Star Wars fans are in a major flap across the globe about progress on Episode VII*, and the hype‘s starting to boil over about just what characters are going to feature. So now’s as good a time as any to dig into some of the great Star Wars fan art created in honour of the greatest sci-fi franchise of all time. No offense to Trekkies - we love Star Trek too! - but hey, the proof of the pudding is in the fan art. Read to to dig in? Let’s do it. First up - if you’re going to touch on Starwarsian fan art, you have to crack a nod to the one & only Olly Moss (whose work we’ve featured here a few times).   Master of minimalism, lord of the understated image, the ever-talented Mr Moss cracked the look and feel of the original trilogy with his first batch, and proceeded to nail it to the floor with his great follow-up treatment of Episodes I, II and III. Check out the simplicity of the images - it’s deceptively minimal, until you start to notice the important elements that he’s incorporated. Then you realise that he’s really taken the time to absorb the location, plot and characters. And of course, he finds just the right colour pallet to work over each of the 3 in both series. The man’s a master, hats off & hands down.   Moving onto a totally different style of Star Wars fan art - if you’re going to do a review of this particular niche genre of fanmania, it would be a crime not to include the awesome calavera-style remakes of Jose Pulido. Jose’s taken two totally different concepts, chucked them into his creativity blender and - presto! - out have popped his totally endearing versions of leading Star Wars characters. Never before has Vader looked so fun, and for that matter, nor have Stormtroopers or Chewy!   Just like Olly Moss - but in a totally different way that’s all his own, Pulido’s created something entirely fantastic that still pays homage to the genius that is the Star Wars story. Someone else who’s taken the characters of the flicks and turned them into something all their own is April Johnson, aka Aprelll on Deviantart - check out these great tattoo flash versions of Vader, a Trooper and Master Yoda - too good!     Lastly, we bring you the pure 8-bit genius that is Andy Rash! Yes, folks, in the far-flung outlying galaxies of the interweb, nothing escapes the beady eye of the bitmap! It’s pretty impressive that Rash has managed to totally recreate all the characters of the first trilogy using the simplest of colours and formats, but there you go - and here they are, in all their super-simple but supercool detail. (If you’re a fan of 8-bit art, you really should visit Andy’s blog, which is literally jam packed with his amazing creations).   That’s it for now, design and Star wars fans! If you’ve got suggestions of Star Wars fan art that you’ve stumbled across on the wild, weird web, let us know - drop a comment in the box below, or email me at travis (at) springleap.com, thanks!   - Travis   *want the lowdown? Here it is: 7-foot actors are being screened, which can only mean there’s a Wookie up in the mix. Better news yet: the legendary John Williams, who scored all six films in the saga thus far, is signed on. It’s all set for something spectacular!

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