Artist turns ‘Star Wars’-inspired outfits into incredible classic sketches

The outfits created by Leslie Kay for her DisneyBound Tumblr have for years offered fans a variety of different ways to dress up as their favorite Disney characters. These include some stunning Star Wars-inspired creations perfect for anyone eager to show off their fandom in a street casual way.

Now, in honor of the release of The Force Awakens, a collaboration between Kay and artist Matthew Simpson is highlighting her Star Wars outfits in a way sure to excite fans.

Simpson sketched 10 outfits created by Kay featuring characters from both the classic films and new movie including Princess Leia, BB-8, and Boba Fett. The art does an amazing job of bringing each ensemble to life. For Simpson though, DisneyBound was actually a recent discovery.

“My partner Jason and I are both lifelong fans of Disney and especially Disneyland. We go as often as possible, and we’d noticed people DisneyBounding for a while and thought it was fun and clever, but didn’t know there was a name for it. Then last fall we attended and participated in Dapper Day at Disneyland and met a lot of really cool, friendly people who filled us in on what DisneyBounding is and who Leslie Kay is,” Simpson told the Daily Dot in an email.

Leslie Kay

Matthew Simpson

Seeing all the unique DisneyBound outfits that weekend gave Simpson ideas and soon he was sketching designs for a 1950’s-inspired Snow White and Evil Queen and sharing them online. Since then he’s created a number of vintage designs which he calls Dapper DisneyBounds. Simpson said he wants to make these designs authentic and recreatable for anyone who sees them.

“So after I get the idea, I go searching for old clothing patterns. Once I find what I want, I use the illustration on the package as a starting point for my sketch, treating it as an art model and changing it as I need to,” he explained. “I do that because one, I’m crazy about the illustrations on old patterns. They’re a great place to start! And two, it makes it easier for someone who’s trying to sew it to know that they’ve got the right pattern. I include pattern numbers whenever I can in my posts.”

Leslie Kay

Matthew Simpson

When Kay and Simpson decided to collaborate on this Star Wars series, his process was very similar.

“I wanted them to still coordinate with my other Dapper DisneyBound sketches, so I used pretty much the same method, first finding a figure model either in old patterns or anatomy books or wherever and changing them as needed when I drew them out. The difference of course was that I then put them in Leslie’s fantastic clothes, painting them with a lot of texture while still keeping them like a sketch,” he said. “A big part of my job on these was coming up with hair and makeup and giving them some personality. I also injected a few Disneyland elements into some of them and decided to keep those vintage to go along with my aesthetic. It was a lot of fun!”

The results are indeed a fun tribute to the franchise and offer some fantastic fashionable inspiration for Star Wars fans.

You can see the entire series of DisneyBound sketches below. Find more DisneyBound ideas at Kay’s Tumblr and follow Simpson’s work on Instagram.