The Star Wars Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide (Gallery)

A Commander's Guide

The artists of the "Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide contributed these images to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

As the fourth installment of the Inside the Star Wars Universe series, the "Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide" is a guide for the commanders of the Emperor's military establishment. Featuring more than 85 original illustrations from well-known Star Wars artists and text by author Daniel Wallace, the book comes encased in a mechanical, lit, deluxe-edition vault. Learn more about the project in "Inside the Star Wars Imperial Handbook, our interview with the book's editor Delia Greve. The following are some of the illustrations from the handbook, along with commentary from the artists.

Security

Russell Walks, artist for the Imperial Handbook: "For the Imperial Officers' Handbook, I designed several pieces geared specifically towards the type of people the Emperor might want as officers: Men and women for whom conformity is security, and for whom the ultimate reward would be death in the service of the Empire.

Tie Defender

Joe Corroney, artist for the Imperial Handbook on the TIE Defender: "I remember seeing this ship for the first time in the classic LucasArts video game, TIE Fighter. I spent many, many hours trying to master that game back in college so it was a treat getting to revisit this ship with my art for it in the book."

Prove it

Russell Walks, artist for the Imperial Handbook: "I am a big fan of traditional illustration, particularly the type/graphics-centered work created in the early and mid-twentieth century. A lot of the American commercial work of that time was government sponsored propaganda, and the message it sent wasn't subtle: Bright colors, bold type and strong words all designed to get across a simple idea: 'We are big and powerful and, above all, GOOD. They are small, and weak, and, above all, EVIL.' I've thought for a long time that Emperor Palpatine would've been a big believer in the power of propaganda, and over the last few years, I've created a bunch of pieces designed to look as though they came right out of the Emperor's Ministry of Information. (Much of this work can be seen at russellwalks.tumblr.com)

Tie Hunter

Joe Corroney, artist for the Imperial Handbook on the TIE Hunter: "Here's another ship I remember seeing in Star Wars Rebel Strike: Rogue Squadron III for the Nintendo Gamecube when I used to play it back in the day, and I remember the joy of blasting these out of the sky from my X-Wing. It's probably my favorite of the Expanded Universe TIE Fighters due to it's simple but powerful design. It's essentially a cross between Darth Vader’s Advanced TIE and the TIE Interceptor but with inverted Interceptor wings. It looks just as fast and just as menacing as both of those classic designs."

Tie Aggressor

Joe Corroney, artist for the Imperial Handbook on the TIE Aggressor: "This was a fun TIE to draw that I wasn't as familiar with. I think it originated from the online Star Wars Galaxies MMO game. The laser turret on the very tail end of the ship is a nice touch and a unique feature in regards to most TIE ship designs. I also particularly like how the silhouette of this ship in reverse looks like a smaller version of Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator, one of my favorite ships from the Prequel era."

Purse and destroy

Russell Walks, artist for the Imperial Handbook: "As I put the work together I researched a variety of WWII propaganda, and used actual colors and typifies from that era, as well as the sort of simplistic slogans designed to appeal to emotion rather than logic.