Ralph McQuarrie R.I.P.

One of Ralph McQuarrie's five original concept paintings for Star Wars.

Legendary concept artist, designer and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie died yesterday, He was 82. Most notably, he defined the captivating visual appeal of the original Star Wars trilogy of films more than any other one person, and designed arguably the films most iconic characters; Darth Vader, C3PO and R2-D2. He also worked on classic well-known films such as Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Batteries Not Included, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek VI, Cocoon, the original Battlestar Galactica TV series and produced paintings for numerous Del Rey / Ballantine paperback covers throughout the 1980s.

RIP, Ralph.

WEB OF THE CHOZEN

Del Rey SF paperback, second printing, May 1982. Cover art
by Ralph McQuarrie. 

"Nobody Beats Bar Holliday 

He was paid to find terraformable worlds, new planets for his corporation to plunder. Up until the day he came upon the Peace Victory, an abandoned generation ship hovering ominously above a definitely habitable planet, he believed nobody ever could.  

Nobody Beats Bar Holliday 

...because he was never satisfied with anything lower than first place, because he was always the oddball, in charge of his own welfare, his own destiny...A man determined to make his mark in the world and win all games at any cost. 

Nobody Ever Beats Bar Holliday 

...because he only took the wrong chances at the right times. But on the planet Patmos, where everything looked safe, but nothing was, Bar Holliday had at last met his match!"