Hasbro’s Star Wars Dioramas at San Diego Comic Con
The Star Wars dioramas at SDCC are massive, immersive 360° displays that bring iconic scenes from the saga to life. The dioramas feature hundreds of action figures, vehicles, and custom-built environments to recreate exciting scenes from the films, celebrating the toys and product that have captivated fans for decades.
2017 Star Wars Diorama - A New Hope
I joined the Star Wars Design team in creating the diorama for the 2017 display at SDCC, celebrating the 40th anniversary of A New Hope. This passion project required months of dedication, with our team investing hundreds of hours and many late nights to make the display a reality.
With 3D printed parts in hand from the designers and sculptors, it was time to paint. I was responsible for painting both the exterior and interior of the Millennium Falcon, carefully matching colors to film reference while updating colors from previous toy releases. The Falcon’s exterior hull consisted of ten large 3D-printed panels, each layered with multiple coats of paint and weathering effects to authentically depict blast marks, oil streaks, and space dirt.
The Falon’s interior hallways, ceilings and floors were painted to highlight the subtle details of the inner ship, including exposed wires, weathered tubing, pipes, and padded walls. Control consoles and furniture filled the cabin, which also featured the iconic Dejarik holochess table and its game pieces.
Despite its small size, painting the cockpit was no small task.
The main control dashboard and walls featured hundreds of carefully painted buttons, switches, and instruments.
I also painted the Sandcrawler, Tantive IV Corridor, Death Star walls and tractor beam console along with various accessories and figure weathering.
2017 Star Wars diorama on display:
2019 Star Wars Diorama - Return of the Jedi
After seeing the fan enthusiasm for our 2017 SDCC display, the Design team and I were eager to create another diorama for SDCC in 2019. This diorama showcased the Jabba’s Sail Barge HasLab, which had just sailed to backer’s doorsteps a few months prior. And yet, hidden deep inside a shadowy pit within the display was a new show-stopping model and future HasLab: a 3D-printed, Black Series scale Rancor, standing at nearly 20 inches tall.
With full artistic control for deco, I applied countless layers of paint, weathering, dirt and grime to make the Rancor look as formidable and terrifying as possible. Even the Rancor’s claws, nails and teeth feature multiple layers of grungy wash to make them look gritty and real. The challenge was ensuring fans could see the creature in the dimly lit cave, so I emphasized highlights on its bony ridges, scales, and knuckles, as well as enhancing its piercing cataract eyes.
Painting this Rancor model has been my most favorite project in all my time at Hasbro. Just look at it!
The diorama featured multiple production vehicles, figures and accessories I previously helped develop, including the Sail Barge, Skiff vehicle and Skiff Guards. To add unique details to the scenes in the display, I painted custom 3D printed parts: Jabba’s Palace door, the tauntaun & jerba trophy heads, and the most disgusting Sarlacc pit and tentacles.
2019 Star Wars diorama on display:
Painted Prototype - Beauty Shots
