Back in the 1970’s, when George Lucas came up with the idea for an epic space saga that turned out to be Star Wars, he had a hard time visualizing the world. He needed to build this “far away galaxy” from scratch, making it look futuristic and different from the typical science fiction image at that time.
For this purpose, he hired Ralph McQuarrie (June 13, 1929 – March 3, 2012). An esteemed artist and illustrator, who in his early days worked as an illustrator for Boeing and animating CBS News’s coverage of the Apollo space program. Having only the script at his disposal, Ralph managed to create the iconic designs of Darth Vader, C3PO, R2-D2, the Stormtroopers and many other characters from the Star Wars universe. It was his work that convinced 20-th century fox to approve the film.
His ability to picture the ideas of George Lucas, enhancing them and bringing them to life in the process, gave the sci-fi industry an identity that remains to this day.
A lot of the concept art was directly used on set, without many changes.
The images speak for themselves:
Cloud City
X-Wing Fighter in combat with a TIE/LN Star fighter
X-Wing Fighter attacking the Death Star
Star Wars (1977) the concept for C-3PO and R2-D2
Luke Skywalker beeing chased by the enemy
Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. The franchise depicts a galaxy described as “far, far away” in the distant past, and portrays adventures and battles between good and evil; mostly revolving around the story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke Skywalker.
The first film in the series, Star Wars (later subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope), was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, released in 1980 and 1983. A prequel trilogy of films were later released between 1999 and 2005. Reaction to the original trilogy was largely positive, while the prequel trilogy received a more mixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and all were box office successes; the overall box office revenue generated totals $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchise—the Expanded Universe—including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe.
Storm Trooper
Remeber this fight?
The Millennium Falcon
Landscape
Star Destroyer ships
Source: Buzzfeed