Monday, March 5, 2012

In Memory of Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012)










Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012)

Hey, this is Film Guru Lad here! I've got some sad news for Star Wars fans that they might want to hear. Ralph McQuarrie, responsible for the concept illustrations of the original trilogy of "Star Wars" and for designing the characters of Darth Vader, C3PO, R2-D2, Boba Fett and Chewbacca, has passed away at the age of 82.

He was born in Gary, Indiana, US and moved to California during the '60s. Ralph worked as a technical illustrator for Boeing. He even designed film posters and others. In 1975, George Lucas commissioned Ralph to illustrate the scenes and characters for the first "Star Wars" movie, "A New Hope". It led to two sequels, "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". McQuarrie also did the concept art for other movies, including "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and "Cocoon" (which won him an Oscar for Best Visual Effects) as well as others. He also did the concept illustration for the original "Battlestar Galactica" television series. He retired from doing his concept design, and his artwork is seen through art exhibitions or on his official website (www.ralphmcquarrie.com).
 

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