On shelves August 6th will be this gem, Star Wars: Myths & Fables, written by George Mann and beautifully illustrated by artist Grant Griffin. The fandom is all too familiar with the difference between canon and legends. This book, however, takes us on a different journey, with different stories to take in about some of our favorite characters from the perspective of a campfire story.
The book will encompass generational fairy tales from Star Wars stories and portray them as exactly that; stories that have been handed down from generation to generation, and star system to star system. As a bonus, each story will feature a painting by Griffin showing the subject. StarWars.com has released three of those images. Check them out below, along with Griffin’s commentary on each one.
“My job as the illustrator was to try and depict how an in-world artist might interpret space tales that have been passed down across the galaxy, and like a game of telephone, by the time the stories reach the artist, they are pure myth and fantasy.”
Grant Griffin, Star Wars: Myths & Fables illustrator
Myths and Fables: The Wanderer
“If the ‘Bogey Man’ is a Sith, the ‘Good Samaritan’ has to be a Jedi. The initial idea for this story was to mirror the evil version. Sith versus Jedi, destruction versus abundance — you get the idea. I have always leaned towards the dark side, so it was challenging switching gears from Skeletal Vader to the sunshine-and-rainbows Jedi version. (I did have fun channeling Bob Ross and putting in all those happy little birds and trees, though!)
The biggest struggle we had with this illustration was settling on a look for the Jedi. The art directors wanted a heroic/angelic feel to the character. For inspiration, I dug into Ralph Macquarie’s original concept art for Luke Skywalker, meshed with a Wyeth fairy-tale knight. It was extremely satisfying painting a Jedi in full chainmail and rocking a shield. In the end, we ended up going for a more iconic Jedi feel and added the hooded cloak. As you can see, we did keep in the armor and shield, so I was happy.”
Grant Griffin
Myths & Fables: Black Spire
“What’s more challenging than painting iconic Star Wars characters? How about making unknown characters look and feel like Star Wars. That was a new hurdle I ran into for this illustration. Luckily, I had some help. One of the perks of being an illustrator is getting to peek behind the curtain before things go public. As we needed something iconic to make this piece read ‘Star Wars‘, I got to access some of the early construction for Galaxy’s Edge. With park photos for inspiration, I was able to paint up the background inspired by the Black Spire — and nothing says Star Wars like a planet with double moons!”
Grant Griffin
