Star Wars Artist Series: Amy Pronovost

Australian-Canadian artist Amy Pronovost has a thing for a certain scaly traveling companion named Boga and a snarky green Jedi that goes by the name of Kit Fisto. As an artist whose work has been spotted in cute cartoons in Star Wars Kids magazine and one-of-a-kind drawings on the highly-collectible Topps Artist Sketch Cards, Pronovost seems to be drawn (literally) less to main characters and more to the underdogs and fantastical creatures that populate the planets in a galaxy far, far away.

"I know most people are expecting me to say that I love drawing Ewoks the best, but I'm sorry to say that the little fuzzballs have been pushed out by a tall, handsome, smilin' green Jedi called Kit Fisto," Pronovost confesses. "There's something about Kit that's just really fun to draw. I think it's the head tentacles and the huge eyes."

Of course, long before she fell under the spell of Fisto, as a child Pronovost was captivated by a broken protocol droid in her cousin's basement.

"I was born in 1975, so I guess you can say I'm a lifer," Pronovost says. "Star Wars was a huge part of my childhood. One of my first Star Wars memories is playing with my cousin Timmy's toys in the basement recreation room of their house, I think it must have been late 1979 or early 1980. He had that Battlestar Galactica dog and C-3PO. I remember C-3PO's arms and legs were completely loose, and he couldn't stand up. I would flick his arm and it would spin around in his socket -- endless amusement for a 5-year old."

However it wasn't until she sat in a movie theater with her family that her Star Wars fandom grew to new heights.

"I remember when I saw The Empire Strikes Back in the movie theatre," Pronovost recalls. "My mom brought a quilt for my brother and me so we could hide if there were any scary parts. The wampa scene scared the daylights out of me! But I became a really, really huge Star Wars fan when Return of the Jedi was released. This is the movie that really got me hooked onto Star Wars and it also marked the beginning of my independence. I was 8 years old and Return of the Jedi was the first movie that I not only saw in the movie theatres more than once; it was the first movie I saw without adult supervision. My cousins and I went to see it a few times. When I was a kid I loved Return of the Jedi because of the Ewoks. I was a total Ewok nut. My brother, our friends, cousins and I would wrap towels around our heads (like Ewok hoods) and run through the woods with spears. I was always Teebo."

Perhaps it was her fascination with Ewoks that led the young Pronovost to consider two career paths as an animator or veterinarian. She took both biology and graphic design classes, but ended up deciding to draw Ewoks instead of wrangle them.

"I'm primarily self-taught, but I have taken independent classes in watercolors and life drawing," Pronovost explains. "I was delighted that the school I went to for graphic design from 2001 to last April also offered illustration classes geared towards the designer. This was my first formal art training, and I ate it up, taking all of the illustration classes that would fit into my schedule. I even took an extra class in the Fine Arts department of my school to keep my life drawing skills up to date. I snuck my own illustration into any design project -- maps, board games, packaging, magazine spreads, newsletters -- you name it. I used this freedom to try out new techniques. I learned just how powerful illustration can be in a design application. My graphic design training also helped my illustration improve -- I have a way better sense of color theory than I did going in. I just want to keep learning, I'd like to brush up my acrylics skills next."