When Woodside needs some extra inspiration in addition to watching the films, he'll often look at work from another
Star Wars artist, Brandon Badeaux. "His style, layout, and detail is just amazing," Woodside says. "I never get tired of looking at
Republic #64. I keep it in a pile of inspirational materials lying next to my drawing wall."
Once Woodside has an image in mind, he says he uses Micron felt pens for the inking, but prefers to use Photoshop for the coloring. "I am terrible with paint, markers or colored pencils," Woodside says. "From the time I started adding color to my work I have always had a computer to do it in. Using the traditional tools, ironically enough feels unnatural."
While working on projects, Woodside admits that he's one of his worst critics, sometimes painstakingly nitpicking over every detail in an illustration. "I'm challenged primarily by myself," Woodside says. "Nothing is ever finished, so I just abandon it. I have to bug my friends all day, 'Come over and look at this and tell what is wrong about it.' I stress over
every minute detail. Once I step back and see the finished piece, however, I almost always realize what I was fretting over was not important, but it would have still bothered me. I know a lot of other artists feel the same."
However, with all the effort it takes to finish an illustration, or possibly a larger piece such as Woodside's
Celebration III poster, he is proud to show off his passion for each project. "What I enjoy the most however is letting myself get wrapped up in a drawing," Woodside says. "I get to take myself into the scene I'm working on and experience it first hand via imagination."
Not only does he often take his mind into a world of clone troopers and Jedi, but he happily escorts fans and the next generation of young artists with him by teaching tutorials both online (on starwars.com), as well as at conventions.
"Meeting the fans was a great experience," Woodside says. "The class on how to draw clone troopers was the best example. I had asked every clone trooper I seen around the Celebration III convention to come to the class to pose as a model for the kids. None had agreed, as they were all involved in various other events during the convention. However, when I arrived at the room wearing my Jedi robe there were 30 or 40 clone troopers there staging battles for the kids. Lightsabers were swung, blaster bolts deflected and clones were going down. Everyone had a great time! The guys in white really came through for me (thank you) and I know the kids thank you too. It was fun to see other people enjoying
Star Wars as much as me."
As he teaches young fans how to draw their favorite characters and vehicles, along with other Star Wars artists in the drawing tutorials on starwars.com, Woodside is happy to offer some words of advice for beginning artists. "Draw at least three hours a day and at least one of those hours commit to life drawing. I would be so much better if I had stuck to this. Also more than natural ability, trained skill or even luck, I would recommend staying determined. Never giving up is the only way to make it into this industry or as an artist at all."
To read more about Woodside's upcoming projects on his official site here.
