Here's a look at some of the new cards completed by Star Wars artist Randy Martinez.
"Doing the Galaxy 4 artist sketch cards was a home coming of sorts for me," Martinez reveals. "It had been four years since I had drawn any official Star Wars sketch cards. My last set was for Revenge of the Sith. And while I have built up a long list of other sketch card sets, I was really yearning to do some Star Wars again. A lot has changed since 2005. My art had kind of metamorphosed into a more "realistic" style. I was doing a lot less sketch cards (150 versus 3,000), and fans expected something extra special since it had been awhile. So I decided to make this set extra special. I did one sketch card for as many characters as I could get to in 100 cards. That means only one Yoda, one Luke Skywalker, and so forth. I am really happy with the results!"
"There were plenty of strange and colorful characters hiding in the old Marvel comics and video games that we were allowed to draw," Martinez says. "My favorite therefore, would have to be Jaxxon the 7-foot green bunny. A smuggler to boot! Yes, I think Jaxxon takes the award of favorite character to draw."
"When I draw the same character I get into a groove and I am able to really start going fast because it's almost like drawing from memory," Martinez explains. "So really it's like I'm not even thinking and just letting my hand take control of the sketch. But when every card is different, I have to stop my rhythm after every card and get into a new character. It helped a little if I drew all the Sith characters in one sitting , or all the Rebels, because I'm thinking about their similar causes and emotions. I know that sounds a little weird but I really do try to get into the head of the subject I am drawing, kind of like an actor."
"Topps asked if I would like to do some special sketch cards for Target retail packs," Martinez says. "Of course I jumped at it, and added 50 more cards to my lot. But these cards were different -- they had to be colored red or drawn in red. I like a bit of a challenge, so I bought some red glitter pens and white GellyRolls, and just let my mind go crazy on the cards. Many of the characters have almost tribal looking marking all over the cards, and the glitter pens added a special touch."
Star Wars Galaxy IV are already available primarily in hobby and comic shops.
Read about more news on the Topps Star Wars Blog. Stay tuned to Starwars.com and Topps.com for further details.
