I loved Star Wars as a kid. I was absolutely obsessed.
Then, like a cola drinker who suddenly discovered coffee, I discovered the work of Ralph McQuarrie, and my brain hasn't been the same since.
I don't remember where I was, or how I came to see my first Ralph McQuarrie painting. Maybe it was in a bookstore, in the basement of a friends house, or at school. I was so hypnotized by and absorbed in what I saw, I tuned out everything else around me. Those details are lost forever.
My mind was completely blown, as I studied the art. Some, done before a single frame of the film had been shot, featured different designs and concepts for otherwise familiar characters and vehicles. Other paintings ended up being reproduced verbatim on the big screen, like a McQuarrie painting come to life.
One of the hooks that sucked me in immediately was some concept art that depicted a Stormtrooper holding a lightsaber, which wasn't seen in the movies. What other secrets to my obsession could I find hidden in these paintings, some created before the movie was even filmed? Perhaps if I pored over the images enough, I'd catch a clue about the (then mysterious) Clone Wars, or the Journal of the Whills, or other bits of Star Wars material that didn't make it into the film, but were spoken about in hushed whispers by kids in dark corners of the school playground who knew more about the movies than I did.
Like I said, I was obsessed. And these beautiful paintings added fuel to the fire.
Even seeing the images today makes me feel like a kid again.
Sad to hear of the passing of this legend.
An Entertainment Weekly article on his passing summed up his artwork the best. "A McQuarrie Star Wars design looks like what would have resulted if Salvador Dali had sketched concepts for Universals 1936 Flash Gordon serial by way of Sergio Leones Old West".
Here are a few of my favourite paintings. The first one below, of Luke Skywalker stepping out of his snowspeeder in front of an AT-AT is probably my favourite.
Currently playing: David Bowie - Life on Mars
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
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