Ben Balistreri is a storyboard artist and character designer for Dreamworks, where he’s worked on How to Train Your Dragon. He’s also — like everyone — a Star Wars fan. So when he tuned his unique design sensibilities to represent his 30 favorite Star Wars characters, we had to take a look. Here they are: Check out his blog.
Fan stuff
May the schwartz be with you: The Ultimate R2-D2 College Prank
Now THAT’S the droid we’re looking for! Granted, it is hard to miss. Carleton’s Goodsell Observatory gets turned into R2-D2 by an unknown group of enterprising students — complete with sound effects. All the “decorations” appear to have been draped or taped onto the dome; there was no defacing with spray paint, etc.
May the schwartz be with you: Ewok Karaoke
Forget singing hits from Journey, Madonna and Lady Gaga. What fans really want is to sing the Ewok celebration song! Here is an excerpt from the newly remastered “Return of the Jedi.” Side note: Wookies aren’t that good at karaoke. They tend to drive everyone else out of the bar.
R2-D2 Builders at Maker Faire
Every year robot builders, inventors, MythBusters and craftsters gather for a giant celebration of science geekery called Maker Faire. And you can’t have a robot gathering without our friends the Bay Area R2 Builders Group showing up to inspire Star Wars fans of all ages to make their own astromech sidekick. The astromechs were out in full force spinning, whirring and beeping at the crowd that constantly followed the R2 units or came to visit them in the robot area of the fair. Even amongst the other iconic robots from Lost in Space and The Forbidden Planet, and the impressive Tesla Coils, the R2 Builders were the real stars of the fair. Every time I follow around R2 and his makers around Comic-Con, WonderCon, Celebration, and Maker Faire, I love to see kids pose with, hug, kiss, pet and even have full conversations with R2-D2. He might just be the…
Star Destroyer Umbrella!?
It may not be real, but at least in your dreams it prevents the rain from making you wish you wore a stormtrooper helmet that day. These aren’t the rain drops you’re looking for. Introducing ‘The Star Wars Star Destroyer Umbrella’. A unique triangular shaped umbrella that folds up just like any other ordinary umbrella. But unlike other umbrellas, this one can withstand the force of a hurricane. Or an attack of a rebel fleet. In space. The handle is a similar material to the graphite shaft of a golf club, the waterproof fabric is adhered tightly to the frame and all this awesomeness actually weighs less than a golf umbrella with the coolness factor of 100. And when I say coolness factor I mean factor in the chances of never seeing a woman’s genitals ever again. Unfortunately the Star Destroyer Umbrella is just at concept stage here at OneMoreGadget…