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We discover that the concepts produced for the final film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy don’t tell the whole story…
Author
fter 42 years of a hugely influential film saga, you’d almost expect there to be a Photoshop Action that creates production-ready Star Wars concept art. Not so, although such a tool would have helped with the visualisation of The Rise of Skywalker’s story ideas, which constantly evolved in the lead-up to filming.
In the end, Lucasfilm’s art department produced over 20,000 sketches and concepts, of which author Phil Szostak has whittled down to 684 for inclusion in this handsome 256-page book. And those artworks
APhil Szostak
Publisher
Abrams
Price
£30
Web
www.chroniclebooks.com
Available
Now aren’t just presented without comment, either. At the bare minimum, each artist receives a credit for their work. But often there’s a paragraph or two on the thinking behind an image, explaining how it took the script in a new direction, or helped to highlight why something in the story wasn’t quite working.
Examples include the red armour of the Sith troopers having their genesis in the unsettling musculature of anatomy models, or diminutive droid mechanic Babu Frik initially being an insectoid character in director’s JJ Abrams’ mind, before artist Ivan Manzella’s mammalian take led to a course correction. Zbrush is mentioned throughout the book – a reminder for any would-be concept artists that having 3D as well as 2D art skills is a must in this industry.
ON A PRODUCTION ART JOURNEY
The range of art includes characters, costumes, props, environments and vehicles, presented in an order that approximately mirrors both the film’s pre-production progress, and events from the film. Helping to avoid ‘museum fatigue’, the book is interspersed with detailed summaries of events behind the scenes, as story beats are thrashed out while the art
department deals with an everincreasing workload. It’s a fascinating insight into the film’s anything-butstraightforward development.
Having said this, it’s disappointing that the book lacks any significant coverage of the climatic scenes set on the Sith planet Exegol. The author’s explanation involves the book going to print six months before the film’s release; revealing concepts from this key part of the story would have been entering spoiler territory. Yet with the book going on sale months after TROS’S theatrical run, this logic feels shonky. Much like the presence of the reborn Emperor Palatine in the film, it casts a dark shadow across what should have been a flawless showcase of Lucasfilm’s visionary artists working at the top of their game.
Often there’s a paragraph or two on the thinking behind an image
RATING ★★★★