SOME dress up as Darth Vader, a Jedi or the ever-popular Stormtrooper. Others get a kick out of collecting the toys and action figures. But for award-winning designer and illustrator and bona fide Star Wars fan Vincent Aseo, creating alternative Star Wars movie posters is his fan expression. He was only 11 years old when he first saw Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and “for a kid that age, straightaway, I wanted to become a Jedi,” says Vincent, who just turned 30 recently.
Setting aside his Jedi dreams, Vincent gained recognition for his vibrant and stimulating illustrative style that fuses pop-culture and organic themes, resulting in a receptive and highly commercialized genre. Over the years his works have been featured locally and internationally through Alternative Movie Posters 2 (Book), Advanced Photoshop UK and Germany and Book of Creation (France). In 2013 Aseo won the National Digital Arts Awards Grand Prize for Professional Print.
Here, Vincent talks about his Star Wars fandom, the alternative movie poster as an full-fledged artform, and why the two blend perfectly well.
What is your earliest memory of ‘Star Wars’?
I didn’t see the original trilogy until I was in 6th grade. We watched a VHS copy of A New Hope at a friend’s house and, immediately, I was blown away. I remember cheering with my friends when the Death Star exploded. I was around 11 years old at that time and for a kid that age, straightaway, I wanted to become a Jedi. The dream carried on. And since I really couldn’t be a Jedi, I ended up collecting figures and other Star Wars collectibles. Watching it back then was one of the greatest moments I experienced as a kid. The film was so new to me that everything felt real and it expanded my imagination of our galaxy and what is possible—that in the future we may be able to achieve light-speed travel or have blasters and lightsabers as weapons and even intergalactic republics. It piqued my curiosity toward space and the science-fiction genre.
Aside from the movies themselves, did the early posters of ‘Star Wars’ also make an impression on you? How?
They did in a lot of ways, as they gave me a glimpse of how important a well-composed poster should be, that it should tell a story. The epic 1977 posters of Tom Jung and Tom Chantrell perfectly captured the movie’s essence: the x-wing fighters flying in the background Vader’s menacing helmet and the heroes on the foreground having the fight of their life. This level of detail became a foundation of what a well-balanced poster should look like, not only for me but also for the modern posters we now see today.
Which character is your favorite and why?
I’m going for the obvious and a fan favorite: Han Solo. He brings a more realistic character on the table. He is that cool rebel, good-for-nothing scum, but he is downright more human.
He represents the bold, daring, caring kid that people can relate to so much. Han Solo, as a character, is the most human of all of them. He’s like the cool dad you want to have, but not really.
Which episode is your favorite and why?
It’s pretty close between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but I’m going for Empire because there are a lot of great moments in the film. Why one would favor Empire so much would be the revelation that Darth Vader is Luke’s father, which at that time nobody saw coming. But the scene I loved the most would be the carbon-freeze scene, the revelation of love between Han and Leia. Learning that Han’s “I know” line was off-script just reinforced why I like and enjoy that scene so much.
Is there something about ‘Star Wars’ that makes it particularly rendered well in digital art? Something that probably other movies don’t have?
One of the key things that gave Star Wars an edge is George Lucas’s vision of bringing an old formula of myths and classic motifs of good versus evil but in a futuristic, modern manner. It also helped the films’ success made its cast pop-culture icons. (The series is) universally acclaimed that you can only find a few who doesn’t know Darth Vader or the Jedi Order.
Tell us about your first alternative ‘Star Wars’ poster. What compelled you to create it?
It would be Return of the Jedi, because I felt inspired by Luke’s coming-of-age story, of him being a Jedi master, and how every character had grown. It somehow reminded me of the journey which everyone takes. How each one of us is like Luke—naïve and lost but finding our way and choosing our own paths.
What special satisfaction do you get from doing alternative posters?
What I love the most is the challenge of taking on a movie with so many iconic scenes and narrowing it down to three or even one scene that best represents what the movie is about. And last but not the least, the fan support upon publishing the work.
The demand I get from people who want it hanging on their walls, the feeling of selling out all your copies. It’s the fulfillment that you did something great and fellow fans responded to it.
What’s it like drawing the new characters from ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’?
Drawing Finn, Poe and Rey is quite a refresher because they have the similar spark of the old characters. It’s similar to meeting a childhood friend you haven’t seen for years. They might have changed in looks and appearance, but you remember them the way they were when you were kids. It’s that same familiarity when drawing these characters. And it’s quite fun to draw a female lead for a change.
What can your fans expect on May 4, considered as global ‘Star Wars’ Day?
They can expect more series of awesome art for The Force Awakens and previews of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.