Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012) was an American conceptual designer and illustrator.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
In 1975, George Lucas commissioned McQuarrie to illustrate scenes from the script for Star Wars.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
McQuarrie designed many of the film’s characters, including Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
He also drew concepts for many of the film’s sets.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“I just did my best to depict how I thought the film should look, I really liked the idea.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“I didn’t think the film would get made. My impression was it was too expensive.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“I thought there wouldn’t be enough of an audience. It’s too complicated.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“But George knew a lot of things that I didn’t know.” – Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Some of McQuarrie’s concepts are quite different from the finished film.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
In his renderings, light sabers were a single colour, and were carried by storm troopers and other non-Jedi/Sith characters, before Lucas fully developed the mythology and made them a Jedi weapon.
Other illustrations are very close to scenes that ended up in the finished film.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Ralph was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy.” – George Lucas
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“It’s really a testament to how important he was…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“That there’s such a connection between a lot of those iconic images and the movie scenes.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“The way that he illustrated them was an influence on those characters, how they acted.” – George Lucas
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph’s illustrations and say…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“‘Do it like this.’” – George Lucas
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“It was a special opportunity to start from the ground up.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Being able to create new characters, vehicles and worlds…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“And since when I started it wasn’t clear that the film would be made…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“I didn’t have to limit myself.” – Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
It was McQuarrie who suggested that Vader wear breathing apparatus.
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“George had described Darth Vader as having flowing black robes. In the script, Vader had to jump from one ship to another.”
“To survive the vacuum of space, I felt he needed some sort of breathing mask.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“George said, ‘OK,’ suggested adding a samurai helmet, and Darth Vader was born.”
“Simple as that.” – Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Ralph was a very special person for many more reasons than his undeniable brilliance with a brush.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Beyond the movies, his artwork has inspired at least two generations of younger artists…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“All of whom learned through Ralph that movies are designed.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Like me, they were thrilled by his keen eye and creative imagination…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Which always brought concepts to their most ideal plateau.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“His influence on design will be felt forever.”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“There’s no doubt that centuries from now amazing spaceships will soar…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“Future cities will rise…”
“And someone, somewhere will say…”
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
“That looks like something Ralph McQuarrie painted.” – George Lucas
Ralph McQuarrie / Lucasfilm
All images sourced from Star Wars: The Art of Ralph McQuarrie. Art work reproduced here with permission of Dreams and Vision Press.
Dan Dalton is a staff writer for BuzzFeed and is based in London.