Jabba and Salacious B. Crumb & Mr Ballsack...

Okay, maybe the guy's name isn't Ballsack, but just look at him and the name seems natural. I picked up these two sketches recently- the "Ballsack" one off the Scoundrel Art Message Board from Darkmatter (Steve), and the "Jabba and Salacious B. Crumb" from a friend (Rob). Salacious B. Crumb- I had seen the character before but wasn't sure of the name, so after someone on Scoundrel clued me in, I looked him up on the Web in the Wookieepedia. Salacious B. Crumb was a Kowakian monkey-lizard known for his shrill laugh and sadistic sense of humor. Jabba found him amusing and offered him the role of Court Jester, allowing him to live if he amused Jabba at least once each day. I'm not sure how Mike does his sketches, but I'm always drawn to the eyes. Maybe he starts from the eyes and goes out... or maybe not. All I know is, the eyes seem to give depth to his characters. Check out the eyes on the Jabba & Salacious sketch- both characters.. along with Jabba's tongue I think they're the signature feature. Anyways, I think they're cool. Until next time, thanks for reading...

Ventress...

I've been hearing about Star Wars Galaxy 4 since November. It's a landmark set for Topps, revisiting the very popular Star Wars Galaxy sets of the early 1990s, but this time with even more hoopla and anticipation brought about by probably the greatest sketch card set ever produced. Most of the best sketch card artist were included in this set, and everyone puts out their best work for Star Wars.. it's the pinnacle of Non-Sports. Artists were able to pull from any and all references including the 6 full-action movies: "Star Wars" (later renamed "Episode IV A New Hope"), "The Empire Strikes Back" (Episode V), "Return of the Jedi" (Episode VI), "Episode I The Phantom Menace", "Episode II Attack of the Clones", and "Episode III Revenge of the Sith", plus the 2008 Animated movie and subsequent TV Series "The Clone Wars". Artist have even chosen to pull characters from Star Wars Books, Comic Books, and Reference Materials. In short, the best of the best Artists doing everything and anything Star Wars. The results have been fantastic. I ordered one case, ended up buying a second case the day it arrived, and a third case a week later. My favorite artist is in the set- Michael Duron- and so far I've only been able to pick up one of his cards from this set- a cool Ventress sketch. His multi-character sketch cards have been selling strong (a Darth Vader and Darth Sidious sold for $110+), so I'll keep trying. In the meantime, thanks for reading...