Shadows of the Empire: Interview with Greg Hildebrandt

The Shadows of the Empire multimedia project has brought the very first interquel of the Skywalker saga at a visual level that was never conceived before. After this ambitious project allowed the fans to experience the story through the novel, the colored pages of comic books, and the 3D environments of the Nintendo 64 video game, Shadows of the Empire visually recapped into an epic trading card set from Topps. One hundred incredible paintings by the legendary Brothers Hildebrandt—Greg and Tim depicted many of the key apex points and moments from the novel by Steve Perry while also paying homage to the comic book series, the video game, and even focusing on the iconic (new and classic) characters that starred in Shadows of the Empire. Greg Hildebrandt tells the tale of how his twin brother and himself first entered a galaxy far, far away, recalling the opportunity to paint none other than the now iconic poster for the original Star Wars movie back in 1977. Although artist Tom Jung already created the theatrical poster for the forthcoming movie, George Lucas was not fully satisfied with the final product. “The director wants it more, ‘comic bookie’. That was the only directive they gave us. These guys hadn’t seen the film because nobody had seen yet,” Greg Hildebrandt shared in a joint interview with TatooineTimes.com and The Rebel Base Card podcast.

With a nearly impossible deadline—the space opera being released in a week—and a lack of proper reference material for the main actors, the Hildebrandt brothers took on the challenge and created an alternate version of Jung’s poster, playing with higher contrast in regards of colors while jazzing up the figure of Princess Leia, following the footsteps of the “Godfather” of fantasy art Frank Frazetta.

After completing the theatrical poster in only 36 hours, Lucas had one surprising request to the Hildebrandts: “‘By the way, [George Lucas] wants you to make your name bigger.’ Normally we just sign ‘Hildebrandt’ very tiny in a corner,” Greg Hildebrandt shared. Not knowing whether or not the movie was going to be well received and with Hildebrandt’s prestigious reputation for The Lord of the Rings works, George Lucas wanted to cash in on the artists’ name. But as we all know, the unique idea that was Star Wars became one of the most beloved movies (and franchises) of all time. “The world went freaking nuts. It exploded like you can’t believe. Tim and I were swept into this mad rush. It was totally crazy because we spent 36 hours painting it.”

Nineteen years later, after the Original Trilogy was completed and with the return of Star Wars to the silver screen right around the corner with the first installment of the prequels, Shadows of the Empire was released. What a great way to visually tell the story of the “movie without a movie” than to assemble the best of the best for each media? Among these top artists and creators, the Hildebrandt brothers returned to Star Wars to work on an epic Topps card set for the project. “We didn’t have much time. We did a hundred paintings and again it was very, very quick. Tim and I have been at this long enough that we know how to work fast—four and a half months to do the whole thing,” Greg Hildebrandt said.

The artist delved into the process for choosing the scenes for each painting for the Shadows of the Empire card set: “You’re simply marking off scenes that are illustratable without counting them or thinking how many you’re going to end up with,” Greg Hildebrandt explained. “You’re breaking it down to long shot, medium shot, close up, exterior, interior, focus on environment. That’s a very pragmatic way that Tim and I had been working for years back to The Lord of the Rings … it’s very methodical, you know? And so it’s a collaboration of sort of like just shaking the shifter down until all the solid ones remain.”

Greg Hildebrandt continued, “I’m glad to have been part of it. I think Tim and my approach is always the old classic one from Howard Pyle, who was a grandfather of American illustration: You put yourself in the scene, and I figured that if I can pull that off then it’s a success. It’s like Alice in Wonderland, walking through the looking glass; you want to pull people into a separate reality, make it real for them.”

The execution of each scene required some reference material for the main characters, ships, and locales. “[Lucasfilm] gave us some reference: a maquette of Dash Rendar, a Xizor statue, and also artist renderings,” Greg Hildebrandt recalled. And just like the brothers’ work on the Marvel Masterpieces, models were hired to portray the characters—including a bodybuilder for Shadows of the Empire’s new hero Dash Rendar. “He was like Mr. New Jersey; he was perfect for the part.”

Sexuality in Star Wars has been mostly absent within its storytelling, with the exception of a few moments—the Dark Disciple novel and Doctor Aphra (2016 - 2019) comic series for example. However, Shadows of the Empire included one of the most provocative (based on the general disposition of the subject within the genre) scenes in Star Wars between Xizor and Leia. Greg Hildebrandt explained the thought process of the brothers for interpreting the scene: “You have to make sure that you keep it clean. Number one, this is for the general population, so you can’t get as you may do it for an adult book. How do you treat that kind of thing for the general audience and keep it so that it’s not offensive? It’s kind of pre-editing yourself, knowing the audience and knowing what you can and can’t do in regards to if I was doing it for the then Bob Guccione Penthouse comics; it would have been another story.”

Shadows of the Empire included one of the most fun scenes of Star Wars storytelling: Threepio and Artoo (poorly) flying the Millennium Falcon. “That was a fun picture to do! In fact, if I remember right, that was one of George Lucas’ favorite pictures. I think he kept that one … that’s the one he had to have,” Greg Hildebrandt said.

Greg Hildebrandt’s passion for sci-fi led his brother and him to sprinkle a few easter eggs (outside a galaxy, far, far away) within the Shadows of the Empire set: “I have the three-fingered hand of the Martian from George Pals’ War of the Worlds coming in from the left hand side, and I have the three-fingered Morlock from The Time Machine [card #40]. I like to refer back to those sci-fi films that I grew up on and loved as a kid.”

The fascinating thing about twin brothers is this mysterious, deep connection the two individuals develop growing up. For the Hildebrandt brothers, working together on Shadows of the Empire and many other projects within and beyond a galaxy far, far away has been almost symbiotic—to a point where the two artists would randomly flip their names on the signature of each piece. “We never had any sense that one should take credit over the other. When it came to work it was literally one person working. We were on the same wavelength. We knew exact color breakdowns for everything that we wanted, from the highlights to the shadows.”

After years of incredible artwork, Greg Hildebrandt looks back at his humble beginnings as a child living in a working class household on eastside Detroit in the 1940s, feeling blessed to have had such a supportive family—from his mother and twin brother to his wife Jean. Concluding this amazing interview, the artist shared a piece of advice to every aspiring individual: “Once you commit to something with full passion, all kinds of possibilities open up for you if you commit and stay on that path. Give it everything you’ve got to the pursuit of not perfection but excellence.”

Tatooine Times and The Rebel Base Card want to thank Greg Hildebrandt for sharing his experience working on Star Wars, especially on the Shadows of the Empire project—it was a true honor. If you want to listen to the full 2 hour interview, then make sure to check out The Rebel Base Card episode below. Don’t forget to check out Greg Hildebrandt on the official website, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for more insights on his creative process.