UK based artist Jack Hughes is interviewed over at StarWars.com about his personal journey, his incredible artwork and his love for the galaxy’s most loved Princess, Leia Organa.
Most of the Star Wars action figures that Jack Hughes pulled out of his older brothers’ toy box were as worn and weathered as the used-future space opera they were based on. All except for one: Princess Leia Organa.
“She was almost immaculate,” Hughes tells StarWars.com, overlooked by his siblings and rarely conscripted for a play battle. “I loved how beat up and loved they were — scrapes and dents, faded paint. Star Wars always felt really gritty and mature in the constructed realities I’d form in my head as a child.” But in the pristine figure of the rebel princess, Hughes saw potential. Not only did she loom large in the stories he created during those long hours of play, Hughes often put her in the pilot’s seat of the Millennium Falcon, an underdog finally getting her moment to shine. “She was always the captain.”
Both Leia and Carrie Fisher, the actor who portrayed the princess-turned-general, are icons to Hughes. “As a gay man, I’ve always rooted for the underdog and in almost all the media I consumed growing up, the token woman was always the underdog,” Hughes says. “It’s why I loved Leia and cherished her figurine so much.” So when he was approached to create a piece of art for Lucasfilm that would celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month in October, Leia and all the strong women who inspired him from the Star Wars galaxy became the theme for a piece exploring their various identities and journeys.
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and has been a presence online since webpage Fanta War in 1996. He is the EiC and Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and currently contributes to ILM.com, SkywalkerSound.com, Star Wars – Das Offizielle Magazin, Journal of the Whills and Starburst Magazine, having previously contributed to magazines Star Wars Insider, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia, Model and Collectors Mart, partworks Build Darth Vader, Star Wars Encyclopedia, and Build The Millennium Falcon, and websites Jedi.net, Jedi News, StarWars.com, Lightsabre.co.uk, and Wirezone.
He is the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015 (hosting it four times), and is the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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UK based artist Jack Hughes is interviewed over at StarWars.com about his personal journey, his incredible artwork and his love for the galaxy’s most loved Princess, Leia Organa.
Most of the Star Wars action figures that Jack Hughes pulled out of his older brothers’ toy box were as worn and weathered as the used-future space opera they were based on. All except for one: Princess Leia Organa.
“She was almost immaculate,” Hughes tells StarWars.com, overlooked by his siblings and rarely conscripted for a play battle. “I loved how beat up and loved they were — scrapes and dents, faded paint. Star Wars always felt really gritty and mature in the constructed realities I’d form in my head as a child.” But in the pristine figure of the rebel princess, Hughes saw potential. Not only did she loom large in the stories he created during those long hours of play, Hughes often put her in the pilot’s seat of the Millennium Falcon, an underdog finally getting her moment to shine. “She was always the captain.”
Both Leia and Carrie Fisher, the actor who portrayed the princess-turned-general, are icons to Hughes. “As a gay man, I’ve always rooted for the underdog and in almost all the media I consumed growing up, the token woman was always the underdog,” Hughes says. “It’s why I loved Leia and cherished her figurine so much.” So when he was approached to create a piece of art for Lucasfilm that would celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month in October, Leia and all the strong women who inspired him from the Star Wars galaxy became the theme for a piece exploring their various identities and journeys.
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and has been a presence online since webpage Fanta War in 1996. He is the EiC and Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and currently contributes to ILM.com, SkywalkerSound.com, Star Wars – Das Offizielle Magazin, Journal of the Whills and Starburst Magazine, having previously contributed to magazines Star Wars Insider, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia, Model and Collectors Mart, partworks Build Darth Vader, Star Wars Encyclopedia, and Build The Millennium Falcon, and websites Jedi.net, Jedi News, StarWars.com, Lightsabre.co.uk, and Wirezone.
He is the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015 (hosting it four times), and is the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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