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With news being released every day about the progress of Star Wars Episode VII, we are looking back at the original movies and their journeys in order to celebrate how far the franchise has come.
And one person we have to thank for most of the scenes and film sets in the first trilogy is artist Ralph Mcquarrie.
Ralph was one of the first people involved in creating the beloved series.
George Lucas said, “Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars. His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy.”
He was commissioned by George Lucas himself to illustrate scenes and film sets for the original first three films, New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.
Although George had nothing but good things to say about Ralph, the artist failed to see how his drawings could influence the film.
“I thought there wouldn’t be enough of an audience. It’s too complicated.”
But in interviews with George discussing creative process of the films, he would always compliment Ralph on the work he did and how George felt he was a huge part of the franchise’s success.
“When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph’s fabulous illustrations and say, ‘Do it like this.’
With Ralph being commissioned to help with the scenes for the film, he also came up with the character designs for characters including Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C-3PO.
You can see some of the artwork that helped shape one of the world’s most loved franchises here.
The pictures here depict famous scenes including the famous battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker as well as character concepts of C-3PO and R2D2.