Star Saga WIPs Pt 1
I’ve started a huge project of creating various pieces of Star Wars fan art which will all go into my “Star Saga” gallery. Before I create those artwork scenes, I first need to create the characters to be used. In the following posts, I’ll show you my in-progress renders of the Star Saga characters that I’ve been working on. In this “Part 1”, we will take a look at some of the main Original and Prequel Trilogy characters. There will be more to come!
First up, Luke Skywalker. So far, I only have this one outfit for him (it’s the one he wore in the first half of Return of the Jedi, and I think recently in Book of Boba Fett if memory serves.) I’m still experimenting with my lightsaber shaders (no postwork on the lightsaber; that’s raw render of Superfly shaders). I think I got them right on this preview. The most difficult parts of creating the likeness was the nose and most importantly, the butthole chin (it’s like a trademark!) which is something I’ve never really sculpted before. I think it turned out quite well.
Next, Han Solo, who is wearing his outfit from A New Hope. I’m still not satisfied with his hair which I can’t seem to get right. This is, I think, my fourth or fifth attempt to get his hair looking halfway correct. This so far is the best I’ve managed, and it looks okay. At least I got the likeness done right. I posted this preview on FB and many of my friends said that this is some of my best work to date!
Now for Princess Leia. Here we see the legendary heroine in the outfit she wears on Hoth in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. The hair that came with this outfit looked horrible, so I replaced it with another model and enhanced it with my usual hair shaders. I actually sculpted this particular likeness back in 2023. All I had to do was make shaders for her outfits and do some tweaking of her skin textures that I had made before. I have a few other outfits for her which I’ll show previews of later. I actually have this face morph available to all since I submitted it to Renderosity Free Stuff. You can find it here: Leia Face Morph for V4. I’m still debating whether to upload the other face morphs I’ve created.
It’s the Chosen One himself, Anakin Skywalker in his Jedi robes. I think I got the likeness right on Anakin. I had to completely remake his skin textures and enhance everything in the scene with my own Superfly shaders. I think it all looks good. The lightsaber is too long in this preview but that’s an easy fix I can do later on. I also have a dynamic cloak that matches his robes that I may use but I’m not sure yet. Oh, I did create a set of Sith eyes for him too, but I’ll show a preview of those later when I get them looking just right.
Hello there, Obi-Wan Kenobi! This likeness took a while to sculpt as well. I had to pay close attention to his brow which has a crease in it and his famous moles. It was tricky to get his eye color right, which is very important for a good likeness. A friend told me to overlay his real eyes from photos onto my textures. It sort of worked. I couldn’t find any really high-res photos, but I didn’t need the fine details, just the coloring. I’m still working on perfecting my lightsaber shaders. This one looks okay, but I would still like to improve it more before I use it in the scenes.
Now for Senator Padme Amidala in her “action outfit” from the Clone Wars show. I think this was the most difficult of all the likenesses I’ve created thus far. Getting her nose right was the trickiest part, but I think I finally nailed it. I also have her white outfit from Attack of the Clones which I’ll show a preview of later. I want to make some new outfits/dresses for her as well that are worthy of a Senator and former Queen of Naboo.
These are the droids I was looking for! C-3PO and R2-D2 are shown here. Note: C-3PO is damn hard to pose! That said, at least I got him looking authentic. As for R2, I’m not so sure. The model is correct and so are the textures but I think I messed up with the shaders. I’ll have to find some reference photos to study and get him looking right. For now, this is R2. (I already created a scene with these two which you can find here: These Are the Droids.) R2 is fairly easy to pose and use, unlike C-3PO, but I can see the outlines of polygons on his dome. I’m going to try to fix that if I can.
Finally, we have Darth Vader the Sith Lord. Figuring out what kind of shaders to use for his armor was initially difficult. I originally thought I should use some “plastic” type shaders but that looked awful. I ended up using “car paint” shaders and they look pretty good on him. I think I got his lightsaber shader looking good for now, I’m still working on those shaders for everyone’s lightsaber. Oh, I used the Cloth Room to use his main cape and hip cape as dynamic cloth so that they draped over him in a natural looking way.
That’s all for now. I’ll share more of my in-progress character renders soon. In the next installment you’ll be able to see my Ahsoka Tano so stay tuned for that. Thank you for viewing and may the Force be with you!
