The official site has shared an exclusive look inside The Star Wars Bestiary, Volume 1: Creatures of the Galaxy, written by S.T. Bende and illustrated by Iris Compiet, sharing some spreads from the book.
Star Wars Insider: Tell us about the in-universe creator of this bestiary.
S.T. Bende: There is this organization called the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts that was first introduced in the YouTube animated series Star Wars: Galaxy of Creatures. It has different divisions, so we invented a new vocation in the Star Wars galaxy, and developed a backstory for our narrator, Ardis San Tekka, who is a creature cartographer. She goes out to all these different systems and studies the animals then writes up summaries of what she observes. And she’s an artist, so she sketches them as well. She has this safari droid named B8-T5 and calls him “Bait.” Bait lures creatures out of hiding, which is a task he doesn’t always love!
Star Wars Insider: Iris, how did you approach the artwork, as the book is a field guide but also a sketchbook?
Iris Compiet: Everything in the book was done traditionally, so it’s all paint or pencils on paper. There is no digital work whatsoever. That meant starting over again when I had to do any revisions. I think that I sent in about 1,200 pieces of art. I usually had two screens up, one with reference images and one with a movie or whatever, and I’d continually pause so I could sketch. And then when I needed to have a little bit more information, like what a creature does and how it might react to something, I would read manuscripts coming in from S.T. Her words really made everything come alive.
STB: Her work is so gorgeous, it’s like a love letter to Star Wars. I told Iris throughout the whole process, “I am so excited as a fan that you are doing this book, because this is exactly the kind of book I would love to have.” Getting to collaborate with her again was a dream come true for me, because she is an artistic genius. I love to interact with her and get sneak peeks at what she’s creating. I’m just so grateful that everyone’s going to benefit from her love for Star Wars with something they can hold onto.
Star Wars Insider: Do you have a favorite creature?
IC: The banthas! That was actually the first one I drew when I began working on this project. And I started very enthusiastically. I was so naïve. I sketched them in many different situations. And then I was like, “Oh, I have 130 more animals to do.” I love the blurrgs. They are the weirdest things ever, and so much fun to draw: they’re essentially fish-like blobs on two legs with short, Tyrannosaurus Rex arms.
STB: The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the films, but Star Wars Rebels is my favorite Star Wars anything. Getting to write about tauntauns was really fun because that was a nod to my favorite movie, but getting to write about the purrgil was really special. I remember being awed by the concept of space whales, which was so different from anything we had seen in Star Wars before, and anything I had imagined anyone could come up with. It was a personal connection to the real-world creatures that I love so much, so it was really neat to see them in the galaxy far, far away. And then, of course, when they came back in Ahsoka, that blew my mind. Now they’re in the Disney Parks in Star Tours, so I even got to ride with a purrgil for the first time!
Take the link below for more spreads and more of the excerpt from an upcoming interview conducted by Melissa T. Miller for Star Wars Insider#228.
The Star Wars Bestiary, Volume 1: Creatures of the Galaxy is released on November 5th and can be preordered from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
