Wednesday, May 26, 2010

My 30 favorite Star Wars Characters

I saw a post by Samurai Frog on his blog "Electronic Cerebrectomy" where he listed his 30 favorite Star Wars characters. You can see his list here:
  • Samurai Frog's 30 Fav's
  • That got me interested in drawing my own top 30 list, so here it is...






























    97 Comments:

    At 2:33 AM, Blogger Mike Greaney said...

    wow just awesome man

     
    At 3:37 AM, Blogger Jeff Cook said...

    Nice!
    And unexpected, especially after Darth Vader clocked in.

    A certain Admiral could've moved up a couple of places though :D

     
    At 3:49 AM, Blogger Gulzar said...

    Ben you can have a whole flash series based on these characters! I'm sure LAS would be interested in seein em animated into a show.
    way to go! Your chars have so much fun in em!

    way to go! Very inspiring.

     
    At 5:15 AM, Blogger Lucas Ferreyra said...

    DAMN! love it them all! And the frame... I feel like I'm 8 years old again...

     
    At 7:44 AM, Blogger Drake Brodahl (pumml) said...

    Excellent stuff. Great to see these done up all purty in your style, Ben.

     
    At 8:20 AM, Blogger Mike Briggs said...

    HA! these are amazing!

     
    At 8:59 AM, Blogger samacleod said...

    What the crap! I want a poster of THIS! I wanna watch this show! Trading cards! Something. These are amazing man!

     
    At 9:06 AM, Blogger Ross Love said...

    Ben,you seriously just made my day. These are wicked cool. I agree with what Gulazar said, we totally need to see these guys in action!

     
    At 9:35 AM, Blogger c.g.young said...

    These are priceless.
    Fantastic blog!!

     
    At 10:13 AM, Blogger Gerald de Dios said...

    Just saw these posted on SuperPunch blog - I totally dig each one of these custom cards!!!! So you probably worked with Jackson on your last gig at PDI. We were painting over the weekend out in Marin.

     
    At 10:49 AM, Blogger Shane said...

    I cant pick a favorite out of these they are all soo hillarious and amazing... Once again man you are my hero!

     
    At 10:51 AM, Blogger ANX said...

    Good lord, Ben. These are all amazing, but the Jabba, Yoda, and Bossk are mind blowing. You've made my day.

     
    At 11:30 AM, Blogger Chris Battle said...

    Bonus points for the packaging motif!

     
    At 11:39 AM, Blogger Aaron Ludwig said...

    Wow. Worth a second (and third and fourth) look.

     
    At 1:24 PM, Blogger [rich] said...

    Awesome work :-D

     
    At 1:26 PM, Blogger Justin Hunt said...

    So cool! Love them all!

     
    At 1:56 PM, Blogger SamuraiFrog said...

    Beautiful work! I just want a mosaic of this to hang up now. It's impossible to pick a favorite, but I am loving on that little Max Rebo!

     
    At 1:57 PM, Blogger Jeff Harter said...

    All are great. Love Darth and Wampa.

     
    At 3:18 PM, Blogger Kendra Melton said...

    Wow! These are fantastic! Can't even attempt to pick a favorite, they're all so wonderful.

     
    At 4:06 PM, Blogger leBolide said...

    I'd pay good money for one of those Jawa action figures.

     
    At 4:39 PM, Blogger BFLV said...

    The name of the #15 imperial spy is "Garindan" ;)

     
    At 7:25 PM, Blogger damon said...

    so good LOVE it!

     
    At 10:25 PM, Blogger DeJarnette Designs said...

    Such wonderful and lively designs!

     
    At 11:26 PM, Blogger Dave Pimentel said...

    Pretty Awesome Ben! You should really find out what it would take to put these up in postcard form or playing cards would be great!

    either way, Fantastic!

     
    At 4:29 AM, Blogger Erik Caines said...

    WOW!! These are sweat designs sir! Well done. Love your picks!

     
    At 9:47 AM, Blogger Mark McDonnell said...

    You're INSANELY talented!

    Beauties,

    MAC

     
    At 2:40 PM, Blogger Tyler said...

    Veeeeeery impressive.

     
    At 2:54 PM, Blogger Mathieu Beaulieu said...

    My personal favorite is IG-88
    Gladly, you don't like JarJar and Ewoks ;)

    Nice stuff again

     
    At 1:07 AM, Blogger Beatriz Iglesias said...

    Love 'em all!!! ^__^

    You've got so much style...congrats!

     
    At 9:41 AM, Blogger Teddy said...

    Outstanding Benny!

     
    At 9:49 AM, Blogger aintshakespeare said...

    These are fabulous. The style is cohesive, and yet each character is unique. I'm really impressed.

     
    At 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Wow... so cool and so much FUN! Thanks for posting these. Now you got me thinking about my own fave 30. Hmmm???

     
    At 10:27 AM, Blogger ANDY BIALK said...

    Love your Jabba! So pushed! I just forwarded your blog to the recruiter and director of the new CG Star Wars series at Lucasfilm Animation.

     
    At 4:22 AM, Blogger Oscar Martín said...

    Igual de bueno que siempre!! :-)

     
    At 1:37 PM, Blogger SWCP, STAR WARS Clube Portugal said...

    good work!

     
    At 3:52 PM, Blogger Ridd Sorensen said...

    fanfriggingtastic my friend.ad

     
    At 5:23 PM, Blogger shannon said...

    Um, these are awesome and all, but where's Yaddle!?!

     
    At 6:27 PM, Blogger sakiteriyaki said...

    damn. these are awesome!

     
    At 8:48 AM, Blogger Barry said...

    Ben these are just amazing! I really dig the designs, your choice of characters and the action figure packaging theme. Especially like that Hammerhead was number one. He was one of my favorite action figures when I was growing up because I would rotate his head 180 degrees and pretend he was the alien from Alien! Thanks for bringing back all my action figure memories!

     
    At 10:50 AM, Blogger Juan Bauty said...

    Amazing job, man!!

     
    At 1:16 PM, Blogger Mike Boldt said...

    More than fantasticmundo! I think Walrus man's name was Ponda Boba or something. Can't believe Jar Jar didn't make it ;)

    Just lends to the movies how fantastic the characters of the originals were designed too.

     
    At 7:47 AM, Blogger Tom said...

    Epic!! Great list and illustrations, thanks for sharing.

     
    At 11:00 AM, Blogger Marcelo Vignali said...

    Wow, these are wonderful!

     
    At 6:58 AM, Blogger Teodor Ajduk and Perica Cirovic said...

    this was worth to wait

     
    At 3:09 PM, Blogger MattWill5 said...

    Very impressive. You should do more or these.

     
    At 3:09 PM, Blogger MattWill5 said...

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     
    At 6:58 PM, Blogger Tara O'Sullivan said...

    Momaw Nadon has always been my fav, too :D

     
    At 2:23 AM, Blogger Oliver Kurth said...

    I love it! The force was with you ... definately.

     
    At 4:38 PM, Blogger Super Villain said...

    so beautiful in so many different ways!! awsome man!

    but...?....did yoda really wear a snake scarf? hmmm....will have to watch the series again, haha!

     
    At 4:55 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

    If these drawings aren't released in original sizes or made available as posters - I will hurt someone .... on Planet Endor

     
    At 7:53 AM, Blogger Ben Reynolds said...

    So friggin wicked.

     
    At 9:23 AM, Blogger BlindseerJB said...

    #17 Walrus Man's name is Ponda Baba.
    #15 Imperial Spy's name is Garindan.
    #14 Tuscan Raiders are actually Tusken Raiders.
    #12 Snaggletooth's name is Zutton.

    Loved the artwork though!!

     
    At 10:30 AM, Blogger Louise Smythe said...

    omg this is so fun! great job, ben!

     
    At 11:20 AM, Blogger Ben Balistreri said...

    Thanks everyone for all these great comments!

    Jason, I fixed the spelling mistake on the Tusken Raider. Ugh! Some nerd I turned out to be!

    As far as the "actual" names of some of those other characters I was aware of them but chose to go with their much simpler and cooler sounding names from my youth. I mean "Zutton" sounds pretty lame compared to "Snaggletooth". "Momaw Nadon" is OK I guess, but I still like calling him "Hammerhead". "Ponda Baba" will never be as awesome as "Walrus man", at least in my opinion.

    Shannon- If I put Yaddle on the list the pure glory that she emanated would have blinded out all the other characters. She's just too awesome.

     
    At 12:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Awesome! I'm impressed. Any chance that you can do a San Hill? I'd love to see your take on him. Thanks and keep up the amazing work.

     
    At 8:44 AM, Blogger Gamard said...

    I really enjoyed this, being a big Star Wars fan, but I hate the nicknames that were given to characters you put on the list. I mean, if they really are your favorite characters, you should know their real names.

    Walrus Man = Ponda Baba
    Imperial Spy = Garindan
    Snaggletooth = Zutton
    Hammerhead = Momaw Nadon

     
    At 9:17 AM, Blogger Ben Balistreri said...

    Hey Gamard,

    Yah, I know their "real" names but I'm old enough to remember when they came out as action figures in the late 70's the packages used what you call "nicknames". Back then we didn't have expanded universe stories or the internet so the names on the Kenner packages were all we had. Since it's my favorite list I chose to use the names that had the most meaning to me. Geez, I sound like a grumpy old man. :) But seriously..."Zutton"? "Snaggletooth is way cooler sounding!

     
    At 4:24 PM, Blogger OK Records 1138 said...

    Hands down, Jabba the Hutt was my favorite. I totally wish you would make these into a series, and continue on from #31 up. Great stuff!

     
    At 5:40 AM, Blogger michaelamos said...

    Awesome! What else can I say? Jawa design is so cool!

     
    At 7:07 AM, Blogger kanishk said...

    I love it! The force was with you ... definately.

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    At 11:21 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

    61 comments?!
    geez lol
    well deserved
    these are slick-I laughed at the jawa

    throwin your blog up on my blog roll ASAP

    cheers!
    joe

     
    At 11:33 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

    incredible! i did my own versions of 3 characters...but THIRTY!?!? great drawings, as always!

     
    At 12:26 PM, Blogger pbcbstudios said...

    i like how that wampa is eatin' a chicken leg

     
    At 6:47 PM, Blogger Tatevik Avakyan said...

    Love your designs!

     
    At 4:34 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

    Ahahahah!! Great thanks for this funny moment! Should be great to watch them in a animated movie

     
    At 4:48 PM, Blogger Mukpuddy said...

    HOLY CRAP DUDE! These are all amazing!!!

     
    At 9:24 PM, Blogger john said...

    These characters are great!!! I want to make your biker scout in 3D!!

     
    At 3:44 AM, Blogger kanishk said...

    So cool! Love them all!

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    At 4:20 AM, Blogger Carolina said...

    Espectaculares... I can´t barely choose one LOL

     
    At 7:42 AM, Blogger Nene said...

    fantastic!

    (i luv Chewbacca)

     
    At 4:28 PM, Blogger robh said...

    yea...brilliant :)

     
    At 11:23 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

    Wow! This is a really great post! Bossk and Walrus Man are my favorites!

     
    At 1:04 PM, Blogger leelee said...

    Ben, you are a genius. I love your bevy of marvelous and funny creatures. They look like they were conceived by the FX wizards for the Transformer movie series. Others are hysterical escapees from the Star Wars trilogy. You have just about covered every character except Princess Leah and Luke Skywalker. These creatures have a zippy fun look that brings a belly laugh when viewed from their pseudo 35 mm film artistic niche . How could you not laugh at these funny parodies of the real thing? The hulking Terminator movies took robotics to a new height; now, Ben takes off the gloves and makes robotics the fun thing we can all enjoy, young, or old, rich, or poor. This is where pure imagination meets the road. Imagination is the main key in illustrating and cartooning. I really like the wacky style that you present on your website. I can only hope to be as talented someday and master cartooning the way you did.

     
    At 9:24 PM, Blogger Adam Temple said...

    Wow. Just amazing designs!

     
    At 12:09 AM, Blogger Howard Shum said...

    Too awesome!

     
    At 10:04 AM, Blogger Franco Spagnolo said...

    Excellents designes! You are a great artist!

     
    At 1:45 PM, Blogger gcastro3d said...

    nice! Any new books at comic con this year?

    -George

     
    At 5:16 AM, Blogger silva said...

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    At 10:49 PM, Blogger Mattias Adolfsson said...

    wonderful

     
    At 9:30 AM, Blogger Niall O loughlin said...

    Hilarious stuff man.

     
    At 11:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    WOW!!! These are amazing!!!!

     
    At 7:10 AM, Blogger Ken Chandler said...

    I'm glad we see eye to eye on the fact that Hammerhead rocks the Star Wars universe. Fantastic character designs all around. Your Ackbar and R2 are among my favorites. Pretty amazing!

     
    At 9:24 AM, Blogger Dave Dick said...

    Holy crap I'm so happy I saw these.

     
    At 11:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

    These are awesome! I like Admiral Ackbar as I had the action figure back in the day : )

     
    At 12:24 AM, Blogger Bryan Wynia said...

    Amazing! Super rad!

     
    At 1:47 AM, Blogger Gillian Comerford said...

    Hahahahah these are amazing....cool

     
    At 5:07 AM, Blogger Tina said...

    very nice and awesome pictures .. keep up the good work

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    At 10:54 PM, Blogger Retrack media said...

    qwesome man....wickedly cool

     
    At 9:41 PM, Blogger musicm said...

    nice animated cartoons.
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    At 4:26 AM, Blogger Don Murphy said...

    Epic list! Bossk at number 2 is a great choice, but Tusken Raider at 14? He's clearly top 6!

    All is forgiven, though, with the addition of the Imperial Spy.

    Great stuff!

     
    At 7:22 AM, Blogger toondra said...

    Look very nice!
    Check up our flash cartoons too!

     
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