Star Wars Artist Series: Steve Anderson

Whether it's the cover of a bestselling novel or an illustration printed on a whimsical jigsaw puzzle, Oregon-based artist Steve Anderson has spent his career paying tribute to a franchise that sparked his imagination as a young child sitting in a movie theater one fateful afternoon in 1977.

"I have always been drawn to the big screen, and Star Wars was a perfect movie with all the space action," Anderson says. "When that huge Star Destroyer virtually covered the entire screen at the opening of the movie, I knew we were in for something special. However, the huge ship wasn't what turned me into a fan as much as the story of Luke Skywalker. I think boys and girls alike could relate to Luke and the struggles he was going through -- particularly his desire to go out and be a part of something important."

Much like Luke, Anderson shared a similar desire to expand his horizons even at a young age. "When I was little, I drew a lot and always loved going to art classes, going to movies and building models," Anderson remembers. "I knew I wanted to do something creative in the future; I just didn't know exactly what."

Anderson's father, a self-taught artist, also inspired Anderson to follow his dream. "I remember our house in California where, on our living room wall, he actually drew a life-size sketch of several horses," Anderson says. "I wanted to be just like him but my involvement in art ebbed and flowed as other interests were explored. When it was time to go to college, I thought I'd pursue a career in commercial art and design logos for a living. I didn't know about art schools; otherwise I might have chosen that path and had a better focus. Instead, I went to a four-year college where I was introduced to the airbrush and loved it."

Following college, Anderson worked at a company designing and illustrating T-shirts. "After several years, I went to work for the Hallmark Cards headquarters in Kansas City, first as a creative on-call freelancer and then full-time in the Packaging Design department. It was there that I was introduced to the computer as an artistic tool, and I put all of my focus into developing my skills in digital illustration -- taking every opportunity to learn as much as I could about computer design and illustration -- on the job. So like my father, I have ended up being more self-taught in the actual ways I work as an artist today."

After a few years in the Packaging Design department at Hallmark, Anderson moved to the Calendars and Puzzle division where he found himself designing a Star Wars 12-month wall calendar.

"No art direction was given, so it was totally up to me," Anderson remembers. "It was 1993 and George Lucas didn't announce that work would begin on the long awaited prequels until 1994, so I had to bone up on Star Wars again. I started by going through all the materials I was given by Lucasfilm and came up with a few panels to present. Doing major licenses like Star Wars on calendars was sort of a new thing, so instead of presenting to the regular Calendar and Puzzle staff, I had to present my ideas to the Licensing division of the company and to Lucasfilm's Director of Licensing and Director of Merchandising. It was a very large greeting card company so I was accustomed to presenting in big meetings, but I had never been to the Licensing division or made a presentation to Lucasfilm. I was a very nervous. Luckily, they liked what they saw and invited me to go to Skywalker Ranch to browse through the Archives and select some reference material."

Once Anderson returned home, he got a new wave of inspiration and decided to take a risk by changing the direction of the calendar designs that were already approved. When he sent Lucasfilm his final calendar art, he knew the reaction could go either way. "I can still remember sitting in my office and getting a conference call from Lucasfilm people who wanted to discuss the project," Anderson says. "They didn't call my supervisor or my manager first; they just called me directly."

They approved the new direction and Anderson was soon off and running on another project that appealed to his inner child. "Then they asked me to design a 1,500-piece, 28" x 36" Star Wars puzzle," Anderson says.