Jennifer Hall, who many of you might know as that cute girl from Whipped Bakeshop with the R2D2 bike helmet, is at it again… this time, crafting some seriously adorable Stormtrooper leggings. How’d she make these? Check out the details on her blog.

I designed the stamp and printed the leggings, but I didn’t use the proper fabric paint. Instead, I used acrylic paint with some corn starch mixed in to increase its opacity. I think fabric paint would have been better; they have a little bit of a hand-printed rustic look (which I actually love), but we’ll see if the fabric paint brings more awesomeness to the table.

It does Jenn. So much awesomeness. You can scope out a ton of photos on her blog, and I highly recommend you do.

Oh and Jenn, if you’re reading this… please stop. Our nerdy hearts can’t take much more. *sigh*

Stormtrooper Leggings @ Philly Rawr Blog

The last couple of months have been busy for our friends at Titan Books as they continue to produce some amazing works focusing on artists who should be household names for fans of film and art, as well as branching out with new novels featuring classic characters of literature.

This time around they have re-released an updated collection of the personal artwork of Drew Struzan, as well as a collection of works of popular science fiction artist Chris Foss. Finally, they have also released a new Sherlock Holmes novel, The Breath Of God.

While Drew Struzan’s Ouevre may seem like a sequel of sorts to Titan Books’ other book on the work of Drew Struzan, it is actually the first book of collected work of the famed artist best known for his movie posters for films like Back to the Future, and the Indiana Jones series. This re-release of Ouevre isn’t a page for page reproduction, far from it. It contains newer pieces of artwork such as Drew’s poster for The Walking Dead, and an introduction written by his wife Dylan.

Included are finished pieces from films he’s worked on as well as some of his earlier album cover illustrations which, of course, are nothing short of amazing. The book is split into five chapters, each focusing on works that many may know from music and film, publishing and commercial works, and finally a peak into Drew’s personal illustrations that show a different style than most people would expect from him. With just about 300 pages of stunning art, Ouevre is certainly a purchase for fans of Drew Struzan or just good art in general.

Hardware: the Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss is another collection of artwork but unlike Drew Struzan I had no idea who Chris Foss was. After going through the book multiple times I’m still kicking myself for not knowing of him sooner.

This retrospective of Foss’ science fiction  career features artwork that’s been featured on the covers to Sci Fi stories written by Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick, as well as a section devoted to his time working on Alejandro Jodorowsky’s version of the scifi epic Dune. Jodorowsky writes a forward praising Foss’ undeniable impact on science fiction art.

When you look through the book for yourself, you’ll have to agree.

Finally we have Sherlock Holmes The Breath Of God written by Guy Adams. It’s a new adventure featuring the famed duo of Holmes and Watson that I absolutely loved. The synopsis  is as follows:

The nineteenth century is about to draw to a close. In its place will come the twentieth, a century of change, a century of science, a century that will see the superstitions of the past swept away. There are some who are determined to see that never happens.

A body is found crushed to death in the London snow. There are no footprints anywhere near it. It is almost as if the man was killed by the air itself. This is the first in a series of attacks that sees a handful of London’s most prominent occultists murdered. While pursuing the case, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves traveling to Scotland to meet with the one person they have been told can help: Aleister Crowley.

As dark powers encircle them, Holmes’ rationalist beliefs begin to be questioned. The unbelievable and unholy are on their trail as they gather a group of the most accomplished occult minds in the country: Doctor John Silence, the so-called “Psychic Doctor”; supernatural investigator Thomas Carnacki; runic expert and demonologist, Julian Karswell…But will they be enough? As the century draws to a close it seems London is ready to fall and the infernal abyss is growing wide enough to swallow us all.

The Breath of God is a brand-new original novel, detailing a thrilling new case for the acclaimed detective Sherlock Holmes.

There you have it! Three Titan Books releases all available right now. I can’t recommend these books enough and with the holidays lurking around the corner, they may be great gifts for friends and family.

BuyStarWarsCostumes.com has more officially-licensed Star Wars costumes for sale than any other site on the web. I was treated to a nice X-Wing Fighter Pilot costume. I’ll be wearing it to our Mustache Madness Halloween Bash with IndyHall on the 28th at Tattooed Mom.

Why?

Because I’m one mustache way from a Biggs Darklighter costume. Behold.

There’s no shortage of all sorts of Jedi and trooper costumes for men, women, children (even toddlers). Heck, ever have the urge to dress up like Plo Koon? They can get you started. You, with the deep pockets, could be evoke me with supreme envy. Pick up an Imperial Guard Costume. Or perhaps you could don this terrifyingly authentic Darth Vader costume? What’s the best SW costume? Not sure.

There could be an innumerable amount of things we could argue regarding the Star Wars Universe. Who shot first, Han or Greedo? How much do you hate Hayden Christensen, a little bit or a lot? Why does Lucas feel the need to make more updates to his films than an angsty teen did to their journal at the height of the Xanga days? Some of these things are dependent on film revision, extended universe or just subjective opinion.

There’s one SW-related thing you can’t dispute. What can I do on the website, “BuyStarWarsCostumes.com?” As their company name might indicate, you can buy Star Wars costumes. And we want to give two of you a $70 credit toward our new favorite website to do that, just in time for Halloween. Keep in mind, they have more than just costumes, like this Wampa Floor Rug.

Enter this contest. Comment below, with a valid email address and tell me who you’d most like to dress up as from the Star Wars Universe. Before end of [business] day tomorrow, I’ll pick two random winners and put you in direct contact with a rep from BuyStarWarsCostumes.com.

Welcome to this week’s Geek of the Week, where we highlight the fun and creative people of our city. This week we share a few words with Jenn Hall, local artist. By day, she’s a pastry artist at Geekadelphia favorite, Whipped Bakeshop. Though, her work spans multiple mediums.

So, Jenn, we happened upon you on account of your awesome R2D2 helmet (which we’ll touch upon later) but what can you tell me about yourself in general?

I think I’m really just like any other nerd out there; holed up at home waiting patiently for the zombie apocalypse, day dreaming about how bad ass it’s going to look when I kill like 27 zombies in less than a minute. You know, pretty typical stuff.

Presently, I’m a 25 year-old artist who calls Philadelphia home. I majored in printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and then went on to study art and geology at the University of Pennsylvania. If there’s an educational path that primes one better for a nerd-tacular artistic career, I don’t know of it.

I work at Whipped as a pastry artist, which has been a great avenue for all my creative energy. I love coming to work and being pleasantly surprised with a chance to make such things as a Buzz Lightyear fondant cake topper, for example.

Tell me a little bit more about that sweet R2D2 helmet you’ve got. How did you make it? Did you start off with some sort of simple one and paint it?

Initially, it was the ugly duckling of helmets. It looked pretty jacked up before I did my fairy godmother thing to it. It was an odd, dark maroon color and it had been used as a rental helmet, so it had sustained damage over time. Long story short, I did a lot of spray painting and clear coating.

Did those mad pastry-decorating skills assist you in creating this awesomeness?

While I owe a lot of my pastry decorating skillz to stuff I’ve learned at Whipped Bakeshop, I think for this project I used my own mad artist skillz, which is really the force that binds everything I do. That said, it actually is comparable in size to a lot of the cakes I work on at the bakery. While I was measuring the different components, I thought to myself, “I feel like I’m measuring pieces of fondant for a cake right now.” I guess if I ever make an R2D2 cake (Would someone please please please order an R2D2 cake, PLEASE?!) I might think to myself, “I feel like I’m making a helmet right now.”

Seems like you’ve got some pretty awesome creative talent across the board, what else do you do?

While not at the bakery, I’m extremely devoted to my own amorphous art career. I definitely have artistic ADD, some days I’ll be drawing/illustrating, some other days spray painting an R2D2 helmet or custom shoes and others I may be working on a sewing project.

Swoon away, nerd guys (and gals).

“A long time ago and far far away,
A story was told of an epic space fray
The good and the bad
In the life of a lad,
How he was lost but then found his way.”

So begins the journey of one man to encompass the entirety of Star Wars into limerick form. But how can one person contain all of the Star Wars universe into a few stanzas with rhyme and meter… and in a format usually reserved for dirty poems? Well it is possible. I have seen it. And it is good. Surprisingly so.

This Death Star sized project is currently right in the middle of Attack of the Clones and is moving along at a clip.

Prepare to experience Star Wars like you never have before… and I’m not talking about the Special Editions with Han Solo stepping on a digital Jabba’s tail. Ugh that squeal.

Check it out.

Star Wars Retold in Limericks
starwarslimerick.blogspot.com

In two more days, Twitter and Facebook will surely be aflutter with quips about Star Wars. Why? It’ll be May 4th.

May 4th (May the 4th Be With You) has long since been associated with the beloved science fiction franchise as the unofficial Star Wars celebration day. And luckily for Philadelphians with kids (or if you’re just one of those people classified in the “children of all ages” category), the Please Touch Museum is hosting a special Star Wars day this Wednesday.

Star Wars characters (including our friends the PA Jedi) will hangout with museum visitors, and the Please Touch Museum will have vintage Star Wars toys from their permanent collection on display through out the Memorial Hall. Special storytime sessions with Princess Amidala, sci-fi dance parties, Imperial marches… there’s a lot going on.

Visit the Please Touch Museum’s official website for full details.

Oh, and May the 4th Be With You.

Please Touch Museum
4231 Avenue of the Republic (19131)
www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/events/may4th

Everyone’s favorite local Jedi are back with a bevy of Spring events, all of which seem to be going down this week. The sci fi cosplayers sure are going to be busy over the next few days, dishing out plenty of opportunities to scope ‘em out.

• Wednesday, May 04, 2011: For those of you who have children, young cousins, nieces, nephews, or are just big kids at heart, join the PA Jedi for the Please Touch Museum’s May the Fourth Be With You event, a celebration of the unofficial Star Wars day with activities related to “space” and a display of vintage and contemporary Star Wars toys.

• Thursday, May 05 – Sunday, May 08, 2011: Visit the National Haunter’s Convention. If you are a pro or amateur haunter, a Halloween home or yard haunter, or just plan the coolest Halloween parties among all your friends, then this convention is for you. The PA Jedi will be there, showcasing their outfits.

• Friday, May 06 – Sunday, May, 08, 2011: Too Many Games event at the Valley Forge Convention Center in Oaks, PA. Here you’ll find Jedi doing a variety of performances and meeting fellow geeks and gamers at the longest running indie classic video game convention on the East Coast.

• Saturday, May 07, 2011: Free Comic Book Day! The Jedi will be trouping around the Plymouth meeting area. Keep an eye out for a Correlian Jedi.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Jedi, head over to their official website. They’ve got photos, videos, and even information on how to join up.

PA Jedi [www.pajedi.com]

Photo by Dan Tabor

Our buddies the Pennsylvania Jedi have announced their plans for the first part of 2011, detailing all their appearances at conventions around the area. Check out the quick rundown below.

• January 14th – Kotoricon 2011: According to the Jedi, the “Cloucester County Anime Convention was designed for the education and enjoyment of Japanese anime fans ages 12 and up in Gloucester County College and the surrounding community.” The lightsaber swinging crew will be there.

• February 12th – Zoloworld: Toys, vintage toys, modern toys… toys toys toys. The Jedi will be at this toy convention, likely playing with their swords. As well as toys.

• May 5th – National Halloween Costume Convention: Also known as the National Haunters, Halloween, & Hearst Convention, this four day long convention features a wealth of costumes… and the Jedi will be there, in costume.

• May 6th – Too Many Games: Us Geekadelphians attend this expo every year. We like being surrounded by video games, as well as Jedi. Swing by, check out gaming swag, and learn how to properly swing a lightsaber.

You can find out more about their other appearances at their official website, via their upcoming events page. Enjoy.

Blade Runner. Back To The Future. Indiana Jones. Star Wars.  They all have had the pleasure of being represented by the artwork of Drew Struzan.  Whether you knew it or not, you have seen Drew Struzan’s work for years. Drew has spent decades honing his artistic abilities to the status of legend. He is without a doubt one of the greatest living artists in the world.

Unfortunately for those of us who appreciate a well designed movie poster, or good art for that matter, we are given an ungodly amount of terrible “floating heads” or “photoshop lineup” posters that make me just as excited to watch a movie as I’m excited to watch paint dry. Uninspired, no emotion, lifeless. The exact opposite of everything that Drew brings to his work.

Luckily this year we not only get a documentary on his work, but Titan Books has published The Art Of Drew Struzan, which collects many of his classic works and includes many never before seen comps and finished pieces that were rejected or canceled for different reasons.

The Art Of Drew Struzan is comprised mostly of images. Those images pretty much speak for themselves.  From thumbnails to tight comps, and eventually finished paintings.  The text contains maybe a paragraph or two per film. A few more paragraphs if the story to complete an image it is a long one.

Drew, and accompanying writer David J. Schow, make those few sentences and paragraphs feel intimate. While reading through the book a second time, it feels like this book shouldn’t exist. Getting a peek into the process behind all those famous images feels like a huge privilege. It is both exciting and many times infuriating.

More after the jump!

Now to be clear, the anger does not come from Struzan but from the forces that ultimately pushed him to retire. There are countless images in this book that were far more exciting than what the studios ultimately used to represent their films.

Surprisingly, Waterworld happens to be one of those films. While ultimately going with a collage of photographs, the comps and finished works that Drew did were much more powerful. Another surprise is that even if a film is destined to be a success, not even the works of Drew Struzan are safe by those who think they have to change something, anything, to feel like they are doing their job. Case in point; Harry Potter.

Originally Drew was to have done a poster for every movie in the Harry Potter franchise. As you may or may not be aware, he only did one. While the book includes the finished work that would have been the second film’s poster, the powers that be decided to go with Photoshop. Just imagine how awesome it could have been to have had seven posters to represent each film in the series. It would have been great. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Another surprise revealed in this book to the outsider looking in just how little power the artist has now in the movie business.

Now that didn’t just extend itself to Drew, but to directors. George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, and Frank Darabont can pretty much get whoever they want to work for them. It’s  because they are Lucas, Spielberg and Darabont (who got Struzan to do The Walking Dead poster seen earlier in this article). Jon Favreau and Guillermo Del Toro on the other hand have to move heaven and earth to get Drew’s work used for their films. The latter of which has tried three times to get Drew’s work to be the poster for his films and has been overruled all three times.

At one point in the book, Struzan recalls when a reporter asked a suit why Drew’s powerful illustration for Pan’s Labyrinth wasn’t used as the poster. The suit responded “We didn’t use it because it looks too much like art.” If you read that last sentence and felt the sudden impulse to throw a chair, you are not alone.

While there are many stories in the book that make you want to boycott Hollywood altogether, at the end of the day The Art Of Drew Struzan is a celebration of the work and talent of a man who has had his fair share of ups and downs and come out out of it for the better.  The Art Of Drew Struzan is a compelling read and a must have for anyone interested in movies, art, or both. The book is available now and you can purchase it here. Below is the trailer for the documentary Drew: The Man Behind The Poster.

© Copyright Drew Struzan. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Late last week, Verizon shot us an email regarding a Tweet Up they’re hosting at their Center City store, located on 17th and Market. Normally this sort of thing wouldn’t catch my attention. I’m an iPhone guy… but they are offering up a sneak peek of the Star Wars Collector’s Edition Droid, R2D2. And anything Star Wars is hard to resist.

Verizon is inviting Twitter folks out to the shop from 6:30pm to 8pm. They’ll show off the new Star Wars Droid and demo other phones… but no one really cares about the other ones. Sorry Verizon, but R2D2 is all we wanna hear about it.

People from Verizon will be on hand answering questions about the new model, apps, etc… and will be giving away all kinds of swag.

Head over to the Verizon shop at 6:30pm to get in on the action.

R2D2 Droid Tweet Up
6:30pm – 8pm

Verizon Wireless
1700 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 564-7800