Topps 2023 Star Wars Finest Sketch Cards

Back by popular demand, Topps is again extending its popular Finest line into the Star Wars Galaxy. Topps Finest Star Wars features actor autographs from the most iconic and cherished characters, along with collectible inserts from Star Wars popular Disney+ shows and The High Republic Book series! In addition to autographs and cards featuring the latest in trading card technology are hand drawn, one of one, sketch cards from a cadre of artists that are as big of Star Wars fans as you yourself!

Choosing What to Draw on Star Wars Trading Cards

For this project, like so many of the Star Wars projects I work on (like 2020 Holocron or 2021 Masterwork) I focused on a few different aspects of the SW universe. This time I drew from the prequels and the Tales of the Jedi series. I’ve drawn characters and scenes from the prequels a bunch of times but I never tire of it! For Tales of the Jedi, an animated show on Disney+, I hadn’t had an opportunity to draw anything from it before. Topps often does sets that focus on particular shows and movies, like they’ve done with the Book of Fett and Mandalorian, but animated shows like Resistance, Rebels, and Tales of the Jedi haven’t received the same love, so I make sure to give them some through my artwork.

Star Wars Tales of the Jedi Trailer

How I Made the Artwork for Topps 2023 Star Wars Finest Sketch Cards

I like to use different mediums and to draw in different styles on the sets I work on. It keeps it interesting and hopefully allows me to improve my skills as an artist. It also can help me complete a project faster as the cards I do in ink and marker take a fraction of the time it takes to paint one.

Art Materials Used on My Star Wars Sketch Cards

I used acrylic paint on some of the cards, and for all of the limited diecut /shaped sketch cards. For the regular cards that I painted, I used a limited colour palette and kept the colour breaks distinct. I’ve seen artists do this to mimic a vector style image and wanted to try it myself, which I also tried on a few of the 2023 Galaxy Chrome cards I worked on. For the shaped cards I painted them in a pop, comic book style and used POSCA paint pens to add details. This was less inspired by other artists and more just something I’ve enjoyed doing on my own stuff for fun.

I also used designer gouache paint on a few of the cards. This medium is used by sketching out the card with pencil crayons and then adding layers of gouache overtop. Once I’m happy with the gouache layers I then go over it again with pencil crayons to redefine certain areas like the eyes and lips.

Sketch Cards in Two Parts

This project was done in two segments. For the first, initial part, I drew imagery from Tales of the Jedi and the second part was mostly prequel subject matter. The second segment of cards was also a request from Topps for more cards and on a shorter deadline so I opted to do the majority of these in black and white, like the Sidious sketch card shown here.