I've been drooling over Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art this last. They're truly stunning. I managed to win two individual prints for my son-in-law at Christmas.
Have you got any of the McQuarrie prints?
Whilst surfing I caught sight of this McQuarrie print, this one above I've not seen before. Those slick Rebel A-Wings did remind me of another Sci-Fi design, Gerry Anderson's Starcruiser Interceptor.
Lookin g at it again its no that similar! It must the cockpit I was thinking of.
Still, any chance to see cool ship design is always a good thing, eh!
McQuarrie was responsible for the 'look' of the original Star Wars films and his influence can still be seen in more recent series, such as The Mandalorian and Ashoka. The big white spiders (Krykna) which appeared in the mando episode 'The Passenger' are taken from McQuarries art based on Dagobah, from the excellent 'Illustrated Star Wars Universe'. His beautiful matte paintings also graced the first few film as backdrops, before digital technology took hold. There were an initial series of three portfolios from New hope, Empire and Jedi - with the Empire one being produced in a larger landscape format. McQuarrie is also credited with conceiving the look of Darth Vader, as well as heavily borrowing he initial idea for Chewbacca from John Schoenherr's cover art: https://johnschoenherr.blogspot.com/2010/09/george-lucas-stole-chewbacca-but.html
ReplyDeleteJohn is famous in blog circles for his seminal Moon Crawler artwork:
https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2011/09/john-schoenherrs-moon-crawler.html
Bill
Nice one Bill. I'm looking forward to getting the two McQuarrie prints in the post. One is the Millennium Falcon and one is an iconic painting of Like and Darth fencing with lightsabres. Hopefully I'll have two frames that'll fit nicely, although I'm unsure of the size of these prints until they arrive!
DeleteThey are roughly A3 with a deep white border. Bill
DeleteFor me the Star Wars concept art by McQuarrie illustrates the very essence of the saga, like crystallizations of key moments and vistas of both what came to be and what was striven for.
ReplyDeleteGot the 1983 ROTJ Portfolio by Ballantine Books, a lucky find at Paramount Books of Manchester. The prints are absolutely glorious.
Well Huh!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Ralph McQuarrie did stuff for Gerry Anderson!
Wow!
Don't think he did Scott. Its me seeing similarities that's all.
DeleteGot my McQuarrie 1977 prints now and the ebay seller was way more than generous, giving me many more than the two I won! I plan to wrap them in a home made envelope made from greaseproof paper, but first I need to touch-up a few scratches and a press out a couple of creases.
ReplyDelete