Star Wars Artist Spotlight: Cat Staggs

The Art Show at Celebration V was one my favorite areas at the convention.  More than 40 artists created original Star Wars art for the show.  Each of the pieces was exceptional and I found myself wishing that I had enough money with me to buy prints of all the work displayed.  Fiscal responsibility won the day however, and I decided to select one piece of artwork that I felt I could not live without.  That piece was "To Hoth and Back" by Cat Staggs (left).

This print was the third in a series of prints Staggs has painted for Star Wars Celebrations. From my initial viewing of this piece I was immediately drawn to Staggs ability to capture the style of the propaganda posters from years past. I immediately bought into the concept of this print as the type of recruitment poster the Empire would have used.  I could easily imagine Imperial citizens standing in lines outside recruitment stations on Corellia and Coruscant after the destruction of the Death Star, eager to sign up and do their part to fight for the Empire.  The viewers perspective of looking up at the Stormtrooper and AT-AT add a sense of scale to the work that makes seen larger than life

In other works, Staggs has shown she is equally adept at bringing Star Wars over into the style of the old pulp fiction magazines.  She created a series of badges in this style back in 2007 for Star Wars Fan Days Covention.  Her style choices fit in very well with the Star Wars mythos and Lucas's vision of capturing the movie serial feel of the 1930's and 40's. 

Staggs artwork is not limited to the Star Wars Universe. She has also created many beautiful pieces for both DC and Marvel Comics, Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings.  This upcoming weekend, she will be appearing at the New York Comic-Con.  Well worth the time if you're in the New York area.

In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out her work on her website:
http://www.catstaggs.com/

She is also featured on the Deviant Art Site at the following link:
http://gattadonna.deviantart.com/

Finally, Techland has a nice interview with Staggs at the following link:
http://techland.com/2010/08/31/cat-staggs-talks-star-wars-and-comics/#WordPress#ixzz0yEJzdxXr