Star Wars – Hylobon Enforcer

Hylobon enforcer is another one of the illustrations I made for the Star Wars game by Fantasy Flight Games, once again set in the Solo movie.

I know I’ve been posting mostly Star Wars stuff as of recent.
But well, I’ve done a whole lot of it so you’ll have to bear with me with this for a little longer.

As I said last time, while I worked on this set of illustrations I had to re-watch Solo half a dozen times.
I wasn’t super familiar with the lore around it at the time, so every time I read a brief my reaction was a variation of “Hylobon enforcer? What the hell is that?”.

Well it turns out that Hylobon Enforcers were the apes-looking guys that were at the service of Dryden Vos, the figurehead leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate, and we see them for the first time in the Solo movie.

I later learned that the true leader of this criminal enterprise was in fact Darth Maul (I really didn’t get what he had to do with it in the movie).
In fact, he remained their leader until his death by the hand of Obi-Wan Kenobi a few years later.

Oh wait, I painted that too!

Anyway, the brief was about a generic Hylobon Enforcer looking though while standing guard.

While re-watching the movie I found out I really liked the design of Dryden Vos’ “throne room”.

Well technically it wasn’t a throne room, as there was no throne in it, and he was no king.

In fact, and I really want to stress this out, Dryden Vos was just a puppet. I can’t believe it took me like fourth views to figure that out.

Either way, those circular windows were a perfect design element to frame a character with, so I couldn’t help placing my Hylobon Enforcer right in front of it.

On top of it providing a very convenient (and setting-consistent) graphical frame, it also allows a nice view of the scenic mountain chains behind. So there it is.

I have to point out (because I was very fastidious with it), that for the gun I took as a reference an official model from the movie.

Fans tend to be really quick to point out inconsistencies, so I try to be as accurate as possible with these details when I have the chance.

by Paolo Puggioni

Star Wars – Corellian Hounds

Corellian Hounds is another one of the illustrations I made a couple of years ago for the Star Wars CCG by Fantasy Flight Games.

Like I say every time, I have no memory whatsoever of what particular expansion this belonged to, so you’ll have to do some digging if you are really interested:)

While I worked on this image I was also assigned several other illustrations based from the movie Solo, so I had to watch it several times in a relatively brief period of time.

Despite Solo not being exactly a record breaker at the box office, I have to say that I really didn’t mind it.

Sure, some things or some characters owe their charm to their sense of mystery, so NOT knowing how the sausage is made is the way to go more often than not.

For example, I was entirely happy to be oblivious to Yoda’s Midi-chlorian score.
At the same time, I’m not sure that Han Solo’s image gained anything by having his backstory made public.

However, if we really NEED to have a movie about young Han Solo, well this one wasn’t that bad.
Better than seeing young Anakin racing on Tatooine, just to name one.

Anyway, the Corellain Hounds are a race indigenous to Corellia, which is where a part of the movie is set.

While young Han is trying to leave the planet chased by bad guys, his pursuers unleash these ferocious animals onto him and Daenerys Targaryen, which is what this illustration depicts (minus Han and Khaleesi, out of the frame).

Corellian Hounds are known for their supernatural sense of smell, their fierceness, and the fact that they can regenerate their fangs.

They’re also quite valuable, so owning a pack is considered a sign of high status on Corellia.

While researching for this image, I also learned that the Corellian Hounds in the movie were not CG!
In the same way they used elephants for the Banthas in Episode IV, they decided to use live animals with foam suits instead of CG models.

I always prefer practical effects to CG in movies, so I’m quite a fan of this decision.

Also, it looks like after their several months’ long training the dogs were happy to wear suits and masks, which is another big plus.

Let’s see if you can tell they’re actual dogs in this deleted scene.

Anyway, as I said I have a few other illustrations set in the movie Solo, I hope I’ll have the time to post them in the next few days.

by Paolo Puggioni