That’s it, ladies and gentleman. Not to be too melodramatic, but that’s the picture that changed the course of my life. There was just something about seeing all those ship models lined up together that twisted my dials.
I immediately began designing ships. I immediately began making them out of scrap bits of wood and half-used model kits. My brother showed me how to bang them up and add carbon scoring without an airbrush by using spraypaint filtered through cardboard with different sized holes.
What hard core Star Wars fan wouldn’t want an actual Y-Wing model on his shelf? Or an X-Wing? Or several? (Yeah, I’m still thinking of that table full of ships from the picture up there… if my basement could look like that, that’d be just about right.) Plus, while we’re dreaming, I’d like the original 6-foot Millennium Falcon, mounted on its shooting stand. OK, and a house big enough to accommodate it comfortably in any room. Well, I’d move it around from room to room, wouldn’t I? You never want to be too far from that model…
Not lucky enough to work for Lucasfilm? You could make your own models. Hobbyist Lasse Henning has a tutorial on how exactly you create several of your favorite models from Star Wars.
I don’t think I have the time or the patience to do this now. But if you do, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
When I was 11, it was a different story. I had nothing but time, and that picture of all those ships on that table had me worked into a frenzy. I immediately began shooting little 8mm movies with these little ships, shot against black fabric, and superimposed against a black card on a table with salt sprinkled across it for stars. I hung them on strings, I shot them upside down, I mounted them to tripods, I held them with my hand and zoomed the camera past on a skateboard. All I wanted to do was make fantastic objects believable.
It’s oddly reassuring to me that in working for a game company now, I’m doing what I wanted to do 30 years ago: I make my living building fantastic things. It’s actually pretty amazing that it turned out this way. Not many people can say they achieved their childhood dreams. I know that makes me lucky.
So, when I think that it’s been 30 years since Star Wars came out, I can’t help but think of that picture that inspired me to say I Gotta Do That. I only saw it for a couple of minutes, borrowing a book from a kid on the bus on the way to school. But I’ve remembered it all these years, and finally went online and bought the book last week. It’s an amazing thing, the power of a picture.
But in order to get where I am, I also had to learn how to draw, and believe it or not, Star Wars also came into play here. More on that on Monday…
