Katie Cook - Luke Skywalker and the sands of Tatooine

A few years ago the bookstores at nearby Rutgers University were going out of business in order to be replaced by Barnes and Nobles. As a result art supplies were 50%, and then 75%, off. I managed to buy too much comic art board (twenty or so packets) at 11X17, a few 9x12 pads, tons of canson and colored pencils and various color sharpies. The canson will eventually get convention sketches and that should be really fun. But when I was standing there that first day looking over the pickings, I was amazed to see pads of 5x17 bristol for comic strips. I always assumed artists cut their own from larger sheets, and when I saw these pads I knew they would be a ton of fun for convention sketches. As stated in my first blog, Sean Chen did the first one ever for me, and charged me $80. Here is that first one.

I was amazed at what he had done. Sean Chen has been my go to guy for these ever since, and has now done 5 of them. But more importantly, he set my passion for this idea aflame. I have gotten just under 50 now, and 30 or so have been posted already on comic art fans. I would say that a few artists really fail to give me anything special for the size and just do their standard pinup, but most have been money well spent. I decided I would use this blog to debut new pieces in this format, and today I wanted to show off a really special piece. Done by Katie Cook, this piece has been seen on her blog but I have not yet shown it off myself until now. When I approached Katie with the blank bristol board (at Comic Geek Speak perhaps?) and asked her to do something Star Wars themed, she said she knew immediately what she wanted to do. Here is what she gave me later that day.

I know, really (in best Craig Ferguson voice). Can you believe it? This is right in so many ways. From the way Luke stands outside the panel, the simple yet inspired scene choice executed with such wonderful coloring, and the amazing way she captures the feel of the whole movie - I am blown away with it all! Thank you Katie Cook!!! I chose this one to debut first on my blog because it is what I hope for when I hand out these 5x17 sheets, that I get an artist who takes advantage of the format and executes a great scene in their own distinctive style. I will follow this up early next month with a wonderful Chrissie Zullo strip that finds inspiration in the Star Wars universe as well, and hope to show off something new in this format once a month thereafter.