Exclusive Look Inside The Star Wars Bestiary, Volume 1: Creatures of the Galaxy

Star Wars Insider: Tell us about the in-universe creator of this bestiary.

S.T. Bende: There is this organization called the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts that was first introduced in the YouTube animated series Star Wars: Galaxy of Creatures. It has different divisions, so we invented a new vocation in the Star Wars galaxy, and developed a backstory for our narrator, Ardis San Tekka, who is a creature cartographer. She goes out to all these different systems and studies the animals then writes up summaries of what she observes. And she’s an artist, so she sketches them as well. She has this safari droid named B8-T5 and calls him “Bait.” Bait lures creatures out of hiding, which is a task he doesn’t always love!

Star Wars Insider: Iris, how did you approach the artwork, as the book is a field guide but also a sketchbook?

Iris Compiet: Everything in the book was done traditionally, so it’s all paint or pencils on paper. There is no digital work whatsoever. That meant starting over again when I had to do any revisions. I think that I sent in about 1,200 pieces of art. I usually had two screens up, one with reference images and one with a movie or whatever, and I’d continually pause so I could sketch. And then when I needed to have a little bit more information, like what a creature does and how it might react to something, I would read manuscripts coming in from S.T. Her words really made everything come alive.

STB: Her work is so gorgeous, it’s like a love letter to Star Wars. I told Iris throughout the whole process, “I am so excited as a fan that you are doing this book, because this is exactly the kind of book I would love to have.” Getting to collaborate with her again was a dream come true for me, because she is an artistic genius. I love to interact with her and get sneak peeks at what she’s creating. I’m just so grateful that everyone’s going to benefit from her love for Star Wars with something they can hold onto.

Star Wars Insider: Do you have a favorite creature?

IC: The banthas! That was actually the first one I drew when I began working on this project. And I started very enthusiastically. I was so naïve. I sketched them in many different situations. And then I was like, “Oh, I have 130 more animals to do.” I love the blurrgs. They are the weirdest things ever, and so much fun to draw: they’re essentially fish-like blobs on two legs with short, Tyrannosaurus Rex arms.

STB: The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the films, but Star Wars Rebels is my favorite Star Wars anything. Getting to write about tauntauns was really fun because that was a nod to my favorite movie, but getting to write about the purrgil was really special. I remember being awed by the concept of space whales, which was so different from anything we had seen in Star Wars before, and anything I had imagined anyone could come up with. It was a personal connection to the real-world creatures that I love so much, so it was really neat to see them in the galaxy far, far away. And then, of course, when they came back in Ahsoka, that blew my mind. Now they’re in the Disney Parks in Star Tours, so I even got to ride with a purrgil for the first time!

Star Wars Insider: Tell us more about your personal connections with animals. What did you use as an inspiration?

STB: I used to work with marine mammals, so I was able to draw upon that experience, especially with the purrgil and the aiwhas from Kamino. The knowledge I gained was really helpful in filling in a lot of gaps for this project. And of course, we had Terryl Whitlatch’s amazing book, The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide.

IC: That is the most amazing book. Terryl has been an inspiration. Without her, so many of these creatures may never have seen the light of day.

Whenever I’m working on creature designs, I always reference Earth animals to keep them grounded, so I’m always sketching in zoos and places like that. Truth be told, if you look at animals on land or in the sea, Mother Nature is the best creature designer. There is some weird stuff out there that is a gold mine to work with. You can mix and match to create something unique, and I think that’s why the diversity of Star Wars creatures can be so endless.

STB: Doug Chiang has a really great quote. During one interview, he talked about the Star Wars formula – you need to be 80 percent based on the real world and then 20 percent with Star Wars adjustments. Even in creatures, you’re looking at a large portion that is realistic.

I borrowed from my different animal experiences to throw in some fun stories for Bait’s adventures. We had this fun game with this one dolphin I used to work with where I would throw a ball and he would jump up and catch it. Then, he would swim back to where I was and dive down, releasing the ball under water so it would fly up and I could catch it. I had the purrgil play a similar game with Bait – he throws a space rock at them, and they swat it back with one of their tentacles. There was also a little elephant I’d meet walking around with his trainers and he would reach out and hold your hand, so I had Bait talk about how banthas would take the hands of whoever they were with and lead them around and introduce them.

Read the full interview and much more on the pages of Star Wars Insider #228 on sale October 29th.