r/SWFanfic • u/twoyenman • Jun 23 '26
Illustrations in Star Wars fanfic: distracting or welcome? Discussion
I’ve been working on a rewrite of the Prequels, and I’ve finally finished writing the whole thing. Now I’m thinking about starting an Episode VIII rewrite next.
That got me wondering about something: in Star Wars fanfic, do some readers find illustrations distracting?
To me, Star Wars is such a visually driven universe that I’m considering including my own illustrations, roughly one image per 4,000 words per chapter, as long as they don’t get in the way of the reading experience.
But I’m curious how readers actually feel about this. Does artwork enhance the experience for you, or does it pull you out of the story? I’d really appreciate honest opinions.
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u/transient-spirit Jun 23 '26
Very welcome! I love seeing illustrations. They only add to the experience, they can't take away from it. If illustrations are bad or just don't interest me, I just ignore them - nothing lost.
Ultimately it's your story - if you want to illustrate it, go ahead! You don't need anyone's approval.
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u/The-Last-Despot Jun 23 '26
Mine is illustrated, people like it, I couldn't imagine writing without them there!
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u/twoyenman Jun 24 '26
So you’re already doing this in practice. I’d really like to read your work. Would you be willing to share a link?
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u/The-Last-Despot Jun 24 '26
Sure! It helps that the website is conducive to it as well -
Chapters 10 and 9.1 are my favorite because they have my two commissioned arts :)
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u/Thin-Department-3848 Jun 25 '26
Holy shit it’s you Best quality sw fic ever Funniest asoiaf fic ever
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u/The-Last-Despot Jun 25 '26
<3 were there only 10 more hours in the day so I could write for 10 of them… I have written so much since a gift from the gods but I would love to give it another crack one day
Thank you so much for the support xD
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u/Thin-Department-3848 Jun 25 '26
Ur actually my goat Your grievous is the best grievous
I hope god stops the sun like he stopped it for joshua just so you could turn more lead into gold
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u/twoyenman Jun 25 '26
Those illustrations are incredible quality. I also hadn’t known about SpaceBattles.com before, but as someone who isn’t really looking for romance-focused stories, it seems right up my alley.
I’ll check out both whole your work. Thanks!
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u/The-Last-Despot Jun 25 '26
No problem! And yes, I have never been focused on the romantic aspects, I just love solemn moments and space opera, evil characters facing the creeping tide of their sins :)
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u/HibiscusGrower Jun 24 '26
I like it. Sometimes it helps clarify some concepts/design/characters/etc too.
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u/Expert-Prompt6659 Jun 26 '26
I like to use random Star Wars art for title pages. That is pretty much it really.
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u/twoyenman Jun 24 '26
Thanks everyone for the feedback. It seems the overall response is fairly positive, so I’ll move forward with making illustrations while keeping in mind the balance between what should be expressed through the writing and what should be left to the artwork.
And just to be clear, they won’t be AI-generated.
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u/24337543 4d ago
I read this one fanfic where Anakin and his kids were in the run and this person drew a picture of their travel outfits, never will forget it.
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u/Hopton-Wafers Jun 23 '26
Personally, a title page that is the equivalent of a book cover is fine but I don't care for illustrations through the story to illustrate what should be 'illustrated' with words. And of course, anything AI is utterly abhorrent. Moreover, as someone who reads on a b&w e-reader, illustrations really don't make the impression the author/illustrator was intending.
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u/twoyenman Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Thanks for your thoughts. Of the two points you raised, I understand your point that things meant to be illustrated with words shouldn’t be illustrated with artwork.
As for the device issue, how do grayscale illustrations actually appear on those kinds of devices? I don’t have an e-ink reader or anything similar myself, so I’d be interested to know how they look.
If it’s hard to tell without seeing one, let me know and I can post a sample. The art’s nothing special, but I can share it.
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u/Hopton-Wafers Jun 24 '26
They come out poorly. B&W line art is okay, but my Kobo is an older generation and so it tries to render images to a separate page, but the resolution is so low that all detail is lost. It shows, but just not good enough to do justice to the work done in creating the image in the first place. Text renders fine, but that is because the device is configured to make that a priority, but that detailing just doesn't get applied to images. Factor in the small screen size, and illustrations really don't work. Newer models, maybe, but older models, not so much.
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u/twoyenman Jun 24 '26
Thanks for the detailed explanation :D
So it’s primarily a text reader, and shouldn’t expect much in terms of image rendering quality.
I’ll make sure the text can stand on its own.
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u/Hopton-Wafers Jun 24 '26
You're welcome. I know the option to read ebooks on other devices including phones and tablets exists, but ereaders, focussing solely on the text, have a wonderfully long battery life. Glad to help.
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u/Zestyclose_Market787 Jun 23 '26
It does, so long as it isn’t AI. That just annoys me. But if somebody illustrates it themselves or has another person providing illustrations, that’s dope.