You Can Draw: Star Wars

by Bonnie Burton

Feel the force of the pencil, get creative and bring "Star Wars" to life on the page. Follow the expert tips, tracings, fold out pages and stencils and draw body shapes which pack a punch (or a lightsabre), inspiring action poses, spectacular vehicles, out-of-this-world clothes and futuristic equipment. Put R2-D2, Luke SkyWalker and Darth Vader on the same page and create scenes and battles from your own imagination - if you dare! And don't forget, there are tons more DK "Star Wars" books to collect.

Genres: Star Wars, Art, Nonfiction, Childrens

Hardcover

First published January 15, 2007

About the author

Los Angeles-based author Bonnie Burton writes about books about mysteries, monsters, horror, true crime, movies, science, crafts, art, teens, and more.

BOOKS
SALEM: CRYPTIDS OF NORTH AMERICA (Indie Press)
ART OF DREAMWORKS SPIRIT UNTAMED (Abrams Books)
ART OF DREAMWORKS ABOMINABLE (Cameron + Company)
LIVE OR DIE? SURVIVAL HACKS (Becker & Mayer)
J.K. ROWLING'S WIZARDING WORLD MOVIE MAGIC AMAZING ARTIFACTS
(Penguin Random House)
CRAFTING WITH FEMINISM (Quirk Books)
THE STAR WARS CRAFT BOOK (Penguin Random House)
STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS: PLANETS IN PERIL (DK Readers)
DRAW STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS (Scholastic)
YOU CAN DRAW STAR WARS (DK Children)
GIRLS AGAINST GIRLS: WHY WE ARE MEAN TO EACH OTHER AND HOW WE CAN CHANGE (Zest Books, Lerner Publishing Group)
NEVER THREATEN TO EAT YOUR CO-WORKERS: BEST OF BLOGS (Apress)

COMICS:
PROS & (COMIC) CONS (Dark Horse Comics)
WOMANTHOLOGY: HEROIC (IDW Publishing)
WOMANTHOLOGY: SPACE (IDW Publishing)
GIRLS GUIDE TO GUYS STUFF (Friends of Lulu)

Co-host of Felicitations Book Club podcast with Felicia Day on Twitch & YouTube. Co-host of horror movie podcast The Night Shift on YouTube.
Co-host of Felicia Day's Vaginal Fantasy Romance Book Club Show on YouTube.

Bonnie has written for Lucasfilm, Disney, Hunt A Killer Games, Wired, Playboy, MTV, CBS, NBC, CNN, Star Wars Insider, SFX Magazine, Geek, Bust, Craft, Inc, Type, Organic Gardening, and more.

Visit her online at Grrl.com or via social media at @Bonniegrrl.

Reviews

[Erika · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are an experienced artist who wants some help with drawing the Star Wars vehicles and characters while being condescended to--buy this book. If you are a little kid who wants to draw like the big kids using pencils that cost more than your chocolate milk at school--buy this book. If you are a little kid to a tweenager who wants to learn how to draw like a comic book artist--there are much better books out there. Because this book is trying to hit two audiences--the little kid artist with his math pencil and the student/amateur artist trying to hone their skills--it reaches neither. The instructions are vague and huge leaps are made between the pencil sketch versions and the fully inked drawings. This book falls back on the dreaded circles and bubbles make a human method of drawing that is so unfortunately prevalent in today's "how to draw" book world--as method that is useless at best and destructive at worst. There is even a section on computer work--when the programs they're using in the book cost multi-hundred dollar sums to purchase. If I were you, I would buy a good book on sketching, another on human anatomy for the comic book artist, and then one of the Star Wars Visual Dictionaries. Don't waste your time on this book.

[Eastonreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with useful drawing tips on drawing Star Wars, this book is perfect for drawers! In my opinion, this book is good because I love Star Wars and drawing, and this book helped me so much with the specific characters that I'm interested in drawing.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst drawing advice books with a theme that sells.

[Shane Amazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers a wide array of both realistic and anime styles and provides creative ways for even a novice to find success. Starting out the book covers the needed supplies to get started, pencils, erasers, rulers, french curves, compasses, and the different forms of each. The beginning also covers how using pencils in different ways can effect the way the pencil marks will look on paper. After you have the necessary supplies you will be briefed on how to draw simple shapes and how to shade them. After that the book lays out how to start to form the basic shapes of the characters or technology that the book covers. Anakin, Han, Leia, Sidious, C3-PO, R2-D2, Battle Droids, Droidekas, Aliens, Ships are all covered and more. The book also explains the differences of the female form versus the male form and how action can be depicted by how the characters stands.

Although the book offers some very good steps to creating a complete drawing I found that the book tended to skip over a good chunk of information needed for some novices. The book conveys the basic forms well, showing a stick figure for the reader to form the start point of a character. But too soon the book wants to jump to the final product showing how the character looks completed and shaded. I would have liked to have seen more specific information on the characters details. The book should have had magnified images of how the artist drew out the finer points.

Good book for beginners but lacks some true artistic qualities.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I've checked it out from the library three times and kept it for the maximum time each time I've checked it out, I guess it has to merit 5 stars.

I really like this book both for my own sketching practice and for getting my kids interested in sketching possibilities. They're much more willing to practice lines and arcs if we make them a part of a light saber or a droid.

Its also a great character study for science fiction fans and has tips for converting Star Wars characters into more cartoon images for fans of anime or manga.

[Kbord · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing here that you couldn't get by going to starwars.com and hitting the drawing archive was a speech bubble template and an analysis about how tall a body is. Most of the drawing examples are online.

Not great, not bad. Get it from the library.

Edit, September 2011: Starwars.com has changed its site dramatically and removed all the drawing archives. I don't know whether any of the videos about drawing have survived the site change.

[Freda Mans-Labianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

How I would love to be able to draw my favorite characters from Star Wars. Unfortunately I have a ton more practicing to do. I tried drawing some from this book, but it is far too advanced for me.
My nephew, on the other hand, is going to freak his freak when I give this to him. He not only loves Star Wars, but he draws comic books as well!
Artists, fans and collectors alike are going to enjoy this book!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers drawing a wide variety of characters from the Star Wars universe.

Includes instructions for pencils, ink and coloring.

This is an excellent, colorful book with lots of examples.

While the pace is probably too much for beginners, it includes some nice extras like using tracing paper and steps for inking your work.

Notes
Includes stencils for comic ‘speech bubbles’