Kilian Plunkett Kilian Plunkett is an artist who has worked on numerous Star Wars projects . He has worked for Dark Horse Comics on several high profile " Star Wars " comic series and is now at Lucasfilm Animation . He was the lead character designer on Cartoon Network ' s and art director on Disney XD ' s " Star Wars Rebels " . Plunkett eventually became a fan - favorite Star Wars cover artist at Dark Horse throughout the 1990s , rising amongst the ranks of such noteworthy Star Wars comics cover painters as Dave Dorman , Hugh Fleming , and Duncan Fegredo . He produced a number of memorable covers and interior - art for various Star Wars series and has , in one form or another , become a pivotal Star Wars artist of recent times . In the comics world , Plunkett is known for unique covers that blend animation - style fluidity with painterly effects , dynamic action and , at times , humor . Biography . Born and raised just outside of Dublin , Ireland , Plunkett grew up drawing and would often draw Star Wars characters as a child . He received a green card to America in the early 90 ' s just before being hired by Dark Horse Comics to work as an artist on another of the company ' s popular movie franchises , " Aliens " . The 1990s . Plunkett initially got the job at Dark Horse by submitting unsolicited art samples to the company ' s editors , who , impressed , immediately considered him for several projects . The editors noted Plunkett ' s draftsmanship and that his layouts demonstrated a keen sense of storytelling . He was requested to draw several sketches based on H . R . Giger ' s designs for Aliens . With these sketches Plunkett cinched the deal and landed the artist assignment for Dark Horse ' s 4 - part 1993 miniseries " Aliens : Labyrinth " . This was followed that year by the cover and interiors for the two - part short story " Aliens : Backsplash " in the company ' s eponymous anthology series " Dark Horse Comics " # 12 - 13 . In 1994 , Plunkett drew covers and interiors for a three - part story , " The 8th Wonder , " for the " Dark Horse Presents " anthology series , written by then Star Wars assistant editor Peet Janes . More " Aliens " work ensued with the covers for the miniseries " Aliens : Berserker " in 1995 and " Aliens : Kidnapped " in 1997 , as well as a contribution of interior artwork for the 2 - part all - star artistic collaboration " Aliens : Havoc " also in 1997 . Plunkett ' s first foray into the " Star Wars " universe came when his former Aliens editor Ryder Windham assigned him to do painted covers for the company ' s series " " , issues 2 - 6 in 1994 . This was the first of the company ' s series to focus on Artoo - Detoo and See - Threepio . Plunkett became the regular cover artist on almost all of Dark Horse ' s subsequent " Droids " comics , 16 in total . This included covers for all eight issues of the second new " Star Wars : Droids " series , and the " " ( which reprinted a 3 - part Droids story from the pages of the Dark Horse Comics anthology series ) , both in 1995 . Also in 1995 , Plunkett worked as cover artist for the last two issues , issues 8 and 9 , of " " , which had been reprinting the early Russ Manning " Star Wars " newspaper comic strips . 1996 saw Plunkett receive his first major " Star Wars " assignment when he provided the interior artwork for the 6 - issue miniseries adaptation of " Star Wars : Shadows of the Empire " . " Shadows " was a major " Star Wars " event as it was the first multi - faceted , multimedia Lucasfilm release , concurrently released alongside a video game and novel . In 1997 Plunkett produced a cover for the single - issue collection of his " 8th Wonder " story from " Dark Horse Presents " . In 1998 , Plunkett provided cover art for his second major " Star Wars " miniseries , the 6 - part " " . This was the first story to focus solely on its title character , the popular future - wife of Luke Skywalker , Mara Jade . The series was written by Jade ' s creator , " Star Wars " novelist Timothy Zahn , and its breathtaking covers mixed imagery of Jade in her time as The Emperor ' s Hand with existing " Star Wars " movie imagery , visually integrating her into the " Star Wars " mythos as never before . Particularly iconic was the first issue ' s cover , with Jade standing amidst a formation of imperial Stormtroopers . That year , Plunkett also drew the cover and interiors for the comedic one - shot " Star Wars : The Jabba Tape " , which featured the return of the swoop thugs Big Gizz and Spiker from " Shadows of the Empire " . He also illustrated the cover of the trade paperback collection of Dark Horse ' s comics adaptation of Zahn ' s Star Wars novel " Dark Force Rising " . The 2000s . Starting in 2000 , Plunkett made three contributions to the " Star Wars Tales " anthology series , starting with issue # 4 , in June 2000 . Here Plunkett provided cover art and interior art for the story " Sand Blasted " which featured a return of Jabba the Hutt ' s nefarious swoop thugs , Big Gizz and Spiker ( from " Shadows " and " The Jabba Tape " ) , who encounter a Dark Trooper ( a la the " Star Wars " video game " Dark Forces " ) in the ruins of Tatooine ' s Podracing arena ( from Episode 1 ) . A whimsical and beautiful blend of various " Star Wars " source materials , the story again showed Plunkett ' s facility with handling every kind of " Star Wars " material together successfully . Plunkett ' s next work for " Star Wars Tales " was in December 2000 , when he provided an iconic Hamlet - inspired cover image for issue # 6 depicting Darth Vader holding See - Threepio ' s disembodied head . Plunkett also provided interior illustration for the accompanying story , written by veteran Star Wars editor and comics scribe Ryder Windham . In the haunting story , " Thank the Maker , " set on Cloud City during " The Empire Strikes Back " , Vader comes across Threepio ' s head which leads to some bittersweet reflections on his former life as Anakin in the prequels . Plunkett ' s last contribution to " Star Wars Tales " was with the cover to issue # 11 , which was devoted to stories about Han Solo , in 2002 . Also in 2002 , Plunkett provided covers for the 2 - part story in Dark Horse ' s prequel era " Star Wars " ( later renamed " " ) , issues 40 - 41 . The story featured a dishonest retelling of recent story - archs through the perspective of the series ' in - house comedic rogue , a Devaronian bounty hunter named Vilmarh Grahrk , recasting himself as the hero . The cover to issue 40 is an homage to the original trilogy poster for " A New Hope " , with Grarhk in place of Luke Skywalker and other elements and characters from the issue ' s story taking the place of other poster elements . cover image features Villie as a great hunter , with a wampa skin on his back and the heads of various Star Wars creatures ( including the Wickett the Ewok , Jar Jar Binks , a Tusken Raider , and a Rancor ) on his wall . Starting in 2002 , Plunkett worked on seven issues of " " , specifically providing covers artwork for the story " , " which focused for the first time on the story of Luke Skywalker ' s best friend Biggs Darklighter . Plunkett provided cover art for issues # 8 - 12 , and # 15 during that story arc . His last work for " Empire " was in 2004 with the cover for issue # 26 featuring the obscure Mos Eisley cantina character BoShek . In 2005 , after having left Dark Horse , Plunkett got an interview for a design job for animated series on Cartoon Network . He got the interview through a friend of his from his days at Dark Horse , Henry Gilroy , who had already become a transplant to the show as head writer . Gilroy showed Plunkett ' s work to director Dave Filoni and producer Catherine Winder . Filoni soon met with Plunkett where the two discussed similar ideas on the look of " Star Wars " and Plunkett left copies of comics like " The Jabba Tape " . A few weeks later Filoni called Plunkett asking him to work on some of the characters in the show . The first two characters he was assigned were Mace Windu and Palpatine . While Plunkett has worked on a bit of everything on the show , from environments to weapons to creatures , his main focus has been on character design . Most recently , Plunkett became lead character designer on the show . Plunkett says when looking for inspiration when designing the new look of the CG animated characters , he has referred to the work of the original by Genndy Tartakovsky and Paul Rudish , design work on the original trilogy by artists like Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston , and prequel movie design work by the team of Doug Chiang , Erik Tiemens and Ryan Church , all to try and absorb the look and feel of the movies and the existing Star Wars style . As a tribute to Plunkett , the PLNK - series power droid which made a " plunk " sound , was named for him . Plunkett illustrated the cover of issue # 2 of Dark Horse ' s in 2008 . Plunkett ' s first name was used to name a new character in . The character was Admiral Kilian . Over the years , Plunkett has also done occasional work for other American comics publishers , mainly DC Comics and , less so , Marvel Comics . Since moving to America , he has lived in Portland , Oregon , Brooklyn , New York , and currently in San Francisco , California .