The new posters show colorful silhouettes of C-3PO, Darth Vader and Boba Fett that are filled in with detailed imagery from Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. To create original artwork for such rabidly adored films was daunting, Moss said, especially since so many of the visuals are already iconic.

"It was so intimidating!" the artist told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. "There is such a wealth of great Star Wars art out there already, from paid professionals and from enthusiastic fans. I suppose my main aim was to make a set of Star Wars posters that were a little different from what people are used to seeing from the franchise, but still retained that essential Star Wars feel. I started by re-watching the original movies with a sketchbook on my lap, and just sort of went from there."

Still, there was no backing away from the challenge. "If you're as big a nerd as I am, you just can't say no to Star Wars," Moss said.

Moss has worked with Mondo and its parent company, Austin, Texas–based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, frequently. He created the Alamo's 2010 Rolling Roadshow posters as well as Mondo's The Trouble With Tribbles poster.

Justin Ishmael, Mondo's creative director, said Moss often nails his poster concepts on his first attempt. "Olly does sketches and will e-mail them to us and ... a lot of the times, they are exactly what the finals look like!" Ishmael said in an e-mail. "It's almost like seeing the inner workings of a genius' brain in real time."

Given Moss' talent, he was a coveted artist for Mondo's Star Wars series, a high-stakes project for the art house. George Lucas is notoriously protective of his Star Wars images, and it took Ishmael and Mondo a year to woo Lucasfilm into licensing the characters and worlds that would grace the posters. Instead of flowers, Mondo sent over poster prototypes made with metallic and glow-in-the-dark ink.

All that work paid off. Mondo has released 17 posters — and counting — in its Star Wars series, including a blueprint of R2-D2 and a series of six bounty hunters. Many of the prints sold out within minutes.

Beyond the retail success, the featured artists and Ishmael have a personal stake in Star Wars.

"We're fans first," Ishmael said. "I couldn't think of a reason to choose something, if it wasn't because we liked it. I guess we could get licenses for Twilight because it's hot. We'd make a lot of money, but Twilight is lame, and we only do stuff that we personally like."*

Moss, when asked about his most beloved Star Wars character and film, responded: "Obi-Wan and Empire Strikes Back. Duh."

The Force is strong with this one.

Follow @MondoNews on Twitter on Monday if you want to score one of the new Star Wars posters by Moss, which measure 24 inches by 36 inches (the first time Moss has done that size). The posters cost $50 each. If you miss your chance, well, that sucks, but two more posters in the series will be released by the end of 2010.

Above:

Star Wars

Artist: Olly Moss
Size: 24 inches x 36 inches (each)
Limited edition of: 400 (each)
Price: $50 (each)
On sale: Dec. 20 (follow @MondoNews on Twitter for "on sale" announcement)

* This writer maintains that Twilight has its merits.

Authors: Allison Davis

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