Ralph McQuarrie was an American illustrator and designer who was born in 1929. He was immersed in the field of art from a very young age due to inspiration from his parents. They were also artists, and it was through them that he received his first taste of watercolour painting and drawing.
He began formal art education at the age of ten and with further practice in this field it allowed him to get a job at Kaiser Graphics as a young adult. Later on in his career he started working for Boeing where his mechanical drawing skills came to great use as he was able to mock-up highly detailed sketches of aircrafts and their components.
In 1965, he made a significant career change by packing his belongings and relocating to California. He established his firm at Venice Beach and began contracting in the film industry. This included designing artwork for movie posters and painting backdrops for animation.
It wasn't until 1975 that McQuarrie created the most defining work of his career. He met a young director named George Lucas, who was attempting to persuade Fox executives to fund an ambitious science fiction film called "Star Wars" that he had written. McQuarrie partnered with Lucas to create the film's style and aesthetic. His conceptual sketches and paintings were both unique and surreal. Until then, science fiction films had a spotless and clean appearance. McQuarrie and Lucas, on the other hand, provided a worn and aged world that appeared 'used' and more believable. The idea was a success, and Star Wars was a surprise hit grossing over 1 million US dollars on its opening weekend.
These are some of my favorite pieces of concept art that McQuarrie made for the original Star Wars trilogy.
Ralph McQuarrie's artwork has always been an inspiration of mine as I love his drawing style and he makes cinematic looking shots as still images. Star Wars id very important to me as it is one of my main interests and to be able to explore this in the final major project would allow me to produce a wide variety of work. Particularly notable in McQuarrie's art is a smooth aesthetic with mechanical detailing which would be perfect to replicate in a 3D modelling software.
Harvard Referencing:
Memory Alpha Ralph McQuarrie. Available at: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ralph_McQuarrie
Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Ralph McQuarrie Wikipedia Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_McQuarrie
StarWars.com. (2016). Ralph McQuarrie’s Most Memorable Masterpieces. Available at: https://www.starwars.com/news/ralph-mcquarries-most-memorable-masterpieces
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