Jay Kushwara / Digital Renaissance

Here is the Build a Droid figure YVH-1. Part of the Star Wars Extended Universe, the YVH-1 was designed by Lando Calrissian and eventually used as a bodyguard by the Skywalkers as a personal guard to their son Ben. I couldn’t help but think “I’ll be back” when I first saw the design.

YVH1

Here are photos of the final production piece, used with kind permission of Paul Harrison and Chuck Paskovics from the Jedi Temple Archives website.

And a few more showing some great poses used with the kind permission of Jayson Krebsbach and featured on the Yakface website

First glimpsed in the original Genndy Tartakonsky Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network the Tri Droid was later seen in Revenge of the Sith. This extremely pose able figure quickly turned into a collector favorite with it’s 25 separate points of articulation.

Tri Droid

 Here is an exploded view showing the fully engineered digital pattern’s 35 separate pieces.

 In 2008 I had the chance to create the Surgical Droid version of 21B. First seen as a medical droid attending Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, 21B made a second appearance as a surgical droid with a nasty spin in the Revenge of the Sith.

Surgical Droid 2-1B

Here are photos of the final production piece, used with the kind permission of Jayson Krebsbach and featured on the Yakface website. Note that the tubing was added to the physical tooling pattern and was not part of the original digital model.

This is the Assassin droid figure from the Anakin Skywalker / Assassin Droid Comic Pack released in 2007.

Assassin Droid

Here are photos of the final production piece, used with the kind permission of Jayson Krebsbach and featured on the Yakface website. Note there were some slight changes made to the face after the digital model was completed.

 Shortly after the release of Tron Legacy in 2010 EFX contracted me to create a screen accurate replica of the helmet worn by Tron in the original film. We decided early in the process to create a piece that matched the detailing and style of the screen used helmet but also represented an idealized version of the design. My personal goal on this was to model a helmet that felt like it was designed by Jean Giraud Moebius himself, rather than a direct copy of the Cooper hockey helmet decorated with black masking tape used during the original filming

Tron Replica Helmet

Here is the first publicly displayed prototype

Here is the Spider Assassin Droid from the Clone Wars line created in 2010. With 8 legs, 16 points of articulation, and a removable head “lid” that housed 3 baby spider droids this figure was quite the challenge. It was well worth it in the end, the final piece remains one of my favorites for overall coolness. It was also rewarding when I finally saw the Clone Wars episode it was featured in – one of the best episodes in the entire Clone Wars series so far.

Clone Wars Spider Assassin Droid

Here are photos of the final production piece, used with kind permission of Paul Harrison and Chuck Paskovics from the Jedi Temple Archives website.

This is my favorite Build a Droid figure to date, based on a character seen briefly in the original 2D animated Clone Wars miniseries created by Genndy Tartakovsky. Having been an admirer of Genndy’s previous shows Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack, it was a pleasure to interpret the clean, elegant, almost retro style of L8-L9 in 3D.

L8-L9

In 2009 I was given the single most complex 4 inch figure project I had ever had – the Vintage Collection C-3PO. With 14 points of articulation, 4 separate removable plates and 29 separate parts 3PO required more engineering than any other figure I’d done at that scale. The amount of detail required on his inner structure was extreme, with all the intertwining wiring and tubing carefully researched and modeled.

C-3PO

 Here’s an exploded view showing how the digital model was engineered with all the articulation, seperate parts and assembly taken into account.

I had the opportunity to model Hasbro’s latest Battle Droid figure for the 4″ scale Vintage collection series. Having been a big fan of Doug Chang’s beautiful design it was a pleasure to create the most faithful representation of the droid for Hasbro’s 4″ figure series to date.

Vintage Battle Droid

Here are photos of the final production piece, used with kind permission of Paul Harrison and Chuck Paskovics from the Jedi Temple Archives website.

After releasing the Ralph McQuarrie Collection Darth Vader Concept Helmet, EFX and I started working on a follow up Concept Stormtrooper helmet. Based on one of several early concept sketches Ralph created for the Stormtroopers, we completed the digital model and went as far as getting Ralph’s approval.

Ralph McQuarrie Collection Stormtrooper Concept Helmet

 Here are a series of renders showing how the final production piece might look.

And here is the prototype on display at SDCC in 2011. Photos courtesy of the member “Shadow” on Rebelscum.com

For the past 2 months or so I’ve been working with Paul Harrison and Chusk Paskovics over at Jedi Temple Archives on an exclusive interview. JTA is a Star Wars collector’s site that features just about anything and everything related to Star Wars collecting with an emphasis on action figures. The interview will go live July first.

Along with the help of Dave Vennemeyer and Hasbro, we’ve put together a great behind the scenes look into almost every 4″ scale Star Wars figure I’ve done. Included in the interview is an exclusive series of renders I put together for most of the figures – the first ever public look at the master digital patterns. I’ll be posting many of those same images here about a week after the interview goes live on JTA.

A big thanks to Paul and Chuck for their enthusiasm and allowing me the opportunity to reach out to the SW figure collecting world!

Link – http://www.jeditemplearchives.com/specialreports/Jay-Kushwara/

In 2006 I got the chance to do my first figure in the 4″ Star Wars line – R2 from the Ralph McQuarrie signature series exclusive 2 pack. Based on one of the early concept sketches Ralph did for R2 D2, I loved the more industrial style of this version.

Ralph McQuarrie Signature Series R2-D2

Here are photos of the final production piece, used with kind permission of Paul Harrison and Chuck Paskovics from the Jedi Temple Archives website.