art-direct myself, in this instance I was sort of filling in the blanks. Disney knew that they wanted a landscape-style (wider than tall, like a frame from a movie) composition grounded in reality, with Mickey in the middle and Darth and Yoda on either side, surrounded by characters from the saga, and Disneyworld landmarks."

But as with the merging of images from any large franchises into one space, the poster project was not without a few obstacles. "The approval process for this piece of art was particularly challenging, since I was working with two huge companies who are traditionally very concerned with the way their characters are portrayed," Walks says. "As is almost always the case though, every suggestion and change was ultimately beneficial, and I think that we've come up with something that will please both Disney and Star Wars fans. It was fun to paint Boba Fett with a Disney autograph book, and Chewie with a huge Simba toy, and I hope that the fans enjoy juxtaposition of characters from two different universes."