myevilmouse

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Lil thrawn sketch!! yipiee 🪽

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I've found another man to obsess over 🥰 (I will definitely be drawing more of him)

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messing with a new brush & stuff yippe skip yahoo

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Posted Chapter 3 of Consummate Aesthetics today....

Craquelure, aka the cracks begin to show...

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Luke Skywalker by Karina Martínez

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Star Wars #1 (1977) pencil & ink by Howard Chaykin color by Steve Leialoha

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You've failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.

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Posted Chapter 3 of Consummate Aesthetics today....

Craquelure, aka the cracks begin to show...

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

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This is a gift for the lovely @marroniere, everyone go wish her a happy birthday!!!! DEW IT!!!! 💙💙💙🥳🥳🥳 She originally requested Thrawn wearing an ancient Chiss pauldron from her fic To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, and while this is not literally what she asked, I hope the quality of the work makes up for the fact that I took some... erm.... creative liberty with her request. XDDDD

This piece is heavily inspired by 16th-century italian military portraiture, in particular this piece, which served as a reference for the pose and the (always hellishly hard to draw) metal armor. Idk about you, but referencing classical art when drawing Thrawn always feels so right. XD Drawing all the little details (his ring, I couldn't leave out his Chimaera signet ring!) was so much fun. <3

Anyway. The cerimonial armor Thrawn is wearing is a blend of pure fantasy, made up by yours truly, and Late Medieval/early Renaissance plate armor, all bound together by hopefully what reads as a general Star Wars... vibe. While brainstorming HCs me and Marroniere agreed that the Chiss should be Italian Renaissance coded, and I jumped on that sh*t like a cat on a tin of tuna. XD While I still have to figure out what that would look like in practice (we already agreed on Csilla being frozen Space Venice, tho), this is a good first step. So yeah, Space Renaissance Thrawn for your pleasure and enjoyment!

One last note: the sentence inscribed on the parapet at the bottom of the painting is in Latin, and it is a reference to the prophecy the ancient priestess of Dodona would give to soldiers who came to her before leaving for war. The sentence has a double meaning, depending on where the punctuation is placed: Ibis, redibis, non morieris in bello means "You will go and you will return, you will not perish in war", while Ibis, redibis non, morieris in bello means "You will go, you will not return, you will die in war". I quite like this motto associated with Thrawn, as it speaks to the ambiguity of his fate, especially as he leaves the Ascendancy for the Empire. Having Latin mottos inscribed on official portraits was quite common in the Renaissance, so I thought it was a fitting addition. XD

More details of the painting under the cut!

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Dipping my toes into Star Wars right now.... urmmmm-

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One of the best compliments to get as a fic writer is when someone loves my OCs.

Like, I know most fic readers are there for the blorbos they already know. So if they love my totally weird little guy I completely made up, that is a huge accomplishment and so nice to hear.

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Luke Skywalker - the Rebel soldier (ESB novellization)

Luke's characterization in ESB differs from ANH due to passage of time. Three years passed since he's destroyed the Death Star. He's not the same dreaming, inexperienced farmboy, but instead became an experienced soldier and a Rebel commander. I think that change in Luke is often overlooked, because of his friendly attitude towards other Rebels in the movie, but the novellization makes it very clear.

Luke was well-known on the base and, although barely twenty-three years old, he was addressed as Commander Skywalker by other Rebel warriors. The title made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he was already in the position of giving orders to a band of seasoned soldiers. So much had happened to Luke and he had changed a great deal. Luke, himself, found it hard to believe that only three years ago he was a wide-eyed farm boy on his home world of Tatooine.

Luke is respected and has authority in the Rebellion now. The difference between the old and new Luke is further shown by his interaction with Dack.

Luke turned and hurried over to his snowspeeder. When he reached it, Dack, his fresh-faced young gunner, was standing outside the ship waiting for him. “How are you feeling, sir?” Dack asked enthusiastically. “Like new, Dack. How about you?” Dack beamed. “Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself.” “Yeah,” Luke said quietly, “I know what you mean.” Though there were only a few years between them, at that moment Luke felt centuries older.

Dack is the greenhorn here, enthusiastic to fight the Empire, feeling invincible. He is exactly like Luke was in ANH. In comparison, the current Luke feels "centuries older" because of his experience. He was at war for 3 years, he's dedicated to the cause but he's not so rose-coloured as before.

Luke saw the explosion of his squadron’s first casualty as he looked from his cockpit window. Angrily, Luke fired his ship’s guns at a walker, only to receive a hail of Imperial fire power that shook his speeder in a barrage of flak.

I like how the novellization is so explicit about Luke's dark emotions. He reacts like a normal person in these situations. He's a soldier fighting a war and so he quite often feels anger and fear. Yoda is completely right when he hesitates to train Luke because of his strong negative feelings. Luke isn't a cinnamon roll that never gets angry. He has plenty of reasons to feel that way.

As Luke soared up and away from the walker, he looked back. “That armor is too strong for blasters,” he thought. “There must be some other way of attacking these horrors; something other than fire power.” For a moment Luke thought of some of the simple tactics a farm boy might employ against a wild beast. Then, turning his snowspeeder for yet another run against the walkers, he made a decision. “Rogue group,” he called into his comlink, “use your harpoons and tow cables. Go for the legs. It’s our only hope of stopping them. Hobbie, are you still with me?”

Luke is actually a really good, effective commander in battle. I like how he can think outside of the box here and quickly find a way to fight the walkers. He takes inspiration from his past experiences as a farmboy. That's a very neat continuity in his characterization.

Luke saw the disintegration and was sickened by the loss of yet another friend. But he couldn’t let himself dwell on his grief, especially now when so many other lives depended on his steady leadership.

Luke feels responsibility as a commander. Other Rebels depend on him. He has to master his emotions, like grief, so he could fulfill his duty as a leader. I say he already has makings of a Jedi in this aspect. This also ties with his portrayal in the movie. He doesn't show these negative emotions, because he needs to be an effective leader and keep up the morale. His subordinates rely on him, so he can't lose it in front of them.

Luke had not realized just how enormous these four-legged horrors were until, unprotected by the shelter of his craft, he saw one up close. Then he remembered Dack and returned to try and pull his friend’s lifeless form from the wrecked speeder. But Luke had to give up. The body was too tightly wedged in the cockpit, and the walker was now almost upon him. Braving the flames, Luke reached into his speeder and grabbed the harpoon gun.

Luke barely knew Dack but he still regarded him as a friend and went back for his dead body despite the danger. The symbolism of Dack as someone who was just like younger Luke, but died in his first battle can't be understated. This could have been Luke at anytime. The battles are chaotic and he's just a guy without any Jedi training. He survives thanks to skill, some luck and his friends' help.

There's also some nice contrast between Luke and Vader. Luke cares about his rebel friends, trusts them and is trusted in return (no one questions his orders), protects them and is willing to sacrifice himself for them. Vader is the opposite - he doesn't have friends, only underlings he doesn't care about, he kills them for failure, rules them through fear and isn't trusted by them (Ozzel questions him outloud and Piett in his thoughts). Luke going back for Dack's body reminds me that he acted similarly in ROTJ when he didn't leave Anakin's body behind. Luke dragged his father to the shuttle and after his death took him to the planet and gave him a funeral.

He gazed at the advancing mechanical behemoth and suddenly had an idea. He reached back inside the cockpit of the speeder and groped for a land mine attached to the ship’s interior. With a great effort he stretched his fingers and firmly grasped the mine. Luke leaped away from his vehicle just as the towering machine lifted a massive foot and planted it firmly on the snowspeeder, crushing it flat. [...] He climbed up to the machine’s hull where he had observed a small hatch. Quickly cutting it open with his laser sword, Luke pulled open the hatch, threw in the land mine, and made a rapid descent along the cable. As he reached the end, Luke dropped hard onto the snow and became unconscious; his inert body was nearly crushed by one of the walker’s hind feet.

Luke's insane, almost suicidal actions to destroy the walker with a landmine show even more about him. He knows the danger, he sees other Rebels dying around him, but that doesn't stop him. The way he jumps into action here makes me think that he's been doing life-threatening stunts like that regularly as a Rebel. He doesn't even think about self-preservation. Frankly, I don't think he ever fears death, based on this and ROTJ. When the ultimatum is "join or die", he chooses death. He fears losing his friends more which motivates him to go to Bespin or attack Vader on the Death Star II when Leia is threatened.

All in all, I think Luke's characterization in ESB as a Rebel soldier seems like a natural progression from who he was in ANH. Han still calls him "kid" as a nickname, but that naive farmboy is gone. Luke went to war, gained experience and became a respected commander. At the same time, he didn't forget his roots and is upholding his principles that made him a Rebel and would later guide him on his path as a Jedi.

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a glimpse into my sketchbook!