u/No-Ear-3107

If you wanna see my art progress from 2014 to 2018, check out Cloud City #1 here

More to find: 

1. Trucker Tribble

2. Spotted Tribble

3. Kissy Tribble

4. Triangle Spotted Tribble

5. Cat Tribble 

6. Giant Tribble

7. Licking Tribble 

8. Astronaut Tribble

9. Outrageous Okona

10. Outrageous Okona Cat

11. One Eyed Tribble

12. One Eyed Alien Cat

13. Nanite Cat

14. Kitten

15. Sleeping Cat

16. Mustache Tribble

17. Fuzzy Cat

18. Handkerchief Cat

19. Eyebrows Cat

20. Drinking Cat

21. Ferengi Cat

22. Furry Cat

23. Dashing Cat

24. Strolling Cat

25. Cat playing with Tribble 

26. Chair Cat

27. Dixon Hill Cat

28. Cat Tribble

29. Bajoran's Cat

30. Borg Cat

Even More to Find:

31. The USS Stargazer

32. Pyramid Game Table Decor

33. An Ice Cream Sundae

34. A Cowboy

35. An Exocomp

36. The Traveler

37. A Changeling

38. Deanna Troi Cake

39. Subspace Alien 

40. Two Binars

41. Lore (Data's Brother)

42. Armus, the Skin of Evil

I was the target audience for Jar Jar Binks. Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace was the first Star Wars movie i saw in theatres. I remember going with my brother Jorge to see it in Newark, i think our Dad dropped us off. Would you believe -- i was not that impressed. I remember leaving the theatre feeling underwhelmed - however there were some standout impressions: the podracing sequence and Otah Gunga.

It's gotta be one of the most beautiful places in all of the Star Wars universe. A city that hangs like a string of pearls in a black sea. I wanted to live there.

When they travel through the planet, i remember them describing it as a hollow world, laced all the way through with a network of underwater caves, an ocean of unimaginably large size - there's no true 'bottom' of this sea, and the creature designers did not let a little kid imagination down.

The sea monsters down there stayed with me for a long time. Now when we watch star wars, that's the scene that my son insists on rewatching too.

The Coloo Sea Beast, the Sando Aqua Monster. They weren't just sea monsters, they were KAIJU. This ocean was huge, and you got the impression that you were tiny as plankton in this world. There are many times in Star Wars where SCALE is presented so effectively - making you feel so tiny in this universe.

Gungans however were not as universally adored however. At the time, I remember feeling, even then as a middle schooler "This is kind of racist huh?". Jar Jar was very much a minstrel character, complete with the "yessa masta" accent. Not only was he loaded with that racist baggage, he's treated as a character to laugh AT-AT, not WITH-WITH. It just made me uncomfortable while watching as a little afrolatino boy.

But one thing Star Wars does best is leave questions unanswered. I wanted to know so much about Naboo, Otah Gunga, Gungan Culture, Gungan society. It's only barely hinted at. I also wanted to know why Boss Nass looked so much different than Jar Jar binks. I wanted them to be more than a caricature, i wanted them to all be different and working together in an actual place.

My solution to answer these questions was to build a Frog-City. The Gungans are based on all different Frog Species as their individual races. They specialize in forcefield technology and build their ships in the zero gravity environment within the water. I loved the curved, flowing golden structures that held their force-field cities in the water, like little soap bubbles or very delicate pieces of jewelry.

Star Wars had begun their first licensing deal with Star Wars that year, and the set i wanted more than anything was the Gungan Sub. It's crazy looking back at it, at how boxy it is. One of the biggest changes to Lego in the last twenty years is how smooth it's become. It's like you can literally see the resolution of a toy improve in real life.

I never got this set. But i was happy with the set i did get. I got the smaller "Naboo Swamp" set and i played with it all the time

One thing I wished i had been able to illustrate while working on Star Wars, was the Podracing event. That event itself could be its own book; there were so many cool podracers with unique branding and pilots/racers. The track was filled with dangers, and the stands filled with great aliens to draw. Alas, they never took me up on that. Podracing is very cool, and it's one part of the universe i wish they'd revisit again. Perhaps a podracing show??/