CBM says
A sad day today as we see legendary artist Ralph Mcquarrie die. Mcquarrie was responsible for many defining aspects of the Star Wars universe, such as the final design of Darth Vader, Chewbacca and the X-wing Starfighter.
EB: Darren Tibbles, or daztibbles on Instagram, is a concept artist and freelance illustrator who specializes in creating radical animations and illustrations based on characters from the Star Wars, Mad Max, and LEGO franchises. I’ve been following one of his latest projects very closely on Instagram, and now I want you to do the same. Why may you ask? Well, because he’s creating what could be one of the single greatest fan made animated Star Wars shorts I’ve ever had the pleasure to stumble across.
1977, and a seven-year-old me, like a multitude of seven-year-old other people, falls under the spell of Sir George of Lucas. Star Wars has arrived and life will never be quite the same again. Suddenly there are spaceships and wookies and lightsabers and Jedi and strange figures called Darth Vader who dress all in black and breathe funny. Suddenly, science fiction is fun.
It’s easy to forget that there was science fiction before Star Wars. Lots of it, in fact. At least, it was easy for a seven-year-old to forget. In 1977 the genre was reanimated completely, bathed in a new sense of wonder and imagination. Two men can take the credit for making Star Wars the phenomenal success it was. One is George Lucas, the other is Ralph McQuarrie.
Tragic. A legend has left us.