In 4 weeks time Star Wars Celebration Europe will be in full swing, and today the badge art has been revealed, with stunning work by artist Alice X. Zhang covering 19 badges and characetrs from across the spectrum of the Star Wars galaxy.
One of the best Star Wars Celebration souvenirs has always been the very item that gets you inside: the badge. That’s because Lucasfilm has made it a tradition to commission artists to create original badge art for Star Wars Celebration, adding a little galactic flair to something that, at most conventions, is little more than an afterthought. Being part of that tradition is especially meaningful for Alice X. Zhang, the digital artist behind Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023’s badge paintings — a beautiful collection of character portraits that StarWars.com is excited to reveal.
“Well, it has absolutely been a huge honor! I have never been to a Celebration, but when I was first approached and researched the history of Celebration badges, I was immediately inspired — not to mention, portraits are my favorite illustration subject,” she tells StarWars.com. “So, it was exciting for me to take this on, and I really wanted to do a memorable job.”
The portraits cover the Star Wars spectrum, with subjects including everyone from Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano, to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi-era Luke Skywalker, to a defeated Darth Vader from Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are a staggering 19 in total, all designed to fit together like a puzzle. “I knew that Celebration has had a long tradition of commissioning a single illustrator to create the art on each badge, and that many collect the badges,” Zhang says. “I wanted to do something unique to ‘link’ the set together, like an Easter egg for those collectors!”
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in 1981 and been a presence online since his first webpage Fanta War in 1996. He's contributed to Star Wars Insider (since '06) and Starburst Magazine (since '16) as well as ILM.com, SkywalkerSound.com, StarWars.com, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Build The Millennium Falcon, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia, Model and Collectors Mart, Star Trek magazine and StarTrek.com. He is a four-time Star Wars Celebration Stage host, the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since the stage began in 2015, the Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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In 4 weeks time Star Wars Celebration Europe will be in full swing, and today the badge art has been revealed, with stunning work by artist Alice X. Zhang covering 19 badges and characetrs from across the spectrum of the Star Wars galaxy.
One of the best Star Wars Celebration souvenirs has always been the very item that gets you inside: the badge. That’s because Lucasfilm has made it a tradition to commission artists to create original badge art for Star Wars Celebration, adding a little galactic flair to something that, at most conventions, is little more than an afterthought. Being part of that tradition is especially meaningful for Alice X. Zhang, the digital artist behind Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023’s badge paintings — a beautiful collection of character portraits that StarWars.com is excited to reveal.
“Well, it has absolutely been a huge honor! I have never been to a Celebration, but when I was first approached and researched the history of Celebration badges, I was immediately inspired — not to mention, portraits are my favorite illustration subject,” she tells StarWars.com. “So, it was exciting for me to take this on, and I really wanted to do a memorable job.”
The portraits cover the Star Wars spectrum, with subjects including everyone from Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano, to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi-era Luke Skywalker, to a defeated Darth Vader from Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are a staggering 19 in total, all designed to fit together like a puzzle. “I knew that Celebration has had a long tradition of commissioning a single illustrator to create the art on each badge, and that many collect the badges,” Zhang says. “I wanted to do something unique to ‘link’ the set together, like an Easter egg for those collectors!”
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in 1981 and been a presence online since his first webpage Fanta War in 1996. He's contributed to Star Wars Insider (since '06) and Starburst Magazine (since '16) as well as ILM.com, SkywalkerSound.com, StarWars.com, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Build The Millennium Falcon, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia, Model and Collectors Mart, Star Trek magazine and StarTrek.com. He is a four-time Star Wars Celebration Stage host, the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since the stage began in 2015, the Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 inches closer and closer each day, and the news has reached us that Saturday single day adult tickets have now SOLD OUT!
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