Star Wars Galaxy 4 Sketch Cards Q&A with Mike Leavitt
Mention the name "Mike Leavitt" and the art toy crowd would instinctively think of the Seattle-based artist's ART ARMY hand-made figures.
For his foray into creating artwork for the Die-Cut shaped cards for Star Wars Galaxy 4 Trading Cards (by TOPPS) - Mike decided to go "minimalist", with Yoda as the main protagonist in a series of ethereal spaced-out drawn-environs.
CLICK THRU for an in-depth TRE-Q&A with Mike Leavitt [Heck, the man even has his own wiki-page].
TOYSREVIL: WHO is Mike Leavitt?
MIKE LEAVITT: I'm employed full time with my art, mostly sculpture these days. I used to do tons of performance, video, animation, teaching, and installation art. I still do much of this, but "The Art Army" hand-made action figures are my biggest undertaking in recent years. [www.intuitionkitchenproductions.com]
Other ongoing projects are my own trading cards of artists ("ArtCards"), cardboard shoes and other "Hip Hopjects" replicated in wood & recycled materials, and "Penny Places" consisting of tiny paintings on found 1-cent pieces. These are just a few things keeping me very busy. I guess I get bored too easily to rest on one thing. Even though I might have success in one area, I have to keep challenging myself.
[MAKING-OF Cardboard Nike High Top 2009]
TOYSREVIL: WHAT was the inspiration behind your sketches? What was the concept you had wanted to portray?
MIKE LEAVITT: Suckadelic called mine "minimalist meditations on Yoda". He took the words right out of my head. I wanted a theme to run through all my sketches, so they'd feel more like a series and not just individual pieces. Like for many others, Yoda has always been the one Star Wars character with some everlasting love. I could really give a sh%t about Luke. Han is a great warrior, but not much depth there. I love Chewy, but only like a teddy bear. Yoda I could picture in deep contemplation... from being alone in the swamp (which links back to my other favorite childhood character: Kermit) to cogitating in the most intense and diplomatic political engagements. With my sketches, I tried to get "inside" his mind.
TOYSREVIL: The Kermit-reference was an excellent flashback-moment for me (I wonder about the parallels tho :p). What was the medium you used? And how long did they take? Are you happy with the result? How many cards did you do?
MIKE LEAVITT: I used Prismacolor illustration markers and a fine tip pen. This is same used for my "ArtCards". The marker on paper is as lush as paint. I've found my own technique with this (not so much with the sketch cards, but with the "ArtCards") that many people have asked if my trading card drawings are actually watercolor. Because we got paid $150 per 100 cards (I only did 100), and I live solely off my art, the math was motivation for me to spend about 10 minutes per piece.
Some went a bit quicker, some took much longer. Some turned out really well, definitely worth more than $1.50 each. Some I'm not as happy with. If I didn't have so many other awesome paid projects on my plate, and the pay-out by Topps was a bit more, I might've had time to re-work some of the weaker sketches.
TOYSREVIL: Any favourite card in the series you've created? Or piece of artwork?
MIKE LEAVITT: I did a couple of Yoda amidst massive crowds. I like the ambiguity of this image, whether "leading" or simply lost in the crowd. Both concepts feed into the burdens on Yoda's thoughts. I did a few of Yoda "driving" in a little Jetson's-like ship. Another double meaning- either he's in deep thought at the wheel, or he's just a cog in the system. I also did one or two of Yoda looking up at distant planet Earth that I really like.
TOYSREVIL: What is the Best, and Worst memory of Star Wars you can remember?
MIKE LEAVITT: The premiere of Return of the Jedi in 1983 is one of my clearest childhood memories. I was 5, and my entire family was to join the massive line around the block of the big downtown Seattle Cinerama. When we got there we were around 3 corners but, when we casually walked the line while waiting for the doors to open, we found our next door neighbors (and one of my best friends at the time) EXACTLY at the front of the line. My Dad has always been wicked smart, able to act like we'd planned to meet them, and suddenly we found ourselves at the very front of the line.
Already owning a small army of Star Wars figures, my existing excitment for the day increased tenfold when this happened. But we still had what seemed like hours to wait. My neighbor friend had another friend there, and the 3 of us decided to play hide & seek around the block. I was a couple years younger than them, but they were nice enough to have me "hide".
Unfortunately I was too good at it, and they couldn't find me. I couldn't find me either. I was 5 years old, suddenly alone in the big city, and had no idea I was only 2 blocks away from the theater. In the foreign landscape I instantly burst into a panic of tears. Luckily when a few strangers found me crying, I was able to blubber something about Star Wars and the fuss about the premiere was enough for them to know exactly where my parents were. After the epic adventure around 2 city blocks bigger in my mind then they'll ever be in reality, my neighbors, my family and I used our primo line position to essentially inhabit an entire row 5 of the 1983 ROTJ premiere.
TOYSREVIL: That is an awesome story, Mike! And to round off this Q&A - If you could be a Star Wars character (from the 6 movies) - who will you be, and why?
MIKE LEAVITT: I'll have to provide the predictable answer and say Yoda, because of the brain & braun. I screamed in delight in the theater when he first dropped his cane in one of those later movies, pulled out the light sabor and kicked some serious ass. That first very brief Yoda fight scene made all the anguish of Jar Jar, a horribly-acted Anakin, and a CGI Jabba the Hut completely worthwhile. On top of Yoda's infinite wisdom, he just turned into this major badass. It's all I could hope to do for myself- fight hard AND dispense knowledge.
[All Images via SWGalaxy4-flickr]
For his foray into creating artwork for the Die-Cut shaped cards for Star Wars Galaxy 4 Trading Cards (by TOPPS) - Mike decided to go "minimalist", with Yoda as the main protagonist in a series of ethereal spaced-out drawn-environs. CLICK THRU for an in-depth TRE-Q&A with Mike Leavitt [Heck, the man even has his own wiki-page].
TOYSREVIL: WHO is Mike Leavitt?
MIKE LEAVITT: I'm employed full time with my art, mostly sculpture these days. I used to do tons of performance, video, animation, teaching, and installation art. I still do much of this, but "The Art Army" hand-made action figures are my biggest undertaking in recent years. [www.intuitionkitchenproductions.com]
Other ongoing projects are my own trading cards of artists ("ArtCards"), cardboard shoes and other "Hip Hopjects" replicated in wood & recycled materials, and "Penny Places" consisting of tiny paintings on found 1-cent pieces. These are just a few things keeping me very busy. I guess I get bored too easily to rest on one thing. Even though I might have success in one area, I have to keep challenging myself.
[MAKING-OF Cardboard Nike High Top 2009]
TOYSREVIL: WHAT was the inspiration behind your sketches? What was the concept you had wanted to portray?
MIKE LEAVITT: Suckadelic called mine "minimalist meditations on Yoda". He took the words right out of my head. I wanted a theme to run through all my sketches, so they'd feel more like a series and not just individual pieces. Like for many others, Yoda has always been the one Star Wars character with some everlasting love. I could really give a sh%t about Luke. Han is a great warrior, but not much depth there. I love Chewy, but only like a teddy bear. Yoda I could picture in deep contemplation... from being alone in the swamp (which links back to my other favorite childhood character: Kermit) to cogitating in the most intense and diplomatic political engagements. With my sketches, I tried to get "inside" his mind.
TOYSREVIL: The Kermit-reference was an excellent flashback-moment for me (I wonder about the parallels tho :p). What was the medium you used? And how long did they take? Are you happy with the result? How many cards did you do?
MIKE LEAVITT: I used Prismacolor illustration markers and a fine tip pen. This is same used for my "ArtCards". The marker on paper is as lush as paint. I've found my own technique with this (not so much with the sketch cards, but with the "ArtCards") that many people have asked if my trading card drawings are actually watercolor. Because we got paid $150 per 100 cards (I only did 100), and I live solely off my art, the math was motivation for me to spend about 10 minutes per piece.
Some went a bit quicker, some took much longer. Some turned out really well, definitely worth more than $1.50 each. Some I'm not as happy with. If I didn't have so many other awesome paid projects on my plate, and the pay-out by Topps was a bit more, I might've had time to re-work some of the weaker sketches.
TOYSREVIL: Any favourite card in the series you've created? Or piece of artwork?
MIKE LEAVITT: I did a couple of Yoda amidst massive crowds. I like the ambiguity of this image, whether "leading" or simply lost in the crowd. Both concepts feed into the burdens on Yoda's thoughts. I did a few of Yoda "driving" in a little Jetson's-like ship. Another double meaning- either he's in deep thought at the wheel, or he's just a cog in the system. I also did one or two of Yoda looking up at distant planet Earth that I really like.
TOYSREVIL: What is the Best, and Worst memory of Star Wars you can remember?
MIKE LEAVITT: The premiere of Return of the Jedi in 1983 is one of my clearest childhood memories. I was 5, and my entire family was to join the massive line around the block of the big downtown Seattle Cinerama. When we got there we were around 3 corners but, when we casually walked the line while waiting for the doors to open, we found our next door neighbors (and one of my best friends at the time) EXACTLY at the front of the line. My Dad has always been wicked smart, able to act like we'd planned to meet them, and suddenly we found ourselves at the very front of the line.
Already owning a small army of Star Wars figures, my existing excitment for the day increased tenfold when this happened. But we still had what seemed like hours to wait. My neighbor friend had another friend there, and the 3 of us decided to play hide & seek around the block. I was a couple years younger than them, but they were nice enough to have me "hide".
Unfortunately I was too good at it, and they couldn't find me. I couldn't find me either. I was 5 years old, suddenly alone in the big city, and had no idea I was only 2 blocks away from the theater. In the foreign landscape I instantly burst into a panic of tears. Luckily when a few strangers found me crying, I was able to blubber something about Star Wars and the fuss about the premiere was enough for them to know exactly where my parents were. After the epic adventure around 2 city blocks bigger in my mind then they'll ever be in reality, my neighbors, my family and I used our primo line position to essentially inhabit an entire row 5 of the 1983 ROTJ premiere.
TOYSREVIL: That is an awesome story, Mike! And to round off this Q&A - If you could be a Star Wars character (from the 6 movies) - who will you be, and why?
MIKE LEAVITT: I'll have to provide the predictable answer and say Yoda, because of the brain & braun. I screamed in delight in the theater when he first dropped his cane in one of those later movies, pulled out the light sabor and kicked some serious ass. That first very brief Yoda fight scene made all the anguish of Jar Jar, a horribly-acted Anakin, and a CGI Jabba the Hut completely worthwhile. On top of Yoda's infinite wisdom, he just turned into this major badass. It's all I could hope to do for myself- fight hard AND dispense knowledge.[All Images via SWGalaxy4-flickr]
