Collectors and fans alike have a chance to own one-of-a-kind Star Wars art pieces while giving to a good cause with The Empire Muggs Back. Lucasfilm asked artists, comic book creators, toy designers, and celebrity fans armed with markers, paint brushes and glue guns to transform blank Mighty Muggs (donated by Hasbro) into custom Star Wars art which will be auctioned by The Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Starwars.com chats with artist JAKe about his process for turning a blank Hasbro Mighty Muggs into a special tribute to filmmaker George Lucas himself.
What did you choose to do for your Mighty Muggs art piece?
I thought it would be funny to do George Lucas rather than something from the films. The natural choice was to kit him out in the "Han Shot First" T-shirt featuring my artwork, that caused all the fuss on the Web a couple of summers ago, when George was seen wearing it. I set aside a weekend to mask and spray paint it outside, and get a tan whilst I'm in the garden. But of course, being England in June, the heavens opened and it absolutely peed down all weekend.
Then I sat watching Glastonbury on the telly, whilst sculpting the toy's bouffant, which kinda looked alright from the front but goes a bit matted dreadlock at the back (must have been the Glastonbury influence.) I don't know, maybe George rocks a few locks at the back? I have new respect for the sculptural forms of that hairstyle though. I reckon ILM must render it for him in real life. It's like if Frank Gehry designed an ice cream.
Why did you want to participate in The Empire Muggs Back art project?
I haven't made or customized a toy for a while but the Make-A-Wish foundation is a good cause so hopefully it'll raise a sizeable chunk o' change.
What was your step-by-step process? What materials did you use?
I did a little sketch that had him riding an AT-AT like a horse. I took some air drying clay called Milliput and molded a nose onto the toy. Then once that had set, I sprayed the head and hands with a couple of coats of flesh colored Belton spray paint and then left that overnight to dry. The next day I carefully masked off different parts with tape, protecting the skin color, then sprayed the T-shirt color and the denim color. For this I used a paint called Marabou Do It. It dries within half an hour so. I could reapply masking tape pretty rapidly to get sharp edges on the different colors.
I then sculpted the hair, beard, eyebrows and beard with some grey Milliput. and once that had dried I printed out the T-shirt design on to some adhesive paper, and carefully cut that out with a scalpel and applied it to the body. The AT-AT horse idea proved a bit too ambitious so George ended up taking the AT-AT for a walk instead.
What were some of the challenges you faced while making your art piece?
The main challenges were the drying time, British weather and brushing up my ninja scalpel skills to cut out the T-shirt design. Clay fingerprints all over the pristine coats of paint were a problem. But praying it made it all the way across the Atlantic without it being dropped was my main worry.
Why do you think Star Wars fans will love The Empire Muggs Back project?
I hope it gets a reaction like The Vader Project, but this time the charity auction's going to give people chance to take some super-limited artist one-offs home with them.
The Mighty Muggs art pieces are now up for auction and can be seen at The Empire Muggs Back on Starwars.com. The auction ends August 14, 2009.
Stay tuned to StarWars.com for in-depth coverage on The Empire Muggs Back.
