Chris Trevas

Chris Trevas recounts seeing Star Wars for the first time in 1977 at the age of three, though he recalls playing with the associated toys more vividly than the film itself.

In 1994, when Lucasfilm began its search for artists for the art department of Episode I, Trevas submitted a portfolio showcasing alien sketches but was not hired at that time. However, during a science-fiction convention held in Chicago, Illinois in 1995, he presented his portfolio to West End Games, the then-licensee of the Star Wars role-playing game. He was subsequently hired a few months later. Trevas created interior artwork for numerous roleplaying game (RPG) books, including Heroes & Rogues, the Star Wars Adventure Journal, and supplements for The DarkStryder Campaign.

Trevas earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from college in 1996. He then transitioned into a full-time freelance artist, continuing to produce interior art for West End's Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, Shadows of the Empire Planets Guide, Instant Adventures, Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook, Special Edition, and cover art for titles like Wretched Hives of Scum & Villainy, The Black Sands of Socorro, and Cracken's Threat Dossier. In 1997, prior to West End Games' closure, Trevas started contributing to other Star Wars licensees, including Priority: X for Topps' Star Wars Galaxy magazine and became a regular artist for Scholastic's Star Wars Kids magazine. Expanding his reach, he illustrated Meltdown on Hoth for Golden Books and "The Unseen Planets of Star Wars" for Star Wars Insider.

In 1998, Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff launched an unofficial fan site called "The Parts of Star Wars," a guide explaining the construction and recreation of props used in the Star Wars films. The following year, he illustrated Dig magazine's The Lost City of Tatooine and the Random House children's book Anakin to the Rescue. In 2001, Star Wars Insider enlisted Trevas and Reiff's expertise for a new section called "Set Piece," a recurring feature that began in issue 54. It dissected shots from the films, revealing behind-the-scenes details about props and sets, accompanied by Trevas's line art of selected props. He also illustrated "Unseen Planets of Episode I" in issue 56, a sequel to his 1998 article on the classic trilogy.

For the Star Wars 25th anniversary in 2002, Trevas authored and illustrated "Star Wars Prop Art: Creating a Believable Universe" for the Celebration II souvenir book and contributed Star Wars art for Comic-Con's souvenir book. That same year, he started working for Wizards of the Coast, illustrating numerous weapons and technologies for their Arms & Equipment Guide. In 2003, he designed the Jedi Temple computer screens featured in Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, published by Dorling Kindersley. In subsequent years, he expanded his work for Wizards of the Coast, providing illustrations for Ultimate Adversaries and the Ultimate Missions series, for which he designed the corresponding figurines. Following a recommendation from fellow artist Joe Corroney, Trevas also became one of the many artists creating sketch cards for Topps.

In addition to his regular "Set Piece" feature, Trevas illustrated three articles for Insider in 2005: "The Unseen Planets of Episode II," "Guide to the Grand Army of the Republic," and the short story A Two-Edged Sword. To create reference material for the story, which featured lightsaber-wielding stormtroopers, Trevas constructed a physical lightsaber prop. He also produced a piece for Vader: The Ultimate Guide depicting Darth Vader ordering the execution of Owen and Beru Lars. For Celebration III that year, he created a piece titled "The Circle is Now Complete." Trevas continued his contributions to the Wizards of the Coast RPG, providing artwork and design sketches for their Champions of the Force, Bounty Hunters, and Starship Battles Miniatures series.

In 2006, Trevas undertook his most substantial Star Wars project to date for Del Rey: The New Essential Guide to Alien Species. He created fifty-three species images, representing half of the book's illustrations, with the remaining half by William O'Connor. Trevas's illustrations included the acklay, bantha, dewback, Human (based on his own likeness), Kaleesh, rancor, Rodian, tauntaun, Twi'lek, and numerous others. Some of the aliens he created were intended as unnamed characters from his earlier works. For the 30th anniversary of Star Wars in 2007, Trevas was among nearly fifty artists who contributed to Celebration IV. His piece, titled "Star Wars: 30 Years of the Force," celebrated A New Hope and drew inspiration from an early promotional piece by Ralph McQuarrie. Limited edition prints of the work were sold at both Celebration IV and Celebration Europe, both of which Trevas attended.

Trevas's more recent work includes Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. This book, authored by Ryder Windham, features illustrations by Trevas and Tommy Lee Edwards. The two artists evenly divided the 120 illustrations. Trevas, who joined the project in January 2007, contributed sixty pieces, including depictions of the funeral of Mara Jade Skywalker, the Jedi Academy confronting the spirit of Exar Kun, Shmi and Anakin Skywalker arriving on Tatooine, Jedi historian Tionne Solusar, a young Palpatine with Darth Plagueis, and more. One of his favorite pieces portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force ghost visiting Luke Skywalker on Hoth. Trevas also collaborated with Ryder Windham on Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection, released in August 2008. In 2009, Trevas contributed as an artist to The Essential Atlas, alongside Ian Fullwood, Modi, and Chris Reiff.

Trevas contributed illustrations for all the short stories in the book From a Certain Point of View, with the exception of "Far Too Remote" by Jeffrey Brown.

Trevas has stated that Star Wars conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie has been a major influence on him, both during his childhood and throughout his professional life. McQuarrie's work encouraged him to focus on illustrating environments as well as characters. Another significant influence, particularly in regards to his blending of pencil and paint, was poster artist Drew Struzan. More recently, Trevas has been inspired by the work of digital artists such as Ryan Church and Craig Mullens.

The illustrative style of Chris Trevas has changed over the years. While he used colored pencils during his high school years, he began blending them with paint and eventually transitioned to using acrylic exclusively. Years later, Trevas began painting digitally in Adobe Photoshop using a Wacom drawing tablet. He also utilizes Adobe Illustrator for creating line art drawings.

• Star Wars Artist Series: Chris Trevas on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Drawing the Millennium Falcon on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Topps Revenge of the Sith Sketch Card Gallery Update on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Revenge of the Halloween Masks on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• An Early Look Inside New Essential Aliens on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Checklist: 14 Essential Force Illustrations on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022 Art Show Revealed on StarWars.com (backup link)

• christrevas.com
• Space Paintings — Chris Trevas's StarWars.com Blog (content now obsolete; backup link)
• The Parts of Star Wars