Salacious B. Crumb
10.6 x 7.9 - Digital
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
I was very happy to get this assignment and it was the first of many on screen characters that I have been able to illustrate. I love working on illustrations based around Jabba the Hutt, his palace, and the aliens that are associated it from Return of the Jedi. I really wanted to make this piece mine and add my voice to it. Which meant I was going to stray a little from the requested art order.
The art order called for, "Salacious B. Crumb, Jabba the Hutt’s jester, hangs from the low hanging ceiling over Jabba’s throne. Heckling a member of Jabba’s court that has displeased the corpulent gangster." First things first, it was going to be next to impossible to fit Jabba in the scene described in the art order and I really wanted to paint Jabba. Also, Crumb hanging from the ceiling is a little weird. Yes, he hangs from the rafters in the sail barge after being shocked by R2-D2 when defending C-3PO, but the rest of the time we ever see Crumb he is sitting with or on Jabba. I really wanted to depict Crumb in his iconic spot of sitting on the edge of the dais heckling and doing his crazy Kowakian monkey-lizard antics.
I let me art director know I was going to be going off script, but was going to turn in something cool and she gave me her blessing. I got to work on some thumbnails and here is how they turned out...
Salacious B. Crumb - Thumbnails
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
I talk a lot about reference and he is a good time to talk about it again. One of the things I like about working on Star Wars, besides my life long love everything having to do with it, is that I can use my substantial toy collection as handy reference. The toys are detailed, accurate, and possible, which makes getting lighting and composition reference images a quick and painless task. Here are the images that I used as reference...
Salacious B. Crumb -Reference
Option "B" was the winning thumbnail. If I remember correctly it was also my favorite of the bunch. It allows a nice glimpse of Jabba, a triangular composition that I love so much, and little treats of the fanning Jawa and the hookah frog creature. There were no comments on the thumbnail except that it was approved and I moved forward with a detailed drawing...
Salacious B. Crumb
12 x 9 - Pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
The drawing was approved and I was all set to move forward. I worked up a toned drawing of it for myself as part of the process to figure out some value and lighting issues. Here is how the toned drawing turned out...
Salacious B. Crumb
14 x 11 - Colored pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
I was all set to now begin on the painting. In just twelve easy steps the Salacious B. Crumb painting came to life... or not. This piece came together fairly easily and was rather straight forward. There were no real curve balls on this one. I was making the red light source in the tub in the background a little too prominent at first, but that got resolved. Here is how the Salacious B. Crumb came into being...
Salacious B. Crumb - Progress progression
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
As an added bonus here is an animated process thingy to better show the painting taking shape. You can watch the hours fly by in half second increments...
Salacious B. Crumb - Animated Progress thingy
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
As mentioned before this continues to be one of my favorite pieces. I put a lot of myself into it and really pushed to make it into the piece I wanted to make while still fulfilling the needs of the client. Here again is the final completed painting as well as an image of the final production card...
Salacious B. Crumb
10.6 x 7.9 - Digital
© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
Salacious B. Crumb in handy dandy card form as seen at Gen Con!
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...
For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com
