Whereas the good Ralph McQuarrie is rightly remembered as the first visionary behind the look of the Star Wars universe, he wasn’t the one artist taking part in a serious position within the creation of the unique trilogy. There was additionally Colin Cantwell.
Born in 1932, Cantwell had an unimaginable profession that ventured properly past inventive pursuits. From working at NASA on the Apollo 11 mission (he was liable for passing info on the mission on to TV presenter Walter Cronkite) to serving to Hewlett Packard design computer systems, he additionally wrote two sci-fi novels and helped Stanley Kubrick map out the opening scenes of 2001: A House Odyssey.
It’s for his early work on Star Wars, although, that he has develop into finest recognized. Employed early within the unique movie’s growth, in 1974-75, Cantwell is the originator of lots of the collection’ most iconic and memorable ships, together with the X-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE Fighter, Star Destroyer, Landspeeder, Sandcrawler and Corellian Corvette (which was initially imagined to be the Millennium Falcon). He was additionally the unique designer of the Dying Star.
Whereas different artists like McQuarrie and particular results guru Joe Johnston would later tweak these designs, their unique imaginative and prescient—from the X-Wing’s crossed, folding wings to the TIE Fighter’s bowtie silhouette—was all Cantwell, as you may see within the pictures beneath:
G/O Media might get a fee
20% off
LEGO Star Wars: Assault of The Clones Yoda
An in depth, buildable mannequin determine of the unmistakable character that children and followers adore!
This Yoda mannequin has a posable head and eyebrows, movable fingers and toes, and a terrific large inexperienced Lightsaber.
Whereas each single one of many designs you may see above had been modified ultimately by McQuarrie and Johnston, there’s one Cantwell creation that made it into Star Wars with out anybody making any modifications in any respect. In one of many scenes simply after Luke first meets C-3PO and R2-D2, he’s seen kicking again taking part in with a mannequin of a T-16 Skyhopper, which is a mannequin constructed totally from Cantwell’s sketches.
Cantwell was 90, and had reportedly been affected by Alzhemiers for a number of years. He’s survived by his associate Sierra Dall.
