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

Elara Dorne by Elegance Liberty (i-call-it-hewie)

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

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.

floral-divider

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!


Movies Posts

Sep 14, 2015

The Martian Reviewed, Godzilla and King Kong, America’s Got Talent, Iron Maiden and Muse Album Reviews, and Ninja News!

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Entertainment News The upcoming film, The Martian, was just reviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival. According to JoBlo’s site - As such, The Martian really is terrific family entertainment....

Sep 07, 2015

Too Much NetFlix? The Shannara Chronicles, Hellboy 3, New releases in DVD-music-games, Favorite Job, Mini-Alex and Cicadas, and Ninja News!

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Happy Labor Day to my friends here in the States! Entertainment News This article caught my eye - New Study Suggests Americans are Watching Too Much NetFlix. From JoBlo’s site...

Aug 24, 2015

RiffTrax Live! Plus Movie Reviews, Trivia, and News; Dragon and Cassa News, Battle of the Banned, and Ninja News

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Back from vacation! I’m starting to really enjoy those… RiffTrax Live! Two more shows remain in this year’s RiffTrax Live line-up – Miami Connection and Santa and the Ice Cream...

Aug 17, 2015

Dragon’s Destiny! Plus Movie News, War Movie Trivia Answers, Ninja News, Box Social Winner, and Internet Questions for Everyone…

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Movie News World Wide Box Office – Jurassic World is now number three: 1 Avatar - $2,788.0 million 2 Titanic - $2,186.8 3 Jurassic World - $1,582.4 4 Marvel's The...

Aug 05, 2015

Roving Packs of Ferals

By Morbid Is as Morbid Does

I’ve wanted to start writing about the science fiction books that influenced my writing and there’s no better place to start than the book that revised my world and showed me what was possible in fiction.

Jul 27, 2015

Justice League: Gods & Monsters (Review)

By Comics Worth Reading

Justice League: Gods & Monsters is the best of the DC original animated movies in a long while. That’s because it’s fresh. It’s based on an original story by Bruce...

Jul 25, 2015

Pixels

By Comics Worth Reading

Pixels is exactly what it promises: a movie where video games have come to life, and Adam Sandler and friends, former arcade champions, are the only ones who can save...

Jul 20, 2015

The State of Sci-Fi Shows, Ant-Man Review, Movie News, Mini-Alex, and Reading Ambitions

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

I’m back from vacation! And it was awesome… I’m also over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group with guest blogging tips. Movie News Ant-Man Review I’m happy to say the...

Jul 15, 2015

Review: Space Cowboys & Indians by Lisa Medley

By Escape Reality, Read Fiction!

My Review: While Space Cowboys & Indians isn’t really like the 2011 movie Cowboys & Aliens, it also isn’t not like it. Along with a bit of Farscape or the...

Jul 13, 2015

RiffTrax Sharknado 2 Review! Plus Minions Review, How Often Should You Blog, Box Office Results, and Ninja News

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

RiffTrax Live – Sharknado 2 Review and Feature On July 9 (with an encore presentation on July 16), the RiffTrax crew tackled a classice – Sharknado 2. I felt bad...