By RENE A. GUZMANSan Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The Force is definitely in the cards for local artist Cat Staggs.
Besides wielding pencils and markers the way most Jedi wield lightsabers, Staggs wields quite a reputation as a "Star Wars" artist, illustrating numerous trading cards and other works for the sci-fi franchise.
Staggs channels the Force of her talents yet again with 75 original sketch cards and a full-painted base card for the new "Star Wars" Galaxy set, a trading card series now in stores.
For Staggs, 36, that galaxy far, far away has been one she's drawn from since she was a kid. "As soon as that Star Destroyer flew over my head. ..," Staggs says of the opening to "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope."
That passion shows in her many "Star Wars" sketch cards, each an original work of art she crafts right on the card.
A sketch card is a very rare and therefore very collectible hand-illustrated card, a one-of-a-kind catch in the sea of mass-produced trading cards for a series. Prices vary on the secondary market, though some sketch cards sell on eBay for hundreds of dollars apiece.
Of Staggs' 75 Galaxy sketch cards done in marker, 25 of them are in packs exclusive to Target stores. (The Target exclusive sketch cards are all red and all bad guys such as Darth Vader and Darth Maul.) The other sketch cards, which feature "Star Wars" heroes such as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, are in packs you'd find in comic and hobby shops.
David Waldeck, entertainment/licensing editor at Topps, says the odds
of picking a Staggs' sketch card from the Galaxy set are 1 in 5,300.
Rare treats, indeed.
Like all her work, Staggs infuses her "Star Wars" imagery with a dynamic photorealism, much like a movie frame washed over with rich colors and subtle hues. Her pencil work bears an equally uncanny resemblance to its live-action source material.
The details are in the referencing. Staggs often uses models as well as snapshots to get just the right pose for her work.
For her Galaxy base card of Obi-Wan Kenobi, she directed a photo shoot of a friend in Dallas sporting a replica lightsaber and battle armor as well as a striking resemblance to Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan from the "Star Wars" prequel films. She then took a pose she liked and Photoshopped it with toy battle droids to create her card scene. Then she drew and painted that image by hand.
"I've been striving to make it look like a character not just a guy in a costume," she says.
If it's a character with any fanboy connection, chances are Staggs has brought it to life at her drawing table.
Besides fleshing out the "Star Wars" universe, Staggs has also crafted sketch cards for "The Lord of the Rings" and "Indiana Jones" films as well as TV's "Heroes," not to mention scads of costumed adventurers from Marvel and DC Comics.
Geek fare is in her wiring. "Star Wars" love aside, Staggs grew up reading Batman and Daredevil comics and watching Lynda Carter twirl into action in the "Wonder Woman" TV series. (Staggs bears a Wonder Woman tattoo on her left arm and a Catwoman tattoo on her right.) She still has her old Batman audio books, along with plenty of childhood drawings.
"I don't remember not drawing," Staggs says.
A longtime Coloradan, Staggs moved to San Antonio in 1990 to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio. She graduated in 1994 with a BFA in portrait painting and drawing and quickly took her talents across Loop 1604 to Six Flags Fiesta Texas as a T-shirt artist. The next year, she landed a gig at Rivercenter mall's Sam Goody store as visual merchandiser, airbrushing original and replica movie posters as well as setting up general displays.
When that job got phased out in 2003, she took to the convention circuit. Her big break came in August 2004 when in Chicago she met Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm head of fan relations, who saw her portfolio. A few months later, Topps called with an offer to create sketch cards for the last "Star Wars" prequel, "Revenge of the Sith."
Staggs has been crafting 2-by-3-inch masterpieces ever since.
"They're a lot of work but they're a lot of fun," she says, noting full-color work can take 30 minutes to an hour per card, not counting the day or two to collect reference material. "You're always at crunch time at the end of these things."
Crunch time is already coming up for her next project -- a minimum 150 full-color sketch cards for an X-Men set. Oh, and maybe work for a Wolverine set that highlights the claw-popping mutant hero. Both should hit stores this summer.
Beyond that, Staggs would love to do book illustration. In the meantime, "I'm sure there'll be another (card project) in the next month or so," she says. "There usually is."
In the cards? Absolutely.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Like all her work, Staggs infuses her "Star Wars" imagery with a dynamic photorealism, much like a movie frame washed over with rich colors and subtle hues. Her pencil work bears an equally uncanny resemblance to its live-action source material.
The details are in the referencing. Staggs often uses models as well as snapshots to get just the right pose for her work.
For her Galaxy base card of Obi-Wan Kenobi, she directed a photo shoot of a friend in Dallas sporting a replica lightsaber and battle armor as well as a striking resemblance to Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan from the "Star Wars" prequel films. She then took a pose she liked and Photoshopped it with toy battle droids to create her card scene. Then she drew and painted that image by hand.
"I've been striving to make it look like a character not just a guy in a costume," she says.
If it's a character with any fanboy connection, chances are Staggs has brought it to life at her drawing table.
Besides fleshing out the "Star Wars" universe, Staggs has also crafted sketch cards for "The Lord of the Rings" and "Indiana Jones" films as well as TV's "Heroes," not to mention scads of costumed adventurers from Marvel and DC Comics.
Geek fare is in her wiring. "Star Wars" love aside, Staggs grew up reading Batman and Daredevil comics and watching Lynda Carter twirl into action in the "Wonder Woman" TV series. (Staggs bears a Wonder Woman tattoo on her left arm and a Catwoman tattoo on her right.) She still has her old Batman audio books, along with plenty of childhood drawings.
"I don't remember not drawing," Staggs says.
A longtime Coloradan, Staggs moved to San Antonio in 1990 to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio. She graduated in 1994 with a BFA in portrait painting and drawing and quickly took her talents across Loop 1604 to Six Flags Fiesta Texas as a T-shirt artist. The next year, she landed a gig at Rivercenter mall's Sam Goody store as visual merchandiser, airbrushing original and replica movie posters as well as setting up general displays.
When that job got phased out in 2003, she took to the convention circuit. Her big break came in August 2004 when in Chicago she met Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm head of fan relations, who saw her portfolio. A few months later, Topps called with an offer to create sketch cards for the last "Star Wars" prequel, "Revenge of the Sith."
Staggs has been crafting 2-by-3-inch masterpieces ever since.
"They're a lot of work but they're a lot of fun," she says, noting full-color work can take 30 minutes to an hour per card, not counting the day or two to collect reference material. "You're always at crunch time at the end of these things."
Crunch time is already coming up for her next project -- a minimum 150 full-color sketch cards for an X-Men set. Oh, and maybe work for a Wolverine set that highlights the claw-popping mutant hero. Both should hit stores this summer.
Beyond that, Staggs would love to do book illustration. In the meantime, "I'm sure there'll be another (card project) in the next month or so," she says. "There usually is."
In the cards? Absolutely.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
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