Ralph McQuarrie

Ralph McQuarrie, the artist who designed much of the Star Wars universe has passed away aged 82.

While not a household name, it’s hard to conceive how the original film might have looked without his concept art, the first of which was this painting of R2-D2 & C-3PO:

An impressed George Lucas commissioned further paintings including the original design for Darth Vader:

Lightsaber wielding Stormtroopers:

and environments such as the Cantina:

These original paintings played a part in convincing 20th Century Fox to back the film & helped shape the characters which remain familiar today.

Before Star Wars, McQuarrie had mainly worked as an illustrator for the Boeing airline, but after his initial designs he returned for The Empire Strikes Back, with the introduction of Boba Fett:

and this breathtaking matte painting of his Slave I ship:

Like the best photographers & painters, his since of composition & perspective was perfect:

and there was an elegance to his work that you rarely find.

I’m lucky enough to own this beautiful Japanese book which features all his Star Wars related work, as he returned for the third film in 1983:

Whilst declining to return for the prequel films, after the original trilogy he worked on other films including Close Encounters, E.T., Cocoon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Total Recall & the spectacularly bad Masters of the Universe.

McQuarrie also designed the annual Lucasfilm Christmas Cards: