Star Wars Darth Vader Blank Sketch Cover Slave Leia eBas

This is the one that started a long chain of life altering events! I got this in person from Eric at a Chicago Con after I bought it off his Deviant Art page when he was just starting to get recognized. It was amazing meeting him in person but to own some OA, mind blowing. It’s the centerpiece and cornerstone to my collection.

A decade or so after buying this piece I ended up getting divorced. I was really struggling and really trying to find myself again. So I did what a lot of people do and I decided to get a tattoo forever marking this event. I never had a single tattoo and I’m 40 years old now. Anyone that’s a comic book or art fan I think struggles with the same thing…what do you get?! I mean, every time a new shiny cover comes out I fall in love. When an artist does something new, cool or becomes famous I’m like “oh I want that”! Finding something that blends the things I love that is also timeless to me was a serious struggle. I have loved Star Wars and comics nearly my entire life. I think Carrie single handedly jump started puberty for me when Return of the Jedi hit theaters. There is just something about Eric’s “Go Ass” mantra and I absolutely love his depiction of the female. Not to mention he has always been so kind and friendly with me over the years as a fan. When I decided to get the tattoo, this was what I chose as my first.

About a year or so after the tattoo I decided to start having some colorists add some flair to high res images files I had done. I waste a lot of time on Facebook and it’s really not to hard to find new artists and colorists that strike my fancy. One of those colorings got noticed by the owner of Comic Connection and this began the re-creation by the “GO Ass” Master himself and drawn into a 11x17 cover for “Con Artists 3” and released as a naughty and nice variant covers for one of the “May 4th” celebration events. I can’t begin to explain the adventure of working with Jason from Comic Connection as he walked me through the process of having a cover piece. Jason shared every update, drawing, coloring, rights, sales, printing, and even final release. Printing comics is a serious process! Talking with Jason and Eric via messenger to get the rights and permission from Eric. Re-tooling the original piece to the 11x17 versions. Eric had a colorist Sabine Rich in mind that he wanted to use. The printing process and freebie’s that Jason gave me as a thank you were so kind. Jason sharing this whole process to a collector and fan like me is something I’ll always remember. Eric even called me on the phone and teased me with selling the new OA pieces to me. Yeah I got his personal cell number lol. I’ve never used the number again as we all know “with great power comes great responsibility”!

But as I said, this one piece…it is the crown and started a new type of collecting, one that we all see and share here on CAF. It holds SO much sentimental value.