Geek A Week

How can any self-respecting Star Wars loving male geek (or female geek, for that matter) not be in love with Bonnie Burton?

She loves Star Wars. Check.  She’s a big Star Wars crafter. Check. She works for the Lucas Empire. Check. She’s a blogger. Check. She writes books about drawing Star Wars. Check. All this plus she’s as cute as a button. Bonnie encompasses everything that a female geek should be and more.  She’s the kind of gal you admire from afar, knowing you’d have a good time if you got to hang out. 

But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. 

I was introduced to Bonnie via her  Flickr photostream a few years ago. I was instantly captivated by her photos of the inner workings of being inside the belly of Lucas. It’s a wondrous cacophony of stormtroopers, ewoks, lightsabers and R2 units with a roundhouse kick of Daleks, sorcerers and Godzilla plush toys. Since then, I have admired Bonnie through her Twitter feed chock full of geeky morsels daily, enough to satisfy even the most discriminating sci-fi purist. She always manages to bring a smile to my face through her dozens of links.  If you’re a Star Wars fan and aren’t familiar with Bonnie, rectify this immediately, as you are missing a very important part of the extended Star Wars universe.

I was able to connect with Bonnie via e-mail and I’ll be sharing portions of her interview on the blog this week. (Sorry audio fans, no podcast!)  When it came time to design her card, I thought a Star Wars reference was a slam dunk.  But ironically, Bonnie seemed to be steering me away from Star Wars into a place totally different.  My original concept was to meld her interest in pinup star Bettie Page with Star Wars, but it was pretty apparent fairly quickly that Bonnie had no interest in going that direction. (Did you know Twi’leks are considered the strippers of the SW Universe?)  I was flipping through her photostream and came across a photo of her dressed as  Sean Young’s replicant character, Rachael, from Blade Runner.  I quickly did a pencil sketch of Bonnie as Replicant and Card #6 was born.

Incidentally, this is my favorite card so far in the series and I’ve been waiting to unveil it.  Hope everyone, including Bonnie, likes it.