Page 85 - Star Wars Insider #194
P. 85

FROM ART TO ARTIFACT














                                      From Art



                                   To            Artifact





                                With a new line of Artist Series Star Wars statues due
                                    to ship in early 2020, Masahiro Miyazaki of
                                 Kotobukiya and artist Takashi Okazaki reveal how
                                  2D artwork is transformed into 3D masterpiece.

                                            W O R D S :  C H R I S T O P H E R  C O O P E R






                                           hen Star Wars     these beloved characters with a sort
                                W          Insider last      of anime or manga feel was born.”
                                                               Once the project was underway,
                                           spoke to the
                                                             Miyazaki-san started searching
                                           creative team
                                           at Kotobukiya,    for more artists to work with,
                                           the Japanese      and the team realized they could
                              model-making company was       recreate the Star Wars characters

                              about to release the first of its   in more styles specific to Japanese

                              ARTFX+ Bounty Hunter series, an   art than only manga. Through a
                              ultra-realistic collection of the six   collaborative effort with the Product
                              mercenaries hired by Darth Vader   Development Manager at Lucasfi lm,
                              to hunt down the occupants of   Brian Merten, they worked towards
                              the Millennium Falcon in Star   finding the best way to harness

                              Wars: The Empire Strikes Back  each artist’s freedom to design while
                              (1980). Their latest range, the   maintaining character integrity.
                              Artist Series, takes a different   “We wanted to give the artists
                              approach, reinterpreting iconic   some direction for designing their
                              characters from the movies as   concepts, but our main guideline
                              finely crafted statues in a variety   was that the artist would choose the

                              of artistic styles.            characters they wanted to work on,
                                 “We were looking to bring   rather than Kotobukiya,” explains
                              something novel and exciting to   Miyazaki-san. “The second was that
                              Star Wars product, and through   they must be passionate about Star
                              our discussions with Lucasfi lm   Wars, of course. With these simple
                              we considered what Kotobukiya   rules in place, we wanted to allow
                              uniquely can bring to fans,” says   the artists to take creative liberties
                              Miyazaki-san about the new line.   in expressing their personal take on
                              “From there, the idea to stylize   the Star Wars galaxy.”








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