Mondo and Mike Mitchell: Fine Art for Star Wars Super Nerds
Words by: Brandon Wainerdi
If you’ve been a part of the pop culture art community over the past few years, you’ll agree with me when I say that it seems like Mike Mitchell has done it all. From portraits of your favorite X-Men to cartoonish depictions of Indiana Jones, Mike has developed several recurring art series that have each attracted their own devoted fanbases.
To celebrate the first weekend of South By Southwest in Austin, TX, Mike has teamed up with Mondo, the poster and art print branch of the Alamo Drafthouse, to finish up his year-long Star Wars portrait series in serious style. (Which is exciting in itself because, as of this writing, my plans for decorating my new house are, right now, just these Star Wars portraits. Should go over pretty well.)
We (digitally) sat down with the artist to talk about his extensive back catalog and, even more exciting, this upcoming all-Star-Wars show in Austin, TX.
Super Kaiju: Mike, first off: huge fan. From the SUPERs to the portraits to the JLUs, your style can be so varied and unique.
How would you describe your artistic style to some of our readers who may not be as familiar?
Mike Mitchell: Honestly, I’m not sure I have a style. I’d say I’m proficient in painting, but generally I try to do whatever it takes to get the idea across. I think there’s an overarching tone to my work but, stylistically, it’s all over the place.
SK: My absolute favorite stuff that you’ve produced has been your portrait series, ranging from Marvel characters to pop culture icons to, now, Star Wars heroes, villains and creatures. What should fans look out for during the upcoming “Mondo x Acme Archives Present: SWxMM” gallery show?
MM: Well there’s going to be about 25 portraits total, the bulk of that being the releases from the past year (which we will have limited quantities of, for sale), but also a handful of new ones. I think anyone who has been collecting the series up to this point will be excited for the choices. We also did some fun stuff with the gallery itself, and there’ll be some other surprises, I don’t want to spoil anything.
SK: This show is a culmination of a year of incredible Star Wars character studies. Who has been your favorite Star Wars character to tackle so far? … And, maybe without spoiling anything, is there anyone premiering during the gallery show that you’ve been itching to work on?
MM: That’s a tough one. I’d say I had the most fun working on 2-1B. Leia and C-3PO were also super fun.
My favorite character that I absolutely had to do was probably the AT-AT driver. I’ve also been wanting to do the Tusken Raider (exclusive to the gallery show) since the very beginning, and held off so I could have something fun to work on towards the tail end. Turns out, it was a total pain in the ass, but I like the final result.
SK: Size adds a whole other dimension to these portraits. While most of the portraits stick with the 12×16″ format, breaking from the size restraints every so often adds a lot: specifically, the Ant Man series, MODOK, and now Wicket the Ewok and Chewbacca. How do you decide who gets the “special” size treatments? (Also, how am I going to possibly frame all of these consistently now?)
MM: I base it partially on composition, but most of the time it’s due to the size of the subject. Chewbacca is going to look weird at 12×16 for a couple of reasons. Either he’s going to look too small next to other characters (like Han) or he will look proportional, but he won’t fit the in frame.
Bumping him up to 13×19 just makes more sense, in the same way 11×14 makes more sense for Yoda, and Wicket, who are both squatty.
SK: Your previous gallery portrait show with Mondo was Marvel-themed. There were over 50 different comics-based portraits (my favorite was the Venom, with Eddie Brock hiding in the mouth.) Will you ever do one for us DC fanboys?
MM: We’ve talked about it, and we had some tentative plans in the past, but it didn’t pan out. I don’t think there’ll ever be a gallery show, but perhaps a couple portraits at some point. I’d love to do Batman, and some of his baddies, and I have a fondness for Bizarro for some reason.
SK: After this gallery show, what do you have coming down the pipeline? Anything you can tease or confirm?
MM: I’m trying to figure that out. I have some ideas kicking around that will hopefully pan out. I’m hoping to make some toys, starting with a Skully. I’ll be keeping my own releases up per usual (Fat Birds, Current Mood, Food Dudes, pins, shirts, etc.) and I’ve been talking to Mondo about continuing a semi regular portrait release with them on various properties.
SK: Ok, final question: just blink once if there will be a Jar Jar portrait. I won’t tell.
MM: Thought about it for an April 1st release, but then I’d be flooded with 100 prequel requests, and the only prequel character I’m even semi interested in doing is Darth Maul, but I won’t do him either for the same reason. I’ll never hear the end of it.
Again, we want to give a huge thank you to Mike Mitchell and Fons PR for setting up this interview.
If you want to purchase some of his great work right now, head to sirmitchell.com.
