Star Wars Galaxy 4 Sketch Cards Q&A with J-R00
ATTENTION: A Public Service Message from John Battistini (one-half of DynomightNYC) before we begin our Q&A proper with J-R00 aka Justin Rudy (the other half of DynomightNYC) about his work on the Die-Cut Sketch Cards for the recently released Star Wars Galaxy 4 Trading Card series by TOPPS.
BEGIN-MESSAGE /// After seeing one of J-Roo's Star Wars Sketch Cards up on ebay for $150 (pimped) we've decided to see where else they wind up. We're set up a little thing on our website. Posted up a PDF of all the cards and a special email (found [at] dynomightNYC.com) where people can send us in confirmation that they have one.
Once they confirm that they have one of our cards, J-Roo is gonna do a little custom sketch for them and send it to them free, so basically if you get one of our cards and let us know you get two times the fun! /// MESSGE-ENDS
/// Now - CLICK THRU for Q&A with J-R00 :)
TOYSREVIL: WHO is J-R00? (Hey, we're stuck in a garbage disposal unit and the walls are closing in, there ain't no time for plesantries, got it? (heh)
J-R00: J-R00 is short for Justin Rudy. ³J-R00 :D² deciphered comes out to be J.Rudy. (The secret is now out!) I am the creative department over at Dynomight NYC. I design and illustrates fantastic creatures for mass consumption.
I actually have my hands in a little bit of everything. From character concept work on the original X-Box to game testing at Nintendo and Sucker Punch. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Smash Brothers and Rocket: Robot On Wheels. Those were just some of the titles that I was paid to break and help make better. That's lots of paper work that I don't miss. LOL!
Samples of me can be viewed at either: http://www.almostcolossal.com or http://www.dynomightnyc.com
But enough with the pleasantries. Let¹s nerd out and talk about Star Wars cards!
TOYSREVIL: Hey, you forgot BUMRUSH & DUCKSAUCE! (heh) - WHAT was the inspiration behind your sketches? What was the concept you had wanted to portray?
J-R00: The inspiration behind my sketches is just that. Sketches. Sketches are very beautiful pieces in their own right. I love the inconsistencies and flaws they hold. Time was very essential for these pieces. I had to pretty much turn myself into a virtual assembly line to get these things done in time. I managed to get 150 of the 200 requested. Not too shabby for four days worth of work.
J-R00: My style isn't exactly Star Wars so I was a little intimidated. I mean, the majority of the Star Wars illustrations are almost technical drawings. My style is almost in the complete opposite direction of these people. LOL! I was hoping to bring a fun independent style that was kind of quirky. My style was the initial concept. You know, something that you normally wouldn't see in a Star Wars environment. There is total nerd humor peppered throughout my pieces. For instance, one piece I did was just a cracked Storm Trooper helmet with a Band-Aid on it. The word "Door" is scrawled on top of the bandage. A true Star Wars fan would totally get that reference. ;)
J-R00: My focus was on obscure background Star Wars characters. I thought about creating a piece that would make the viewer want to go look up the character. There are a lot of n00bs out there that need to know about cantina monsters, drunk Jawas and service droids.
TOYSREVIL: You had me at "drunk Jawas" - now THAT would be cool LOL
J-R00: I also laugh at the notion of some kid getting my Aunt Beru sketch card. I mean wouldn't that just totally ruin your collecting experience? How would you handle that?! LOL! I can see it now...
Kid: (Looks in bewilderment at Aunt Beru Sketch Card) What the hell is this?
Kid: ...
Kid: Aunt Beru?!
Kid: (Crumples up card in disgust. Throws card on ground and stomps on it. Violently.)
Kid: (Drops to knees and shakes fists towards the sky.)
Kid: Damn you JUSTIN RUDY! Damn you and your Aunt Beru sketch card to HELL!
Kid: (Kid proceeds to smash fist into ground like Heston in Planet Of The Apes.)
Kid: Š.damn you!Š
...man, that would be awesome.
TOYSREVIL: I hear tell Aunt Beru used to be quite the peach in her day ... but then again I overheard that from drunk Jawas in a cantina ... ANYWAYS ... What was the medium you used for your sketches? And how long did they take? Are you happy with the result?
J-R00: The first series I started on was the Storm Trooper series. There were about 75 pieces created in that series. They were done with ink (AKA Sith blood.) and a traditional brush.
The Vader series was about 75 pieces too. These were sketched with a Sharpie stolen from the top drawer of The Emperor¹s office desk.
I am very pleased with how these sketch cards turned out. But I also really like the pieces produced by the other artists in this series. They did a great job with their renditions! This was an amazing project to work on. I hope I can do something like this again in the near future. It was very fun!
TOYSREVIL: Time to spilleth forth your darkest and brightest past = What is the Best (or Favoritest) and Worst memory of Star Wars you have?
J-R00: My favorite Star Wars moment is when they re-released the original trilogy. I think it was like about a year or two ago. The DVD came with the original movie as well as the re-release from the 90¹s. FINALLY! After thousands of online petitions from oily rabid fanboys they released the original trilogy, untouched, in all its glory! I could finally throw out that damn Laser Disk to VHS bootleg that you can pick up at any comic convention you go to.
The only beef that I have is the re-release of the original movies. And by re-release I am referring to Episodes 4,5 and 6 that came out in the 90¹s. I didn't care much for the CGI and I am still kind of irked about the whole Max Rebo Band refresh. WTF was that all about?! Man, that was just a bad idea.
TOYSREVIL: Hey, at least they got the casting of Padme right (IMHO, anyways :p). And so in closing - IF you could be a Star Wars character (from the 6 movies) - WHO will you be, and WHY?
J-R00: I would totally be Salacious Crumb. No doubt about it. He is absolutely ridiculous, just like me. ;)
BEGIN-MESSAGE /// After seeing one of J-Roo's Star Wars Sketch Cards up on ebay for $150 (pimped) we've decided to see where else they wind up. We're set up a little thing on our website. Posted up a PDF of all the cards and a special email (found [at] dynomightNYC.com) where people can send us in confirmation that they have one.Once they confirm that they have one of our cards, J-Roo is gonna do a little custom sketch for them and send it to them free, so basically if you get one of our cards and let us know you get two times the fun! /// MESSGE-ENDS
/// Now - CLICK THRU for Q&A with J-R00 :)
TOYSREVIL: WHO is J-R00? (Hey, we're stuck in a garbage disposal unit and the walls are closing in, there ain't no time for plesantries, got it? (heh)
J-R00: J-R00 is short for Justin Rudy. ³J-R00 :D² deciphered comes out to be J.Rudy. (The secret is now out!) I am the creative department over at Dynomight NYC. I design and illustrates fantastic creatures for mass consumption.
I actually have my hands in a little bit of everything. From character concept work on the original X-Box to game testing at Nintendo and Sucker Punch. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Smash Brothers and Rocket: Robot On Wheels. Those were just some of the titles that I was paid to break and help make better. That's lots of paper work that I don't miss. LOL!
Samples of me can be viewed at either: http://www.almostcolossal.com or http://www.dynomightnyc.com
But enough with the pleasantries. Let¹s nerd out and talk about Star Wars cards!
TOYSREVIL: Hey, you forgot BUMRUSH & DUCKSAUCE! (heh) - WHAT was the inspiration behind your sketches? What was the concept you had wanted to portray?
J-R00: The inspiration behind my sketches is just that. Sketches. Sketches are very beautiful pieces in their own right. I love the inconsistencies and flaws they hold. Time was very essential for these pieces. I had to pretty much turn myself into a virtual assembly line to get these things done in time. I managed to get 150 of the 200 requested. Not too shabby for four days worth of work.
J-R00: My style isn't exactly Star Wars so I was a little intimidated. I mean, the majority of the Star Wars illustrations are almost technical drawings. My style is almost in the complete opposite direction of these people. LOL! I was hoping to bring a fun independent style that was kind of quirky. My style was the initial concept. You know, something that you normally wouldn't see in a Star Wars environment. There is total nerd humor peppered throughout my pieces. For instance, one piece I did was just a cracked Storm Trooper helmet with a Band-Aid on it. The word "Door" is scrawled on top of the bandage. A true Star Wars fan would totally get that reference. ;)
J-R00: My focus was on obscure background Star Wars characters. I thought about creating a piece that would make the viewer want to go look up the character. There are a lot of n00bs out there that need to know about cantina monsters, drunk Jawas and service droids.
TOYSREVIL: You had me at "drunk Jawas" - now THAT would be cool LOL
J-R00: I also laugh at the notion of some kid getting my Aunt Beru sketch card. I mean wouldn't that just totally ruin your collecting experience? How would you handle that?! LOL! I can see it now...
Kid: (Looks in bewilderment at Aunt Beru Sketch Card) What the hell is this?
Kid: ...
Kid: Aunt Beru?!
Kid: (Crumples up card in disgust. Throws card on ground and stomps on it. Violently.)
Kid: (Drops to knees and shakes fists towards the sky.)
Kid: Damn you JUSTIN RUDY! Damn you and your Aunt Beru sketch card to HELL!
Kid: (Kid proceeds to smash fist into ground like Heston in Planet Of The Apes.)
Kid: Š.damn you!Š
...man, that would be awesome.
TOYSREVIL: I hear tell Aunt Beru used to be quite the peach in her day ... but then again I overheard that from drunk Jawas in a cantina ... ANYWAYS ... What was the medium you used for your sketches? And how long did they take? Are you happy with the result?
J-R00: The first series I started on was the Storm Trooper series. There were about 75 pieces created in that series. They were done with ink (AKA Sith blood.) and a traditional brush.
The Vader series was about 75 pieces too. These were sketched with a Sharpie stolen from the top drawer of The Emperor¹s office desk.
I am very pleased with how these sketch cards turned out. But I also really like the pieces produced by the other artists in this series. They did a great job with their renditions! This was an amazing project to work on. I hope I can do something like this again in the near future. It was very fun!
TOYSREVIL: Time to spilleth forth your darkest and brightest past = What is the Best (or Favoritest) and Worst memory of Star Wars you have?
J-R00: My favorite Star Wars moment is when they re-released the original trilogy. I think it was like about a year or two ago. The DVD came with the original movie as well as the re-release from the 90¹s. FINALLY! After thousands of online petitions from oily rabid fanboys they released the original trilogy, untouched, in all its glory! I could finally throw out that damn Laser Disk to VHS bootleg that you can pick up at any comic convention you go to.
The only beef that I have is the re-release of the original movies. And by re-release I am referring to Episodes 4,5 and 6 that came out in the 90¹s. I didn't care much for the CGI and I am still kind of irked about the whole Max Rebo Band refresh. WTF was that all about?! Man, that was just a bad idea.
TOYSREVIL: Hey, at least they got the casting of Padme right (IMHO, anyways :p). And so in closing - IF you could be a Star Wars character (from the 6 movies) - WHO will you be, and WHY?
J-R00: I would totally be Salacious Crumb. No doubt about it. He is absolutely ridiculous, just like me. ;)
