Star Wars Meets World War II And Microsoft Paint In These Fan Made Images
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As we approach the new wave of Star Wars, which technically started yesterday with the release of the novel Star Wars: A New Dawn (a precursor to the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels), but will really heat up with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII, we’re going to see fans celebrating their favorite franchise in a variety of ways. Chief among these expressions is fan art, and we’ve got a couple of doozies for you to check out.
First are these epic images from Thirteenth Floor (where you can purchase them to hang on your very own wall if you’re so inclined), which interject iconic images from Star Wars into photographs from World War II. And as strange as this combination may sound on the surface, the end results are beautiful, and unexpectedly haunting, especially this one of soldiers marching into what is sure to be a vicious conflict as X-Wing fighters soar towards the Death Star, which looks even more ominous and sinister hovering in this black and white sky.
Seeing an AT-AT, Imperial Walker, or Star Destroyer looming in the distance would have to be an incredibly defeating sight to behold for soldiers fighting their hearts out.
This is one dogfight in which this plane is totally out gunned and out classed, I don’t care how good the pilot is…
…and this soldier facing off against a stormtrooper is in a similar situation. WWII era weapons are no match on the battlefield for futuristic armor and blasters.
And speaking of disheartening, watching a squadron of TIE Fighters emerge from the Death Star has to crush your spirit at least a little bit.
The next set of images are a serious change in direction. We go from gorgeous, well rendered pictures that seamlessly merge two disparate elements, all the way to dated, pixelated recreations of scenes from Star Wars. And these aren’t just designed to look like they’re from a bygone era, they actually are. Over at the Star Wars Paintbrush Tumblr, two brothers are sharing drawings they created back in the 1990s using Microsoft Paintbrush on Windows 3.1. Yeah, they’re pretty awesome. They’re releasing one painting per day building up towards the December 18, 2015 release of Episode VII.
Thus far there’s the space portion of the Battle of Endor…
…speeder bike…
…and a transport ship.
Here’s what they have to say about their project:
My brother and I made hundreds and hundreds of pixelated Star Wars pictures using Microsoft Paintbrush on Windows 3.1. We would spend hours working on each of them and many of them have an impressive level of detail and accuracy. Most importantly though, they serve as a charming reminder of the power of our fandom. Originally we made these pictures during the lead-up to ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,’ and now we will be posting a new picture on Tumblr every day during the lead-up to ‘Star Wars Episode VII’.
