Suvudu Universe

Today’s spotlight is on Elegance Liberty! You can find her on Tumblr and deviantART.

Elegance Liberty has a wonderful collection of Star Wars Rebels art. In a sea of fan art focusing on Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla (which is awesome, by the way), I particularly love her art centered around Zeb Orrelios, the muscle of the rebel crew. As a fan of her art, I’m also fond of her use of color–something I was never quite skilled at during my drawing days. There’s an elegance to her style and weaving colors in her designs that I highly admire. Lastly, make sure to check out her repository of Star Wars: The Old Republic original fan art and other related TOR material.

Tell us about yourself.
While I greatly prefer to keep a lot of details about myself private, I’m what you’d probably call a ‘hobby artist’. After a long, convoluted period of time, I decided I’d rather do art for fun and personal enjoyment, rather than try to make a career out of it. I’ve also been noodling on my own stories/concepts for a long while, but I haven’t shared much of them, as I’d prefer to keep my personal projects as separate from my fandom activities as humanly possible.

When and how did you become a Star Wars fan?
I’ve been a Star Wars fan for pretty much my entire life. My dad has always been a huge fan of the entire series, so it’s just always been present in my life in some form or another. Be it going to the prequel movies as they were coming out, collecting action figures, watching The Clone Wars, or my parents getting me Knights of the Old Republic one Christmas because it was Star Wars-related and they thought I’d like it, which I did. But outside of at least one attempt, I never really got involved with the overall fandom because what I’d seen of it was just so miserable and full of negativity. (I still have no desire to get heavily involved even at this point, but I digress.) But just last year, I finally got around to playing The Old Republic, and my love for the series was rekindled.

What tools do you use to create your art?
Paint Tool Sai, Photoshop CS6, and occasionally Manga Studio 5/Clip Studio Paint. Once in a blue moon, I’ll print out line art on marker paper and color with my Copics (hey, gotta make the investment worth it, eh?), but not all that often.

What is your favorite Star Wars piece that you have created and why are you fond of it?
Oh, gee. This is a very difficult question, since the ones I like involve my characters from The Old Republic, and nobody cares about OC Donut Steels, hehe. So I’d have to go with one I did recently. The one with Zeb lying on the ground, inspecting a weapon part. I find a certain appeal in portraying characters who are normally so active and all action-y in moments of quietness. I get that it’s presumptuous to do something like that before the show’s even started, but I wanted to do something more than just ‘X Rebels character standing around looking badass,’ yanno? On the upside, I don’t think Greg Weisman or Steve Blum saw it when I first posted it to Twitter, so I don’t feel so awkward about it.

Zeb Orrelios by Elegance Liberty

What’s the best and worst thing about being an artist?
Best part? Being able–or attempting–to put to a visual form things you have in your imagination. It doesn’t always turn out right, but sometimes, the journey is far more rewarding than the destination. And it’s fun to see people react to drawings of often overlooked characters, because I just *love* the ‘Oh my gosh! I didn’t know someone else liked X character, too’ reaction. Totally makes my day. And honestly? I like drawing fan art. It’s pretty much the only way I can express my love for certain things. And since I’m a ‘If you want something done, do it yourself’-type, it’s a great skill to have when you’re frustrated with not finding fan art of your favorite characters or ships, haha.

Worst part? Ahhh…where do I even begin? The usual answers aside, I think one of the worst parts is when people yell at you for drawing what you like, especially if it’s fan art and/or it’s something that’s not popular/well regarded in fandom. Like, when I first started drawing TOR stuff, I rose the ire of some amazingly crabby people for whatever the reason, just because I drew stuff from that game. I figure most artists are good about ignoring that kind of stuff, and I am too for the most part, but it just wears me down after a while.

Star Wars Rebels comes out this year. What are some of your theories concerning the plot or characters? What are you looking forward to seeing the most?
Ah, yes, Star Wars Rebels. I will freely admit I was somewhat on the fence about it at the beginning. Now? I’m pretty excited! I’m most looking forward to Zeb Orrelios. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of him! I’m a huge fan of non-human/alien characters, and his character archetype already speaks to me on so many levels. Doesn’t hurt he’s voiced by Steve Blum, either. Why did he leave Lasan and join up with Kanan, Sabine, and Hera? What’s his back story like? How will his friendship with Ezra develop? So many questions I have about him, and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to be like!

Are you looking forward to the future Star Wars films? What are your hopes or worries?
Eh, at this point, I’m cautiously optimistic. Cautiously, because JJ Abrams can be hit or miss, and to be honest, I wasn’t that big a fan of his Star Trek movies (I got motion sickness from the first one), so I’m hoping this won’t be Star Trek Mk. II. Optimistic, because it’s new Star Wars and I’d like to believe they can do it well. I mean hey, they can only go up from here. I think.

How else do you express your love for Star Wars (cosplay, fanfiction, etc.)?
Well, outside of fan art, I run a fanblog for Zeb, hehe. I just thought it’d be fun to start one, since he’s already my favorite. I also attempt to write fan fiction, but I’m not really much of a writer.

Any final thoughts?
Draw what you love, and don’t let anyone discourage you from doing so.

Wonderful words of advice! As we get closer to the premiere of Star Wars Rebels, I can’t wait to see more of your art. You produce beautiful works, and I’m glad Zeb has an awesome fangirl in you!