One of the biggest events at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Walt Disney World as a whole, is Star Wars Weekends, and during the event you can meet some famous celebrities, experience some great attractions and take home a piece of the Star Wars legacy in the form of some great merchandise. The merchandise specifically draws a great number of fans to the event for the wonderful pieces that collectors, casual and obsessive alike, can't help but drool over and some of the merchandise in this year's Star Wars Weekends comes right from inside Disney's Hollywood Studios. Jason Zucker is a character sketch artist at Disney's Hollywood Studios and this year has had the priviledge of working on some of the merchandise for sale during Star Wars Weekends.
Studios Weekly EXTRA
Want to hear the entire interview with Jason Zucker? Click play below to listen to Matt interview Jason and hear what you didn't read in today's column
One of the premier items for sale this year during Star Wars Weekends are a set of limited edition Star Wars watches that feature Disney characters in Star Wars regalia on them that Jason and a colleague of his designed. The two watches include an Anakin Mickey watch on Mustafaar which was designed by Derek Lesinski and a Storm Trooper Donald on the Death Star with a mallet, waiting for the opportune moment to smash a mouse-droid in a typical Donald Duck temporary rage moment. Zucker describes the reason for Donald's anger is a means of venting frustration after many years of a rivalry with Mickey Mouse and as Zucker describes it, "this is Donald's way of kind of getting back at the mouse, but not the Mouse but a mouse droid." Zucker explained that Lucas wanted something with Donald this year as they've featured Mickey Mouse in the past.
In Jason's drawing for the watch, on the droid is a classic tri-circle design that Disney afficiandos call a "hidden mickey", which refers to an intentionally placed Mickey Mouse design that is somewhat hidden in a design over all. Zucker included the Mickey in the design as an added visual bonus, "I like to try to add a little something the guest can enjoy. When I going through the references for all the Star Wars gadgets that we put in our artwork....it just hit me to put a little mouse hidden mickey on the back and guests love it. It also ties in the mouse droid and the Mouse". In addition to the mouse droid, the entire Death Star scene that Zucker selected for the watch had a bit of nostalgia included with it, "A few years ago, I actually designed a Death Star with Mickey which really hasn't seen the light of day. So I already had a drawing done of the Death Star - just a sketch - and Derek was doing Mickey on Mustafaar, which I had already done a few years ago, so I didn't want to an outdoor scene. I really wanted to do inside the Death Star because I really liked colors and brings back a little nostalgia, which is what I wanted. I went back to the original drawing I did a few years ago and I just laid it out and painted it out all acrylics and it turned out pretty good. I was able to use a little computer action to create a reflection underneath Donald since the floors were shiny on the Death Star." Zucker really enjoyed going back to the films that came out during his youth to use as inspiration for this year's watch design, "It was a kickback to the nostalgia of the Death Star and just seeing the science-fiction of the 70's atmosphere and it worked kind of well especially with the colors. And plus with the mouse droid, you only see on the Death Star. One of the things I remember growing up, is just seeing the mouse droid riding across the floor with that squeaky sound and I just wanted to tie it all in together." The watches are limited editions that are limited to 50 each and cost $200. The watches come along with a larger image of the original art watch background, along with a certificate of authenticity. Zucker adds that the popularity of the watches the Disney artists' artwork is gaining in popularity over the years, "People have been coming back year after year and collecting our artwork, which is great. This is only the third time we've ever done this in the several years Star Wars Weekends has been around."
As Jason had mentioned earlier, he is a fan of Star Wars and noted that his art work isn't limited to just a gift for consumers, "We just heard a few weeks ago in fact, that Lucas Film has now two of our watches in the archives, which for somebody like me who started loving Star Wars since I was 5, it's a big thrill to know that two of our watches are in the archives. And they are handpicked by Lucas, I do know that for a fact, that he does go through the artwork. It's very exciting for us."
Jason and his colleagues haven't just done watches this year but have also done a number of sketches based on the Big Figurines (called "Big Figs" by the fans that collect them) of Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters. This year, the Big Figs feature Mickey Mouse as Anakin Skywalker, Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia, Goofy as Jar-Jar Binks and Donald as Darth Maul. These are really great gifts that are fairly inexpensive. Jason likes this year's group because they're getting more to work with, "The thing about these sketches we're getting more characters. The first time we started doing these, Derek and I were chosen to do a Jedi Mickey. That was really the first time we had stuff approved by Lucas Film, which was very exciting for us. The years followed, we've pretty much grown from Mickey and then Minnie and last year we had Donald and Goofy dressed as Darth Vader and Donald as a Storm Trooper and Mickey and Minnie as Luke and Leia." The sketches are a much more affordable version of the Big Figs (the sketches are $35 whereas the Big Figs are $200) and Zucker agrees that they can make a great gift, "The sketches are nice for peopel that can't spend a couple hundred dollars on something, they can spend just a little money and get a nice sketch, a nice little momento of the Weekends."
Another item of note for sale during Star Wars Weekends are watches that feature as their back a photo you've selected to be the background, such as your family with a number of Star Wars characters. Jason explained the change for this year and how this year Star Wars characters are able to be incorporated with the watches, "We've had the watch program for several years, but for Star Wars Weekends, probably one of the biggest complaints for us is that there's not a lot of watches with these great characters that we have walking around the park like Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, Bobba Fett and Jango Fett." Basically you can go around the park and take photos with the characters and bring the photo and Jason and his fellow artists can create the watch for them.
All of these items can be purchased at Sunset Club Couture on Sunset Boulevard and there are a few watches also for sale at the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney, in case guests can't get back to the Studios. The sketches are available just at the Studios during Star Wars Weekends and the photo watches can be purchased at the Studios as well as the other parks and Downtown Disney.
In the coming weeks, we'll have more interviews with Jason Zucker about some of the other special merchandise that comes from Disney's wonderful artists so you can help add to your own personal collection of merchandise. You can visit Jason during your next trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios by stopping at Sunset Club Couture on Sunset Boulevard (it's the building that has a rather bright shade of blue on the exterior of it) and say hello to him, as Jason is always open to talking to guests that stop in and say hi.
