Darth Malak- Star Wars Miniatures: Knights of the Old Republic Packaging Art

"Go ahead, make my day." O.k., so Mr. Malak didn't actually say that, but that was the attitude I was going for. And you know, if I got my lower jaw ripped off and had to accessorize myself around that clunky muzzle everyday, I'd have attitude issues too. I have to hand it to him though, he knows how to compensate for minor setbacks. Darth Malak sports a serious set of pecs doesn't he? Probably one of those guys huffing away in the gym that spends all of their time on the top half, thinking girls only look at chests and arms.

So at this point, it may be obvious that I know far less about this character than everyone reading this...I'll move on to the information I was given when Wizards of the Coast asked me to illustrate him.

The art director provided me with the description below some reference images and a link to Wookieepedia.

ART DESCRIPTION:

Personality:
Malak was a bald, pale-skinned human who stood at an impressive two meters in height. His head was adorned with tattoos, and later in his life a large metal shield covered his face from the nose down. The shield was a prosthetic made necessary by a ghastly lightsaber injury that completely severed his lower jaw, which occurred at an unknown point in his life (possibly after he went to war and fell to the dark side as in the Jedi Exile's visions from the cave he had no injury to the face). A portion of this device allowed Malak to talk, but his voice now reverberated with a gruff electronic tone creating a very disconcerting effect since his jaw prosthesis didn't move. When Malak spoke, the only hint of emotion came from his cruel, sunken eyes.

During his time as Dark Lord of the Sith, Malak wore a set of skin-tight red-orange body armor that showed off his powerful and imposing physique, draped in a cape of black cloth. He was also thought to have had in his possession a powerful Sith sword recovered from Korriban, although he rarely used it in combat. Darth Malak also used a special lightsaber that produced a red blade, longer than the one produced by standard sabers.

I created the sketch which was submitted to Lucas for approval. The folks there didn't require any changes or additions so I went ahead with the final. I still prefer painting traditionally. The medium I used was primarily acrylics with a little colored pencil, and some final touches of oil here and there. The size of the finished piece is 8"x17".

I'll be adding this painting, as well as the sketch, to my website in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if anyone is a huge Darth Malak fan and has a special place on their wall for the original art or sketch please feel free to email me for the purchase price information.

As for the actual miniatures, last I heard, these booster packs are slated to come out August 8th. The other two box illustrations in this series feature Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mandalore the Ultimate. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on both of those. And by all means, if you have questions or comments please post them!