Though my artistic genes come from my grandmother, who was without doubt the most important artistic influence, I was additionally influenced by the works of such artists as Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Wendy Pini, Keith Parkinson, and Matt Wagner, to mention a few. However the absolute most important of my early childhood influences isn’t a person at all. It is instead an independent film released in 1977 by director George Lucas called Star Wars.
I came along in 1974, so I was obviously pretty little by ‘77 and ‘78 yet my memories of seeing that important piece of Science-Fantasy at the theater and the drive-in are so vivid in my mind, it’s like it happened yesterday. We went to the drive-in once every weekend the three of us-my Mom, my Dad and I.
I came along in 1974, so I was obviously pretty little by ‘77 and ‘78 yet my memories of seeing that important piece of Science-Fantasy at the theater and the drive-in are so vivid in my mind, it’s like it happened yesterday. We went to the drive-in once every weekend the three of us-my Mom, my Dad and I.
My Dad was instrumental in taking his only child to see Star Wars, and yet every time the movie got to the scene where the Rebel Alliance sends out its fighters to destroy the Death Star (the Battle of Yavin), my eyelids would begin to get heavy.
I would struggle to stay awake but inevitably would fall asleep in the backseat before the movie was over, curled up in my Star Wars sheet, sound asleep on my Star Wars pillow in the back of our green Buick Regal. Apparently I would also fall asleep when we saw it at the theater, but I digress.
My parents got such a kick out of their little son trying, in his own special way, to explain why the family had to go and see Star Wars again the next weekend, since I had fallen asleep and didn’t get to see the end of the movie. It was clear to them the movie held some importance to me. I eventually got to see the entire film from start to end, which coincided as my Mom often jokes with the same time she got tired of going to see it every Friday or Saturday!
When we talk about it now my Dad often says “It opened a window for you.” I couldn’t agree more. I can watch the special editions of Star Wars, or the other chapters in the six episode Star Wars saga, or some of the many countless spoofs that have been made of the film, but nothing will ever compare to the I-270 Drive-In in ’77 and ’78. For me that’s the ultimate Star Wars experience. So it wasn’t long after that I began to draw what I imagined and what I remembered.
My parents got such a kick out of their little son trying, in his own special way, to explain why the family had to go and see Star Wars again the next weekend, since I had fallen asleep and didn’t get to see the end of the movie. It was clear to them the movie held some importance to me. I eventually got to see the entire film from start to end, which coincided as my Mom often jokes with the same time she got tired of going to see it every Friday or Saturday!
When we talk about it now my Dad often says “It opened a window for you.” I couldn’t agree more. I can watch the special editions of Star Wars, or the other chapters in the six episode Star Wars saga, or some of the many countless spoofs that have been made of the film, but nothing will ever compare to the I-270 Drive-In in ’77 and ’78. For me that’s the ultimate Star Wars experience. So it wasn’t long after that I began to draw what I imagined and what I remembered.
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