Mike thru the years. When I started buying/collecting Star Wars sketch cards in 2008 with Clone Wars there was a lot I didn't know. I had found a message board online called Scoundrel Art where a lot of sketch card collectors and sketch card artists posted. The people there were so welcoming and helpful. Although I watched all the Star Wars movies, I didn't know a lot of the minor character names. Ponda Baba? Salacious Crumb? Plo Koon? I had seen these characters on screen but didn't know all their names. And now I was seeing them on sketch cards. Post a picture on Scoundrel, and someone was helping you in minutes. 
   Another thing, there were no signature panels on the back of the early sketch cards, so artists usually "made their mark" on the front of cards. Initials, symbols, monikers, last names, first names, nicknames, and sometimes no names (I imagine it's easy to forget to sign a card when you're under the pressure of a deadline). I was a complete noob, so I knew very few artists. Post a picture on Scoundrel, and again, someone was helping you in minutes.
   It was on Scoundrel where I first heard the term "return card". I didn't know what "return cards" were, but I soon found out. When an artist works on a set, he/she could pick a few of his/her cards to be returned to him/her to sell for whatever they can get. These cards are usually the best of the best. And Mike posted that he was selling his Clone Wars returns on Scoundrel Art. I was able to grab two of them- one with R2D2 and C-3PO, and one with Count Dooku, Darth Sidious, and Asajj Ventress. They were fantastic! 
   Fast forward 8 years. I'm making my 3rd trip to Disney World and I had met Mike during each of the first two trips. Perfect opportunities to also pick up some art from him directly. Topps had resurrected the panoramic sketch (double the size of a normal sketch card) in two of their Star Wars products sets in the two previous years- Star Wars Illustrated: A New Hope and Star Wars Illustrated: Empire Strikes Back. Mike had some blanks from these products, so I definitely wanted one.  Mike's style had progressed over the years getting better and better. Plus he had started utilizing a few different styles, a comic book style and a style he called "Sugar Boogarz". I was a big fan of both, but the comic book style was my favorite. I'm a big fan of main character sketches, and I had a throwback idea- get another R2D2 and C-3PO sketch. Mike agreed and I was really curious to see how this one would turn out. When he gave it to me- Wow what a difference! It was great! One of the things I like is that Mike does backgrounds for his Return sketches as you can see in each of these. I think those little added touches make his art even that much better. Interesting to see how Mike's style had changed in those 8 years. The night he gave me the new card I showed him a picture of the one from 8 years earlier to remind him and he kinda laughed and groaned. I always loved that original though- it was my first Star Wars set and the first returns I had ever gotten off Mike. Where it all started for me. Okay, enough reminiscing for today. Thanks for stopping by and reading!
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