"Star Wars: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth" cover featuring Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade

Illustration by Terese Nielsen, “Star Wars: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth.” July, 2001.

“Edge of Victory II: Rebirth,” written by Greg Keyes and book eight of The New Jedi Order series, was released in July of 2001 and portrayed a very pregnant Mara Jade. Slightly different art was initially released online, before the final cover was revealed. The final piece was painted traditionally with acrylic, oil, and colored pencil, with “a few squirts with the airbrush.” Artist Terese Nielsen had these memories to share on her website:

Rebirth was a “we-need-it-yesterday” sort of cover. I had far less time to work it out than I prefer. I think Del Rey needed it for catalog promotions or some such thing. Creative Director Dave Stevenson wanted to feature Luke and Mara along with some Vong ships. Mara was obviously pregnant in this book. She had some health difficulties as well, which I tried to foreshadow slightly on the cover. Speaking from experience, it’s more than a little hard to feel “tough” when you’re nine months pregnant, but in honor of Mara being a Jedi and all, I tried to endow her with as much toughness as possible, being in the state she was.

After the piece was finished and Lucasfilm had used it for their promotional purposes, I had the opportunity to work on it a little more for the final book cover. Alterations to the final painting included modifying Luke’s face, and changing the Coralskipper from a less slick look to a more rough, grittier, rock-like surface. Also, they wanted more of a “war bracelet” on Mara’s arm. Other than that, I had the time to add a little more to the large World Ship and touch up other areas here and there.

Terese was kind enough to participate in an interview with Jade Crusades in 2001 at San Diego Comic-Con. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

What preparations did you go through before producing Del Rey's “Edge of Victory II: Rebirth” book cover?

Del Rey provided me with a basic idea of what the book was going to be about and they had a pretty clear idea of the direction they were looking for on the cover. I provided a few different compositions which included the elements they wanted to see and then I hopped on the painting. The deadline was very tight on this piece, so it didn't allow me the time to research anything too much or experiment with lots of different ideas.