Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot
Sketch by James Cole
The inspiration for this sketch is an extremely obscure character found only in the comic Star Wars Droids #8, dated June 1987. The character appeared in the final part of a three part storyline titled 'Star Wars as seen by Droids', which tells the story of A New Hope as seen by C-3PO and R2-D2. For some reason, the artist, Ernie Colon, chose to change the appearance of several movie characters, including the TIE Fighter Pilots. Instead of their well known black costumes from the movie, they are pictured in white armor of a completely different design.
Click on the picture above to enlarge
In the sketch, you will notice the addition of hoses attached to the helmet, extending down to the characters back. While these cannot be seen in the left hand panel of comic art, they do appear in the right panel.
It's too bad this character design has not been used for any other trooper designs since. It's a cool looking character who would fit in well with the other Clone and Imperial troops from the Expanded Universe.