Hello fellow Wookieepedians! Recently, we had the opportunity to chat with Jake Bartok, an illustrator who's created the artwork for several Star Wars works, including the Stories of Jedi and Sith, two new Star Wars Audible Originals, and the Dispatches from the Occlusion Zone comics, among others.
Q1: What is your earliest Star Wars memory?
A: I’m sure there i had seen the Originals on TV before this but the earliest memory that is cemented in my mind is being taken to see The Phantom Menace on opening night. I had no idea what to expect and seven year old me was blown away, (also I was terrified of Darth Maul for years).
Q2: What are some of your favorite Star Wars characters to draw for fun?
A: Thats like asking me to pick my favourite child. Jedi are a definite go to; Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, Avar Kriss. I do also love the aesthetics of Rebel Pilots and the Rogue One cast.
Q3: What was the first thing you’ve illustrated for Star Wars?
A: My first project was the covers and internal illustrations for Stories of Jedi and Sith back in late 2021. It was great since I got to cover a large assortment of characters all at once, including getting to paint an Obi-Wan Kenobi cover! (My favourite character.)
Q4: If you had one, was there any character that you unexpectedly fell in love with during the artistry process?
A: When getting to create designs for new characters like Cam Lindon or Eve Byre it’s hard not to get a little protective and fond of them. I also found Ty Yorrick’s squire/partner Drewen Qweebjillan so fun to draw on the issue #4 cover.
Q5: Were there any characters that were more difficult to draw than others?
A: There were some, such as Tep Tep on the Seeds of Starlight cover. She had been drawn previously by the fantastic Petur Antonsson and it was a challenge to adapt her into my more realistic style while maintaining the same look and feel that Petur had given her in his more stylised approach.
Q6: Not terribly long ago, concept art of yours for Jedi Master Eve Byre was unveiled. What inspired her design?
A: It all started with a brief description of her from George, but I was given a lot of room to figure out her design. In one of the concepts I submitted I wanted to give her a Hakama styled skirt that called back to the long robes we’ve seen Ben Kenobi or Jocasta Nu wear, more of a stately Jedi look. I imagined that if I ever got to draw her in action how interesting the twirl of the long skirt could be.
Q7: The Dispatches From the Occlusion Zone covers include quite a wide cast of characters. What was the process for designing the layout of those?
A: For a busy cover like issue 1 has there’s a lot of time sketching out multiple compositions. It’s not just figuring out what weight to give each character but also how to lead the viewer’s eye around the piece.
Q8: One of the other Star Wars works in your portfolio includes Stories of Jedi and Sith. Do you have any favorite pieces from that set of artwork?
A: It would have to be the Obi-Wan Kenobi cover which was painted for a Star Wars Celebration exclusive edition in 2022. Getting to not only draw my favourite character on a cover but get to debut it at a SWC (which was the first one I ever got to go to) was truly incredible.
Q9: Thanks for sitting down with us! If people would like to keep up to date with your work, what social media platforms should they reach out on?
A: It was my pleasure! People can mainly find me at
@jakebartok on instagram and Bluesky. and if they want a more in depth look at my work they can follow me on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/jbartok.
