Who is Ralph McQuarrie?

[Dedalus5550]

Okay, the title was supposed to be a bit provocative, like EVERYBODY knows who he is--to some degree. Anyway, I've always wondered this about him. Seems like his concept designs clearly led the bulk of the way toward the ships we see in the movies. I get that the studio modelers did a lot of greeblie work that was impromptu all along. But why is it that the drawings I see of his are so different in overall shape and dimensions (not to mention detail) from the final design that it's like someone said, "Okay, Ralph, we'll take it from here." Like between his design and the final product, there must be at least one missing link, if not more, before they even started physical models. See where I'm coming from? (On a side note, I'm really excited to see how that McQuarrie MF turns out, Moffeaton's, I think.)
Thanks,
Mike

 

[PropReplicator2]

I've wondered this myself. I believe it was because from Ralph they moved the concept art to others to design upon further to better it to Lucas's standards, because as everyone knows he was and is still a hard man to please.

But this could be something to further look into.

Mike

Sent from my KYOCERA-E6560 using Tapatalk

 

[batguy]

Start with RMQ's paintings, then proceed to building the model itself, collecting ongoing feedback from GL along the way. I don't see the need for any other big design stages we're missing.

Just planning the ships in 3 dimensions for the first time is already enough to cause some re-imagining compared to the paintings.

 

[Jaitea]

This history of the Pirate Ship goes through the concept process:

http://kitbashed.com/blog/a-complete-history-of-the-millennium-falcon

The author says: " I also appreciate why Lucas would have found the film to be somewhat disappointing when compared to what McQuarrie had put in his head. His use of color, light, shapes and space is unparalleled. Even his sketches brim with life and potential"

I'd say that the final models of what we got of the Falcon, X Wing & TIEs were the closest that the early ILM model builders could get to realising RMQ's paintings,....with Lucas tweeking to what he wanted, filling in areas with greeblies.....but Lucas still felt disappointed that he couldn't have what Ralph painted

Its interesting to see that now after all those years we are still seeing Ralphs designs respected & realised in the Disney/Lucasfilm era

J

 

[ZeroSum]

Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars explains a lot of this in detail.

 

[Jimmer]

Start with RMQ's paintings, then proceed to building the model itself, collecting ongoing feedback from GL along the way. I don't see the need for any other big design stages we're missing.

Just planning the ships in 3 dimensions for the first time is already enough to cause some re-imagining compared to the paintings.

batguy, that's the way I always looked at it. He provides the painting, obviously a smoother more "animated" styling, then model makers bring it to the "real world" of a galaxy far, far away. Although the paintings are truly beautiful, Lucas want's a realistic, "worn" look for the films. Translation: add greebles, blaster scorching and oil leaks.

In my humble opinion, us fans couldn't have come out any better. We get McQuarries gorgeous artwork, and the A++ work of ILM's model masters. The paintings and the models are both breathtaking, but are different enough that we can look at an X-wing (as an example) in both mediums and immediately recognize it for what it is but at the same time see it from 2 completely different "perspectives".

It's really late here and I indulged in a few Killian's Reds tonite, I hope my rant makes sense...lol.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

...
I'd say that the final models of what we got of the Falcon, X Wing & TIEs were the closest that the early ILM model builders could get to realising RMQ's paintings,....with Lucas tweeking to what he wanted, filling in areas with greeblies.....but Lucas still felt disappointed that he couldn't have what Ralph painted
...

I´d interpret that a bit differently. I think it would really be more about the overall visual style and the stylization than the actual designs. I am pretty sure that the ILM guys would have been able to replicate McQ´s paintings 1:1, but that the art direction expanded on those designs in terms of "grittiness". McQ´s paintings are very clean compared to the "used look" of the actual movies. McQ did really, really clean and accurate line work, IMO leaving not too much room for interpretation on the viewer´s behalf. Still, one (at least me) can get lost in his paintings. As an inspiration I have several of his ANH paintings as desktop backgrounds. It was a natural choice for me since I work as an architect and despite the nerdiness it has a huge aesthetic appeal.

...
Its interesting to see that now after all those years we are still seeing Ralphs designs respected & realised in the Disney/Lucasfilm era
...
J

Yes, indeed, but at some point I am not sure if they are overdoing at and if the motivation was really of aesthetic nature or more a "play it safe with loads of fan-service"-approach. Some designs simply do not work so well, especially the Rebels TIE fighter or the Rebels Darth Vader, especially since that was AFAIK not a design but graphics for a book cover.

Still, I love love love his work since I first saw it as a kid in the 1978 Panini sticker album, not knowing what I saw there. If there was one very early influence by Star Wars in my aesthetic perception of the world it sure was R McQ.

 

[Jaitea]

I'd say that the final models of what we got of the Falcon, X Wing & TIEs were the closest that the early ILM model builders could get to realising RMQ's paintings,....with Lucas tweeking to what he wanted, filling in areas with greeblies.....but Lucas still felt disappointed that he couldn't have what Ralph painted

I´d interpret that a bit differently. I think it would really be more about the overall visual style and the stylization than the actual designs. I am pretty sure that the ILM guys would have been able to replicate McQ´s paintings 1:1, but that the art direction expanded on those designs in terms of "grittiness". McQ´s paintings are very clean compared to the "used look" of the actual movies. McQ did really, really clean and accurate line work, IMO leaving not too much room for interpretation on the viewer´s behalf. Still, one (at least me) can get lost in his paintings. As an inspiration I have several of his ANH paintings as desktop backgrounds. It was a natural choice for me since I work as an architect and despite the nerdiness it has a huge aesthetic appeal.

What I was suggesting is, going by the article, it's pretty evident that the model builders could replicate Ralph's paintings,...the original Pirate Ship is evidence of that,....but once the Pirate ship was demoted to the Blockade Runner & a new Pirate Ship had to be designed (the Falcon) they had already spent a third of their model budget on that one model.....& the time was marching on

Compromises were made & the kit bashed Falcon was born.....not as true to the designs of RMQ

J

 

[joberg]

RMQ was his interpretations of what Lucas wanted (in a way) and in turn, these interpretations were also interpreted by the model makers(basically, an double interpretation). So, to really know what was in Lucas's head would've been really hard and, as mentioned earlier, time/budget was of the essence!

 

[Richard Baker]

IIRC those first illustrations Ralph McQuarrie made were instrumental in getting the film produced in the first place. George Lucas had what we wanted to do inside his head, but he had to sell the concept to the suits. When McQuarrie's renderings were put up on the easel they could see George's vision and decided to take the chance on this outlandish project of his.

 

[astroboy]

One of the reasons I haven't been very interesting is seeing so many "tributes" to Mcquarrie on Rebels is that I feel like they are missing a step. IMHO, his drawings weren't Star wars. They were part of the process to get there, bu tthey were only the first step.

And now seeing them as part of canon isn't as interesting to me. It all looks unfinished.

(The other reason is that I don't want to be excited for a new ship, only to find out I saw it 20 years ago in my lucasfilm archive book)

 

[SGU Fan]

I think that the designs McQuarrie did for Star Wars were so sleek that it gave a level of sophistication to the ships that Lucas may not have wanted. Considering the idea that war, especially a rebellion uses found objects/weapons in many instances, he may have wanted the equipment to look more used than the concept art presented. Also, Lucas is very quick to select design concepts, and may have passed on (because of budget constraints) the first models that were done. Doug Chiang has a short video about Lucas choice of some artwork in this video. http://www.starwars.com/video/the-3-second-rule-conversations-doug-chiang-looks-back

 

[Axlotl]

I like what the MF became, but seeing the original that stupid line about "Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned" suddenly actually makes sense.
You can actually SEE that several escape pods HAVE been jettisoned. On the MF we grew up with there wasn't anywhere to even put escape pods.
I was always like "Several? How do you know? How can you tell? Where would they even BE?"

 

[mofo77]

if there was a missing link of sorts between what ralph designed and the model makers built was additional design sketches done by ralph,joe johnston etc.
and as mentioned george's tweeking as well.
also the model makers drew up blueprints too plus concept models done by joe johnston and the model makers.
i'm sure some of the model makers who were also quite good at illustration may done some in between sketches as well.

 

[Jaitea]

I think that the designs McQuarrie did for Star Wars were so sleek that it gave a level of sophistication to the ships that Lucas may not have wanted. Considering the idea that war, especially a rebellion uses found objects/weapons in many instances, he may have wanted the equipment to look more used than the concept art presented.

The article that I posted links to above suggests that Lucas fell in love with McQuarries paintings and wanted to bring them to film.....& ILM succeeded in fleshing out Han's Pirate Ship,...after spending a third of the model budget on this vessel, images of the Eagle Transporter from British TV series 'Space 1999' started to appear & Lucas thought his Pirate Ship looked too similar,...so he pushed for another design, which became the Millennium Falcon,.....but with production of a full size set commencing in London based on the Pirate Ship starting with the cockpit, ILM needed to fabricate the alternative design, quickly & cheaply,.....using Joe Johnston & Ralph McQuarries concept, kitbashing to greeblie it up

The author also implies that Lucas was disappointed that ILM couldn't replicate closer to the images of RMQ, likely because of time & costs

She looks pretty used & weathered to me,....as either the Pirate Ship or the Falcon:

J

 

[Hunk a Junk]

I think the simple answer is that nobody had seen a movie like Star Wars before and both Lucas and McQuarrie were figuring out what was possible, what was impossible, and what "look" would make the film stand out. There were inspirations, like 2001, Silent Running, and even Star Trek, but Lucas didn't want hard science fiction and, as is his nature, likely pushed RMQ and the other artists to see how far they could push things before the technology and reality pushed back. For me, however, what's important is that Star Wars shouldn't have a static "look." I think that's the trap too many fans fall into when they complain about this or that not "looking like Star Wars." Not every ship has to have the plated, greebly guts on the outside look. Not everything needs to look lived in because in some places in the galaxy they may take care of their spaceships -- give them a wash and polish. Sometimes a spaceship is fresh off the assembly line.

 

[joberg]

Lots of people have a tendency to think that the models used in 2001 A Space Odyssey were "cleaner" than the one used in StarWars. On the contrary, none of the details would've been seen on the screen if not for the heavy weathering put on those models (lots of spot lights used to achieve depth of field tends to wash the details on a model, hence the grey-ish look). Inspiration for the model maker at ILM for sure. Did they push the detailing and used look to another level? They sure did and with fantastic results!