— Ch. 1 · Origins And First Volume —
The Art of Star Wars.
~4 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Carol Titelman's first volume appeared in 1979, arriving during a surge of behind-the-scenes media products like The Making of Star Wars documentary. This book presented pre-production concept art and storyboards alongside George Lucas's screenplay from the revised fourth draft dated the 15th of January 1976. Readers gained insight into possibilities that might have been in the final production design through these early sketches. The text challenged the usual authorial singularity surrounding Hollywood auteurs by showing the collaborative nature of creation. Early impressions of Darth Vader's helmet and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 appeared within its pages. Ralph McQuarrie's paintings featured heavily alongside Joe Johnston's sketches and John Barry's set design drawings. Bob Seidemann and John Jay contributed photographs to this initial documentation effort.
Key Artists And Designers
Ralph McQuarrie's work became highly influential for the production of the first three Star Wars movies. Journalist Jonathan Jones noted that McQuarrie's paintings shared an appeal with 19th century Orientalist paintings of harems and sandy vistas. Joe Johnston provided additional sketches while John Mollo created costume design sketches for the franchise. Alex Tavoularis handled storyboards and Tom Jung designed film posters alongside Dan Goozee and Drew Struzan. The Hildebrandt Brothers and Howard Chaykin also contributed artwork to the series. Wojtek Siudmak and Ralph McQuarrie created art for spin-off products including Marvel Comics series. Berry's World cartoons and Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies received coverage in later sections of the book. These visual artists defined the aesthetic foundation for decades of subsequent films.