Star Wars 3: The Legend of Wicket's Gold

By the time I got around to my Return of the Jedi poster, I'd already been putting in mad hours for two weeks straight on the previous posters, but I was to find a new definition of pain and suffering upon this new endeavor.  With only 3 days until I had to go to print for the comic con, and with a monster of a movie with the most messy storyline in the trilogy, I had my work cut out for me, and basically went from 18-hour days to a final 22-hour couch-bound illustrating marathon.

Aside from the usual list of concerns, (color scheme, composition, character design) the problem of story theme and plot structure became problematic in ways I've usually not had to deal with in poster design.  For the first two posters, I started at the base of the image with Luke in one of his iconic, theme-establishing scenes at the start of his journey; first in Star Wars contemplating his hopes for the future as he stares at the duel sunset on Tatooine, and then in Empire where he's at a low point on Hoth and tasked with finding Yoda to begin his training as a Jedi.  The posters then tell the stories in a vertical fashion, introducing characters and events as they occur in the films, and culminating in the climax of the film at the top.  

 Like so

But there is no such theme-establishing Luke thinky scene at the start of Return of the Jedi.  He's basically shrouded in mystery until he shows up in Jabba's living room instigating the long list of shenanigans that comprise the ultimate Star Wars side quest to save Han.  While I love this part of the film, it does deviate from the previous formula that was working so well for my poster designs.  Luke doesn't really get his theme-defining thinky scene until the end of the film as he holds a funeral for Darth Vader ***spoiler alert*** and gets some much-needed closure. 

I wrestled with this for a bit, but with the deadline looming, it wasn't a good time for this poster baby to get its head stuck in the proverbial birth canal.  So I went with my gut and ditched the strict linear storytelling convention.  I also, sadly, had to leave out the ewoks.  Yes, small as they are, there was simply no room for them in the end.  Jabba gluttonously ate up all the remaining space.  But I'm still quite happy with this design.  I think the three posters work well together and I can, (for the time being) not worry about any more Star Wars art.  Heaven knows I'm not going through this much pain for that prequel nonsense. As stated before, you can pick up this or any of my other poster designs at my etsy store.

Greg White- Illustration