Force Visions is an ongoing series of articles celebrating the greatest visual artists to work in the Star Wars universe.
With a brief like that, there’s only ever going to be one place to start. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Star Wars art of Ralph McQuarrie.
Many words have already been typed on how fundamental McQuarrie’s work was to Star Wars, but it’s impossible to overstate his contribution to the saga.
Ralph McQuarrie was a technical illustrator, with work including CBS News’ coverage of NASA’s Apollo program, when he was commissioned to work on concept art for a not-to-be-completed science fiction film.
It was this work that caught the eye of young filmmaker George Lucas, who was developing his ambitious space-fantasy film “The Star Wars”. Lucas was impressed by McQuarrie’s work and met with him to discuss his plans for the film.
“He visited with his friends at my place and talked about a big space-fantasy film he wanted to do. It didn’t have a title yet. I showed him a proposal I’d worked on in 1972 for a science-fiction film called Galaxy.”
“Well, a couple years went by and George did American Graffiti. I never thought I’d see him again, and then one day he called to see if I’d be interested in doing something for Star Wars.”
Ralph McQuarrie, Star Wars Insider #76
When Lucas eventually got back to McQuarrie to illustrate scenes from the script, he became the first person hired to work on Star Wars.
McQuarrie’s early visualisations were a key part of the pitch package, helping to convince Alan Ladd Jr to take a chance with Lucas. But his work also shaped the look and feel of the galaxy itself.
When Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was still just a twinkle in Alan Dean Foster’s eye, McQuarrie was giving us glimpses of Tusken Raider culture, Jawa swap meets and Mos Eisley shoot-outs in evocative vignettes that had nothing to do with the narrative of the film.
Without Ralph McQuarrie, the Star Wars universe would have been a very different place. And that’s if Star Wars even ended up getting made at all.
Painting A Universe
If his involvement had stopped there, McQuarrie would have already played an essential role in creating the Star Wars we know. Yet more great work was still to come.
The ideas he had when developing the worlds of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are equally imaginative and luminous; so much so that, in my view, this work is even better than his visions for Star Wars.
Ralph McQuarrie and Ewoks
McQuarrie’s work continued to shape and refine Lucas’ vision through the Original Trilogy, culminating with his work on Return of the Jedi. As a lifelong fan of that film (obviously) and a committed Ewok-apologist, McQuarrie’s work on developing the forest moon of Endor left an impression on me from the moment I first saw it.
Whether it’s the delightful Ewok lake camp under snowy mountains or an enormous Gorax attacking a tree village, McQuarrie’s imagining of the Ewoks, their life, and culture, has always been magical and inspiring.
However, not everyone agreed – including McQuarrie himself:
“I looked at what we were doing and my own feeling was I would like to have them more animal-like, more sinewy and life-like. They were starting to look teddy bear-like and I wasn’t for that.”
“So I gave them three or four drawings that I thought were right on and said, ‘That’s it. Now if you don’t like those, I’m out of this competition.'”
Ralph McQuarrie
Ah well. We’ll have to agree to disagree there, good sir.
Inspiring A Galaxy
Despite taking a peek around the edges, it would be a stretch to describe McQuarrie’s work as part of the ‘Expanded Universe’. McQuarrie’s work is more about unbridled imagination in the sandbox he and Lucas were creating. He considered Lucas’ ideas and followed them through to a logical new scenario. This influenced Lucas, which then steered the Lucasfilm production team in turn.
“Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars. His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph’s fabulous illustrations and say, ‘Do it like this.'”
As I said up top, Ralph McQuarrie’s impact on the GFFA cannot be overstated. He sits alongside John Williams as one of the core architects of the Star Wars universe that we know and love.
Thank you for everything, Mr McQuarrie!
