Star Wars Art: Concept (Star Wars Art Series)

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."Before there was the distinctive logo bursting from a black star field, before there was the opening musical fanfare composed by John Williams, before there was the sound of a screaming Tie Fighter or the hum of a lightsaber, there was the vision and the imagination of filmmaker George Lucas and the gifted artists who helped the writer/director realize the galactic epic that became the "Star Wars" Saga. "Star Wars Art: Concept" is a beautiful book that brings together a rich collection of paintings and drawings from over three decades of the ever growing artistic history of the vast "Star Wars" universe. The magic of these imaginative works is that they reveal the first glimpses of images of the mind's eye before they become fully realized on film, in video games and television, to ultimately tell the story of "Star Wars."When admiring the power and drama of the image showcased on this book's dust jacket, titled "Darth Vader vs. Deak Starkiller," the reader would probably find it hard to believe that such a great illustration was never meant to be seen outside of the movie studio that made the first "Star Wars." But its original purpose was only to be a production painting, a visual guide to aide in the final look of the film. Its creator, Ralph McQuarrie, succeeded in his primary goal, beyond his, and George Lucas' wildest imaginations. "Star Wars" became an unprecedented film phenomenon and the work Mr. McQuarrie produced for Mr. Lucas' "Star Wars" Original Trilogy of films would become nearly as iconic and beloved as the movies themselves. Due in no small part to Mr. Lucas' respect and admiration for Mr. McQuarrie's work, as well as the work of the many other production artists who contributed their talents to his movies, Mr. Lucas has released reproductions of this behind the scenes artistry over the years. Thanks to Mr. Lucas and to Mr. McQuarrie, the term 'film production art' has come to be recognized as truly worthy works of art.This book offers a wide showcase of art from the many incarnations of the "Star Wars" Saga. Mr. McQuarrie's paintings from the time of the Original Trilogy anchor the early section of the book, as his paintings remained inspirations to later production artists who worked on the Saga, like Doug Chiang, Erik Tiemens, and Ryan Church, who contributed their creativity to the films that came to be called the Prequel Trilogy. The clean, detailed linework of Joe Johnston is also featured in the opening pages of the tome, as well as its front and back covers. A pleasant surprise for this reviewer was the inclusion of production artwork drawn for the "Star Wars: Droids" and "Star Wars: Ewoks" animated cartoons broadcast on ABC television in 1985-1986, produced by Canada's Nelvana animation studio.The later pages of "Star Wars Art: Concept" feature artwork created through the use of computers, called "digital" production art. Character and design ideas for "The Clone Wars" animated series are displayed, specifically a pair of striking images illustrated by Wayne Lo. There is a collection of pages reproducing art for "Star Wars" video games, like 2008's "The Force Unleashed," but of special note are pages devoted to production art to games that were not released to the public, "Star Wars: First Assault" and Star Wars: 1313." These digital creations offer video game fans a chance to look at what might have been with a pair of lost "Star Wars" video adventures.To conclude, "Star Wars Art: Concept" is another rewarding hardcover collection of artwork recreating that special "galaxy far, far away," brought to life by a fellowship of accomplished artists. Like its predecessors in the "Star Wars Art" book series published by Abrams Books, this volume comes highly recommended.

The media could not be loaded.  Star Wars Art: Concept continues the Star Wars series of large oversized hardcover artbooks from publisher Harry N. Abrams. The books before are  Star Wars Art: Illustration , Star Wars Art: Comics  and  Star Wars Art: Visions .I didn't know what to make of this book before buying. It's about concept art but there are already has dedicated artbooks for all their six movies.Well, this book features a mixture of concept art in the style of fully painted pieces, such as those from Ralph McQuarrie, some comic style art with outlines and markers, the very textural grayscale scenes you see from Doug Chiang and digital paintings. You can really see the transition from using traditional to digital media for creating art somewhere in the middle of the book. I definitely prefer the traditional media art, even though the digital paintings are also good.The paintings are beautiful, standard and varies, but mostly look great. The rougher ones are the digital concept art paintings.There are portraits and character designs, locations and cool scenes. My favourites would be all the locations and background art as they are really beautiful and detailed. There are two paintings I thought are from military FPS video games until I spotted the Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walker.Artworks are selected from the six films, animated TV series, video games (published and unpublished). Since there are so many Star Wars properties out there, only some can come from each. It's a mixed bag in the sense that you might actually want to see more of the art from the movies instead. While the art is good, the material selection or organisation feels haphazard.Some Amazon reviewers expected a sizeable amount of Ralph McQuarrie paintings but there are only a handful. Well, this is not The Art of Ralph McQuarrie.The highlight of this book is its large format. The paintings at huge sizes have more impact and it's wonderful looking at them. When looking at the large paintings, I feel that traditional media is better at handling the fade from detail to non-detailed areas. This is probably which I prefer the traditional media.In terms of write-up, there's foreword by Joe Johnston, preface by Ryan Church, introduction by Dough Chiang and an interview with Erik Tiemens. The artworks are captioned with name, source and media. There's no explanation of the concept behind the art though.It's a good artbook overall, with great art but If you want more concept art and read about conceptualisation, I would still recommended the dedicated Art of Star Wars series. Some of the artworks in this book are in those books.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

The Art of Star Wars books are among the best books out there, and I absolutely love the concept art in particular, so this was a must for me. Highly recommended. It's quite a large book, so the artwork really shines.

This is the fourth in the series of 'Star Wars Art' books ('Visions', 'Comics' and 'Illustration' being the others) and as with the others, this tome is also worth getting.With 175 glossy pages packed with beautiful concept art from the likes of Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, Doug Chiang, Ryan Church, Iain McCaig and more, this covers everything from original movies, the prequels, television and video games, including the now cancelled TV show 'Detours' and video game 'Star Wars 1313'.Starting with introductions from Joe Johnston, Ryan Church and Doug Chiang, what you get is page after page of full colour plates of paintings, plus sketches, and digital art, showcasing the creature designs, to the vehicles and beautiful vistas from the iconic saga. To be honest, it's probably nothing you haven't seen before, but it's good to see it all collected into one nice hardback volume.If you enjoy flicking through the pages of movie art books and love the Star Wars saga, then I would recommend this book.

this book is amazing and covers all aspects of star wars concept art apart from the latest films. beautifully illustrated. i just wish it had slightly more concept art from the original trilogy as that is what i was hoping for with this purchase.

loved it but not sure if it was worth the price

This is a must for any SW fan. It's full of excellent illustrations that are framing quality. Love to look at everything from all of the movies and remember how we felt when we saw them for the first time.