Where’s Waldo? Jeff Carlisle Unites the Star Wars Community

July 31, 2012 at 8:21 am | Posted in Art, Celebration | Leave a comment
Tags: jeff carlisle

Of all the exclusive art prints heading to Star Wars Celebration VI this year, Jeff Carlisle’s is one of the most interesting. His piece entitled “A Fan’s Hope, Naam’s Huttese Theater, Tatooine” combines the fun aspect of a Where’s Waldo picture with all the great elements of Star Wars. Yet if you look closer, the people populating the picture aren’t just the iconic movie characters…they’re real people. Jeff took the time to include his friends, fellow artists, enthusiastic Star Wars fans and cosplayers, and even himself. Oh, and there is a Waldo in the picture, but it’s a WLD-O droid.

Below we’ve reposted some of the information and closeups Jeff has put up on Facebook which adds a lot of insight into the picture. Each of those people have a story, and while we might not be privy to all the details, it’s really awesome to see how much thought and effort Jeff put into the piece.

Here’s a shot of the background, minus all the characters, in a postcard concept designed by Jeff.

As a huttlover, I love the fact that it’s Naam’s Huttese Theater (a play on Grauman’s Chinese Theater where Star Wars premiered). Both Grauman’s and Naam’s look a lot alike.

 Jeff did a pretty cool t-shirt/flyer design to go with it…and it has lots of Hutts!

Here’s a picture of the WLD-O survey and guide droid that’s hidden in the main piece.

Hidden in “A Fan’s Hope” are a ton of cameos including fellow Star Wars artists and friends (from left to right) Cat Staggs, Amanda Staggs, Daniel Falconer, Katie Cook, Tom Hodges, and Grant Gould.

Most of which can be seen here.

And here.

Note Pablo Hidalgo (in both pictures above) is also hidden in the crowd. He’s located down in the lower right corner with the rooftop party along with Mary Franklin, Bonnie Burton, Seth Green and his wife Clare Grant, Matthew Senreich, Steve Sansweet (as a giant Ewok!), Dave Filoni, Ralph McQuarrie, Jean Giraud, George Lucas, Harrison Ford and many others.

“A Private Rooftop Party across the street from Naam’s Huttese Theater, with luminaries and friends involved with the release of the New HOLOFILM that recreates the events of the Battle of Yavin thirty five years ago. The name of the Holofilm? STAR WARS.” -Jeff Carlisle

Elsewhere in the picture is the full cast of The Guild. The Guild is an original web series that focuses on a group of online gamers and their guild, The Knights of Good. Pictured below, they are Vincent Caso (Jango Fett), Jeff Lewis (green lightsaber), Sandeep Parikh, Felicia Day, Robin Thorsen, and Amy Okuda (bowcaster).

Here’s a shot of some of the artwork Jeff has done for the Guild in their normal attire.

Below the Guild you might have noticed a juice box toting Nien Numb. When we said everyone had a backstory, we weren’t kidding. That happens to be Star Wars cosplayer Brian Peebles Kameoka.

Another easter egg…

“If you grew up in Columbus Ohio, you might recognize the Reporter (here with a holocam and people dressed like Princess Leia as Fritz the Night Owl, who’s late night movie hosting (and selection of films) had a really profound effect on me growing up.” -Jeff Carlisle

Looking through the crowd, did you happen to notice the big green robot?

It’s name is Big Dipper and standing next to it is Phecda whose likeness is based on Erica Fouty. Both of them are part of another project Jeff is working on.

Jeff included his friends from Tripwire Magazine as seen here: Joel Meadows, Andy Grossberg, and Susie Lee.

If you look closely you’ll notice that John Carter, his pet Woola, and Princess Dejah Thoris all show up on the other balcony.

Now having gone through all the effort of including so many people, it’s hard to fault Jeff for including himself.

I like how he used his pose from his 501st induction.

There’s some nods to other classic sci-fi shows, too. Bones, Kirk, and Spock can be seen near TARDIS (officially this is a Tatooine Police Call Box). Up on the wall there’s a poster for THX-1138.

Jeff pointed to Ralph McQuarrie and Jean Giraud as his inspiration for the piece.

“Here it is. The whole reason this print exists and why it’s a weird wonderful mashup of so many different things: Ralph McQuarrie and Jean Giraud. Two great artists who shaped so much of my imagination and my sense of design growing up–they died within a week of each other, and this huge, Meta idea of what my print would be was born–It would fuse their work together and also (hopefully) serve to celebrate what it is to be a Star Wars fan, some of the various sources that influenced Star Wars and the people who have made Star Wars Fandom what it is today. And it gave me the excuse to just stick a lot of really cool stuff and cool people into one image!” -Jeff Carlisle

Unfortunately if you’d like to get a copy of the print, it’ll only be available at Star Wars Celebration VI which will be in Orlando, FL in August. The prints are limited to 250 copies, all of them signed and numbered. Still, it’s a great picture. You can check out Jeff’s Facebook album which has most of the artwork we featured above and lots of info on the people hidden in the picture. Who knows, maybe you’re one of them.

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.