Star Wars Artist Series: Katie Cook

Fellow artists weren't the only ones who began to take notice of Cook's work. As she attended San Diego Comic-Con International in 2006, she was able to show her portfolio to various Lucasfilm people including Director of Fan Relations Steve Sansweet. "He was at a booth talking about one of his many books and I asked him to take a look at some of my Star Wars work," Cook remembers. "There was one piece in my portfolio of Yoda knitting that he recognized. That was a pretty good feeling.

"Artist Tom Hodges also introduced me to Lucas Online's Bonnie Burton who asked me to do a Jabba the Hutt drawing tutorial for the Learn to Draw series on the kids section of starwars.com," Cook adds. "I had a blast with the tutorial and it inspired me to create a few projects of my own. I work at a paper-crafting company by day and I've translated a lot of silly craft knowledge into things into Star Wars projects. Ever made a Han-in-Carbonite pop-up card? I have."

"Most recently, I'm contributing 500 artist sketch cards to the Star Wars 30th Anniversary card set for Topps," Cook continues. "Each card is a fun, unique piece of art. I've had a lot of good times working on different sketch card projects, but this one is really special to me because I've always wanted to do a Star Wars set."

In addition to her work for starwars.com and Topps, Cook has created licensed work for coloring books, greeting cards, theatrical posters and several web comics and self-published comics. "I've had my hands in everything!" Cook smiles. "I'm currently trying to focus on comics and illustration though. I'd love to do a Star Wars kids book one day!"

When Cook first approaches a new project she may contemplate the subject awhile before jumping in head first. "I'll normally sit around and think about the project for a while before I even start," Cook says. "I'll watch a movie and pet the cat or take the dogs out for a walk. But once I sit down to draw, I'll just draw for hours and hours -- no roughs and no thumbnails unless the client wants to see them. I draw the main element of the picture the way I see it in my head and then just spread out from there, erasing and changing things as I go. After I have a pencil drawing that I'm happy with, I'll ink the piece. Then, depending on what medium I'm using to finish it, I'll either scan it to color it in Photoshop or dive into coloring it with paints or markers."

"I do a lot of my coloring digitally because of my love for the 'undo' command," Cook adds. "But, I am a classically trained illustrator so I still love paint. I'll use watercolors whenever I get the chance, but a lot of my quick drawings are done in marker. I do ink everything by hand, whether I color digitally or analog. I mostly use Micron Pigma Pens to ink and have an awful large box of Prismacolor art markers that I tend to go through like candy. Crayons are still a favorite medium of mine."

For the Topps artist card project, Cook was more than thrilled to draw one of her favorite characters over and over again. "Chewie is so much fun to draw in any style," Cook says. "If you're going to something super realistic, you get to have fun drawing and painting all that hair. If you're going something cartoony, you get to play with his proportions and fun anatomical structure. And if you're drawing him all cute and adorable, you get to make him cute and adorable. That's not very hard."

As an artist who looks up to her peers, she's more than happy to offer advice for the next wave of Star Wars artists looking for a few pointers. "Draw or create something everyday, even when you don't feel like it," Cook suggests. "Try and find your own voice, and don't copy someone else's style. Be nice to your fellow artists -- they are your peers and your friends. Secluding yourself from them is a mistake. Love what you do and draw what you love. And finally, watch a lot of 'The Muppet Show.' I don't really know why, it just seems to work for me."

Look for more of Cook's work in the starwars.com kids section, including this fun activity to make Star Wars Papercraft Boxes of Yoda and Chewbacca here.

To read more about upcoming projects from Cook, visit her official site here, as well as her daily art blog here.