Page 35 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2020)

that was the biggest draw for us to work Ranch Archives, but we felt every piece
on this project.
How did the process of collecting the
pieces work?
BA: Fortunately, George Lucas had the
foresight to begin archiving materials
from his films at a time when many
others didn’t. So the key source was the
Skywalker Ranch Archives, and that was
where we began—looking through the
original hand-drawn and hand-painted
artwork. From there we moved on to
Lucasfilm’s digital image asset archive,
and then to the collecting community to
see what other pieces were “out there”
that we could get scans of. Obviously,
what private collectors have is minuscule
in comparison to what’s available at the
for each movie. There is a vast amount of
was important, and we were glad to get
those in.
How long did the collection take to create,
and how did it change from original pitch
to final product?
BA: It was just about two years from our
first trip to the Ranch to having the final
product in hand. We debated a lot of things
along the way—should it be one volume,
two volumes, or three volumes? How do
we break up the volumes: portrait or
landscape? All these things had to be
considered. While Abrams (the publisher)
and Lucasfilm had final say, they were
always interested in our input, which we
appreciated. There were some challenges
in that the quantity of available art varies
artwork on The Empire Strikes Back and
a relatively small amount on Return of the
Jedi, for example. So we couldn’t just say
three volumes, one per film. It wouldn’t
have been properly balanced. Ultimately,
we feel the final product is what we set out
to create, and we’re pleased about that.
Was there anything in Ralph’s career up
until the point he started on Star Wars
suggesting he would be able to create
these worlds so vividly? What convinced
George Lucas that he should hire him?
BA: There’s no doubt Ralph was an
amazing artist long before Star Wars.
You can see his early work with NASA and
Boeing published in other places, and you
can see the skill he already possessed at
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