Ralph Mcquarrie: Complete Collection of Star Wars Art

 

I wanted to try something different and do a quick review of a new book I just picked up, it was so cool I wanted to let others know about it. 

Ralph Mcquarrie,  Star Wars Art is a book that compiles over a decade of artwork that shaped the look of  the Star wars franchise. Not only does the book cover Macquarie’s vast portfolio of concept art and paintings, but it also walk’s through his work process, thoughts on creativity, and materials.

Above Right: Evolution of Chewbacca 

Right:

The making of Boba Fett

I own quite a few art books and I have to say that this is one of the most gorgeous jam-packed with art I have seen. It helps too that it’s actually a dual set of books each 400 pages, so it takes a while to go through it all. Some pages contain storyboards, and character and ship concept art evolution and others are panoramic spreads of massive matte paintings used in production. Its really great to see in detail how almost every
visual aspect of Star Wars was brought
to life by the vision of Mcquarrie.

This is easily one of the favorite books I own, up there with the complete works of John Singer Sergeant, The Portraits of Rembrandt  and the sketchbook of Frank Lloyd Wrght. The only downsides are that its heavy, around 20lbs and its super expensive it goes for around $170. I would imagine though if this ever goes out of print it could become a collectors item.