Artist Lawrence Noble, who sculpted the stunning Obi-Wan bust before convention-goers at Celebration IV last summer, has been selected for membership in the prestigious National Sculpture Society and will have a selection of his works showcased in the Society’s headquarters in Manhattan starting July 14.

Here’s their official site’s description of the exhibit:

The Elected Members Invitational showcases the sculpture of some of National Sculpture Society’s finest artists. The open-theme exhibition alternates annually with NSS’s Fellows Invitational and the works on display reflect a level of excellence in figurative sculpture which has become the benchmark of the 115-year old institution. Elected Members from as far away as Ecuador, England, Mexico and Africa submitted work as diverse in subject, style and discipline as their home countries. Highlights include bronze portraits of familiar and fictitious individuals; whimsical characters made of marble, terra cotta and wood; and creatures, both real and imagined, in unexpected settings.

For more information about the exhibit, check out the official National Sculpture Society website here, and also Noble’s official website here.

Oh sure, you’ve seen the front cover to Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. Everyone has. Dave Seeley’s great artwork showcasing Luke Skywalker. (The book, by the way, has swapped places on the publication calendar with Jim Luceno’s Millennium Falcon. So expect Mindor in hardcover in December ‘08, while Falcon is due out in October from Del Rey Books).

But have you seen the back? Artist Dave Seeley explains how it came about after the jump. (more…)

According to billingsgazette.net, fans will soon see a lot of Indiana Jones promotional artwork coming from Russell Walks, an artist who Star Wars fans may recognize from the Star Wars Celebration Art Shows and the Topps Galaxy trading card series. For Indy, it looks like Walks will be illustrating for Dr. Pepper, Kellogg’s, and others.

His work for the film includes a life-size cardboard standee of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones - yes, the one featuring an expression with “slight undertones of happiness.” Using promotional shots provided by LucasFilm and poses from members of his fan base, Walks created the piece after a little bit of struggle, mostly with those slight undertones.

He did 10 or 15 sketches until he was finally satisfied with the expression. From there he did a value drawing, with a full range of tonal values in black and white. Walks usually prefers to hand paint his artwork, but because of the tight deadlines on the “Indiana Jones” project, he did most of the color in Adobe Photoshop, then added brush strokes and “the twinkle in (Ford’s) eye.”

Check out the full story here, and learn more about the artist in starwars.com’s official artist profile.

As previously reported, this Imperial stroller was quite a hit at Celebration IV. So we tracked down the proud owner of the baby AT-AT — Rick Russo — to find out how he tricked out his child’s stroller making it one sweet fan kid ride.

Why did you decide to transform your baby stroller into a mini AT-AT?

We have a new baby, so it was like I had a legitimate excuse to do something fun and geeky. The AT-AT is one of my favorite vehicles from the saga and it really lends itself to the shape of the stroller. I had other ideas, like doing a tauntaun or a dewback, but did not have the time to design something that would be safe and not tip the stroller.

What materials did you use to make it?

Foam board, a boat-seat cushion, sponge-type material used for packing fragile equipment, dowels, zip ties, modeling putty, floral wire, a tube from shrink wrap roll, BBQ skewers and the best thing — ballpoint pens for the chin guns.

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Over 70 fans competed in the Star Wars Tattoo show at Celebration IV, showing off skin art featuring everything from full-back portraits of the Sith to funky Tiki-inspired Jed Masters. The contest’s organizer, Star Wars fan, tattoo aficionado Shane Turgeon talks about the contest, tattoos and his new Star Wars skin art book The Force in the Flesh.

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On May 28, while most fans were packing up their hard-won figures and prints to make the trip home from Celebration IV, a few hardcore collectors stayed back to battle it out for rare toys and other items pulled from Lucasfilm’s Licensing Archives — including a rare Kenner shipping carton that originally held four remote-controlled Jawa Sandcrawlers.

Now, while the Sandcrawlers themselves are quite valuable and among the most coveted of early Kenner Star Wars toys, what made this somewhat non-descript shipping carton so unique was who it was addressed to back in 1979: one George W. Lucas Jr. of San Anselmo, CA. Final price paid for the empty box: $950. All proceeds benefitted the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Feeling blue because you missed out on eating Star Wars 30th Anniversary cake with a room full of fans at Celebration IV Opening Ceremonies? Well, thanks to an industrious fan, you too can capture that lost moment in time with this oddly endearing collectible — a slice of Star Wars cake preserved in resin.

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Even younger fans like to travel in an Imperial fashion. Spotted at Celebration IV, these parents tricked out their stroller to show off their love for Star Wars.

Read all about it here.

SOURCES: Thingamababy; BoingBoing; ClubJade

A showcase of some of the amazing astromech droids crafted by the R2 Builders, including clips from the Extreme Droid Challenge and proof that R5-D4 should have been a daycare supervisor. Kids love him.

As the winner for the Best Action Award with his film Essence of the Force for the Fan Movie Challenge presented by Lucasfilm and AtomFilms, Nevada-based filmmaker Pat Kerby discusses the challenges of making an impressive action film on a tight schedule when your Sith Lord has a day job.

What prompted you to make a Star Wars fan film? How has George Lucas and his films influence your work?

George Lucas’s films were a big inspiration to me. Once I decided I was going to be a filmmaker I paid close attention to what he did. I learned that good casting and a good story are very important. I admired his independent spirit of filmmaking, for the most part working outside of the Hollywood system. I hope he continues to work to revolutionize filmmaking. The distribution system needs revamping!

What is the backstory regarding your film? Where did you get your idea?

One day my wife asked me to do something and I told her that I’d try. She said, “There is no try, there is only do” — butchering the quote from Yoda. As I started to explain what Yoda actually said, it hit me that that phrase would be a great punch line for a Mountain Dew commercial. I pitched the idea to some friends, and we decided to do it. I had met Thomas Dupont, a brilliant swordsman who worked at the King Arthur’s Tournament show at Excalibur in Las Vegas at the time (he has since become the sword master on Pirates of the Caribbean, and your very own Indiana Jones 4), and had been wanting to work with him. He loved the idea, and after that everything just fell together. The Las Vegas filmmaking community came together to support the project, and after a month or two of pre production, three nights of shooting, and about six months of post (between regular jobs), we had a product that was a nice demo for myself, Thomas, and the whole Vegas filmmaking community.

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