Artwork from The Empire Strikes Back by legendary conceptual designer Ralph McQuarrie.
This concept artwork features the infamous bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader standing on a platform in the Cloud City of Bespin. Boba Fett stands surrounded by IG-88, Bossk, 4-LOM and Zuckuss. June 13, 1929, Gary, Indiana) is a conceptual designer and futurist responsible for the look of Star Wars (all of the original trilogy), the original Battlestar Galactica (TV), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Cocoon, for which he won an Academy Award.
He is a contemporary of Syd Mead, another conceptual designer/futurist, with whom he attended school. "RMQ", as he is known to sign original works, has provided illustrations to supplement several Isaac Asimov publications, including Robot Dreams and Robot Visions. When George Lucas announced in 1995 that he was going to be making a Star Wars prequel, RMQ was invited to head up the design team, as he had done with Joe Johnston twenty years before. After arriving, however, he decided that the existing design team (lead by ILM illustrator Doug Chiang) was more than sufficient, and declined to participate -- much to the eventual disappointment of many "Original Trilogy" fans.
McQuarrie played the uncredited role of General McQuarrie in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. |