Star Wars - The Force Awakens - ImagineFX Cover Illustration

Andrew Theophilopoulos, painting from his lighthouse in sunny Sarasota takes us through the process of using photo reference, without being tied down by the limitations of amateur photography.

"The force is like your artistic talent, it needs to be trained and challenged, but without enough practice you might lose it. One of the best ways to train is to set yourself up for failure, bite off more than you can chew, give yourself a tough lesson to learn from. When asked to work on the cover illustration for an unreleased film, I found the idea of digging through the minuscule amount of official "Force Awakens" imagery to be troubling. Even more so when the main character of my commission is a relatively unknown actress with little to offer in terms of portrait photography. What about painting the portrait of a stealthy Sith, who only appears in the dark of a trailer as the handsome mysterious type... How on earth, or in the galaxy for that matter, does one create a picture resembling two future icons? What I wouldn't give to be on the level of Drew Struzan, the well known illustrator of the Star Wars box art, who has had the tremendous opportunity to meet the cast and have them pose for some of the most iconic movie posters out there. In this demonstration, I'll spend $20 on thrift shop supplies to dress as Kylo Ren, and my partner as Rey. My amateur photo shoot will be the starting point of a lengthy push and pull of pixels. Let's get started!"

Andrewtheo.com
theonides.tumblr.com
instagram.com/theonides
www.creativebloq.com/imaginefx

Official music by LUCASFILM and Kai Engel.