Michael Butkus is the artist behind the illustrations in The Essential Guide to Characters, The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, and The Wrath of Darth Maul.
Since the 1980s, Butkus has been employed as a professional artist, demonstrating proficiency in a range of artistic mediums, from oil painting to charcoal. His understanding of anatomy and physical movement enabled him to create drawings without needing models or references. At one point, he contemplated studying genetic engineering.
His portfolio encompasses movie posters, production design, and the development of licensed merchandising ideas. By the 1990s, he had already contributed his talents to Disney and DreamWorks.
Troy Alders, who served as the art director for Lucasfilm, enlisted Butkus to create character drawings for The Essential Guide to Characters, concept art for the Shadows of the Empire initiative, and a style guide. During the initial stage of the Shadows project, Butkus received a few conceptual descriptions of the main characters and, between January and April of 1995, he generated the initial pencil and ink artwork, resulting in numerous preliminary sketches. While working on Shadows, Butkus set up camp on a secluded California beach with his boxer dog. There, he created character drawings while listening to music on his car's CD player, producing approximately twenty sketches daily. He drew Prince Xizor while listening to the Batman soundtrack, and he listened to rock 'n' roll from the 1960s while drawing Dash Rendar.