I've been working on a drawing of Vader's Fist. Also known as the 501 Legion for the past few days. They are an elite legion of Clone Troopers and later Stormtroopers from Star Wars. They became Darth Vader's personal legion of Stormtroopers because they were the best around.

Today is Star Wars day, originating from "May the 4th be with you". So I've decided to upload a few images of my creative process on this drawing. The photos were taken as a way for me to see my progress from a blank page to the finished drawing. I will ink it using Adobe Illustrator when I am completely done.



Here is my drawing table set up with various photos of clone troopers and storm troops for reference. I've taped down my 11"x17" bristol board paper to keep it secure. This is actually comic book paper, the kind used by comic artists.



This first image is my sketch of the troopers. I usually draw super heroes, but being a huge Star Wars fan I wanted to do something different. So I decided to have some fun and draw a group of Stormtroopers. I did this initial sketch with an HB Ebony woodless pencil. I had used this pencil with my previous quick drawing of Thor the God of Thunder from Marvel comics. I found that I really enjoyed working with the softer pencil. I have struggled with what type of pencil I feel comfortable working with. Usually using a very hard lead to start off with. Like an H2 to an H6.

After my first initial sketch I went ahead and focused on the first figure. A clone trooper in the uniform worn during the later half of the Clone Wars. This armor was first seen in Episode III Revenge of the Sith. It's very memorable because it shows a bridge between the Stormtroopers from the original trilogy to the Clone Troopers from Episode II. As you can tell I've started the beginning sketches of the Stormtrooper to the left of the Clone Trooper.



This as far as I've gotten with my drawing of the 501 Legion. I took a break today to celebrate Star Wars Day by watching Episode IV and posting this blog. I've had a lot of fun with this drawing. I've never really drawn a Stormtrooper before and I think Ive done pretty well. I need to finish the back trooper, then I will move on the the one on the far right, then the one on the bottom. When I'm done with the drawing I'm going to digitally ink it using Illustrator. I'm very excited because I plan on using my wacom tablet and the brush tool. I've spoken with several cool people on Twitter who have given me some great tips. My next blog post regarding this drawing should be the final stages and the final pencil drawing.

Originally posted on my blog Comic BookGraphicDesign on 05.04.2009.