CV Day1: part 3

As I continue with Day 1, I'm reminded of how much there is to see at these cons! I took the first day off (didn't volunteer for anything) just so I could see some of the show. I only got to see a very small portion, but boy-oh-boy, I must've seen the best of the best. The Belgian sets, Slave Leias with Jabba, Leias/Amidalas/Padmes photo shoot, Patch Traders event Thursday night, 501st room with it's awesome Palpatine's Throne, hall costumes (the Mandelorians were out in force that day), and more droids. In random order here is just a sampling (the rest are in the next post).


























Onto the next post with more pics:
Jawa Jaka

CV Day 1: part 2. Ralph McQuarrie Collection

Continuing with Day 1 I'm posting the Ralph McQuarrie Collection. George Lucas may have been the genius with the story, but Ralph made it come alive. He's the reason I went to art school! So, in honor of my inspiration and favorite artist, here is my tribute to RM:

Yesterday I posted the closeup of this painting of the cantina.


A very early pen drawing of my favorite character, Artoo.


The Christmas card that never was (I really like it!).


Of the several iterations of the ESB logo, this was my favorite.


Even the table crew of the RM exhibit liked how my arm reflected off of the glass. Let's just say I'm playing with the Falcon...

This was a deleted scene/concept of Vader's palace on a fiery planet. Maybe the inspiration for Mustafar??

I think the droid room got the rebel troop transport down pat based on this closeup of a drawing of Yavin.

The now famous concept drawing of C-3PO and R2-D2.

This explains the drawing above:

C-3PO concept head. I've always felt he was the son of the robot in Metropolis. Guess this proves his lineage. (love the mohawk)

RM also did artwork for Raiders of the Lost Ark. Here is a page from the "library" book Indy is researching from. The bottom says nothing, just a graphic artist's trick of making it look like old print. Here you can see RM's mastery of the human form. Someday I'll master his techniques as well.

Hope you enjoyed this little tribute. Tomorrow I'll post the last of Day 1 photos.

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka

CV Day 1: A Few of my Favorite Pics

I can't put into words the experience of CV, so I'll show you some pictures instead. Most of them are of the droids. I'll try to throw in some others as well, like this monster of a tie fighter from Belgium:

All told there are a little over a thousand pics I have to go through, so please be patient as I find time to post as many of the great ones that I can. You may use these pics, but please give me credit as the photographer (and no selling them without my permission, please). AL and I had so much fun with the droid builders we're already planning and saving for CVI!!

It took me less than an half an hour on the first day to find the Echobase Ice Bar sponsored by G4. I know quite a few people who never found it, and I wasn't telling.... Very nice cool place (literally) to relax for a little while.

I took a bunch of pictures of the Ralph McQuarrie exhibit. I'll post a bunch more next time. This was one of my favorites, part of a larger painting he did of the cantina scene.


Until next time (with lots more pics),

Jawa Jaka

This says it all!

I have so much to blog about I just don't know where to start! I'm still going through about a thousand pictures, and I've been writing down everything that happened so I don't forget. First, I apologize to my fans for not blogging during the convention. I think I got about 4 hours sleep per night. One advantage of being an exhibitor is getting into the doors early and seeing everything for free, which means getting up very early after nights of partying. The best advantage of being an exhibitor in the droid room is meeting great folks, like George Lucas himself! Along with Ben Burtt, Seth Green, and Anthony Daniels! Yep, no long lines to see these guys, they just came to see the droids.






George was so impressed with the droids he mentioned them in some length to John Stewart during his interview. It made us all in the room blush and cry for joy! While he was in the room, he came by AL and said "That's NICE!". All I could say in a very squeaky voice was Thank You! Then I became speechless, trying not to scream out at the top of my lungs "HE LIKES AL, HE REALLY LIKES AL!!" It made my whole vacation
right there, the best moment of my life!



http://starwars.com/ has a cool scroller tool for any messages you want to make. I made this one in honor of that great moment:

http://www.starwars.com/games/playnow/crawl_creator/index.jsp?cs=mrf3x766j6

Until next time (with more pics)
Jawa Jaka

Setup Day

Today started way too early. Was at the loading docks at 9:00am to help unload the trailer and truck. Everyone who made the road trip in my SUV said they loved the ride, no problems. Just a lot of gas. We had to wait until the fork lift people bring in the Hoth set crates, but we got them all in. Started the Hoth set setup shortly after 11:00am, worked until about 6:00pm with an hour lunch break at McDonalds. The Mountain States group rocked, working all day non-stop, while other groups and individuals stood around or setting up their droid and leaving. We did get a lot of help from Russ Hoffman and a couple others. Everyone wanted to work on the set. The other Hoth set at the other end of the narrow room was put up in a couple hours and looked very flimsy, but we'll see how it holds up.

Other sets: Degobah (a photo backdrop with Dad's navy box painted silver and Guy Vardaman's "muddy" droid), the Rebel transport (a six person working transport straight from the movies built by Cole Horton and Darren Murrer), an area of plexiglass command center (computers as scene in Hoth), two Hoth sets (Cal's and the flimsy one), and a couple more wall-sized photo banners.

After setting up everything, we (Mountain States R2) headed towards the Ale House for the Mt. Garrison dinner. It was very lively, very Floridian, very noisy, very slow service, but very good food (even if the waitress took away my dinner while I was chatting with a friend). She suggested the seafood quesadillas as a replacement. I thought she was going to comp it, but she didn't, so a big chunk of my food budget went towards dinner. Only good thing was I have quesadillas for lunch tomorrow...

Until next time,
Jawa Jaka
(hanging out in the room after a long laborious day, AL does look great though!)

Well, if I'm going to start blogging about CV, now's the time to do it! It's now 10:00pm est, and I'm finally settled into my hotel room. I'm at the Extended Stay hotel right next to the convention center. Has a queen bed, a rollaway bed for Azman, a fluffy chair and ottoman, a couple desks, a nice big bathroom, and a kitchenette. Not bad for $60 a night.

I spent all day in airports and airplanes. 3 hours in Milwaukee was pretty boring, even the scenery was under heavy fog, so no point in getting out and exploring. Both flights (Denver to Milwaukee, and Mil to Orlando) were extremely full. They checked in my carry-on bag since there was no room in the overhead (didn't charge me, though). Took Mears Shuttle Service from the airport to the hotel. Highly recommend, had a coupon for CV attendees ($25 roundtrip), and saved me two hours on the local bus.

Took a short walk and found the gas station/sundries store, Subway, sports bar, an italian restaurant, nail salon, and dry cleaners all in the same parking lot. So, bought some milk, cereal, a six-pack of diet coke, and of course, a Subway footlong to last me a couple days. Stomach is now full and I'm getting really sleepy. Going to bed really soon...
Until next time,
Jawa Jaka
(getting up early in the morning to help set up the droid room)