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Dec 5, 2014 - Dec 7, 2014
One of eight pieces of original pre-production art created by Colin Cantwell for George Lucas in imagining the spaceships that might populate the Star Wars (20th Century, 1977) universe, circa 1974/1975. This full-color mixed media (predominantly colored pencil) illustration features an early design of the Imperial Star Destroyer, as seen in the previous two lots; this piece depicts a space battle close up. In the foreground is an X-Wing Fighter in attack mode (wings in “X” formation), firing on the Star Destroyer. The limited color palette of this piece (reds/oranges, white, and black) convey some sense of style and scene in this illustration, compared with the others in the collection. In this close-up perspective, it can be seen that the open side design of the final version of the Imperial Star Destroyer was realized in these earliest of illustrations. The smaller X-Wing Fighter craft provides an idea of scale. The backdrop on this piece is space (no planets). From the collection of Cantwell, who was among the first approached by Lucas to work on the original Star Wars film back in 1974. Cantwell was asked to head up ILM, but he did not want to be tied down to a long-term obligation at that time. Cantwell's most notable contribution was working closely with Lucas on the spaceship designs for Star Wars : A New Hope (now known as Episode IV). Cantwell was provided with “Copy #4” of the screenplay, then titled “Adventures of The Starkiller (episode one); The Star Wars.” Cantwell is known as the creator of the first and original prototype models and designs of the X-Wing, Y-Wing, Tie Fighter, Star Destroyer, Death Star, Landspeeder, Sandcrawler, and Millennium Falcon as well as the T-16 Skyhopper that Luke Skywalker is seen playing with in the film. What has just recently been discovered is that in addition to the models, in pre-production discussions, Cantwell created full-color illustrations of some of those same ships prior to creating the models. This mixed media illustration was done predominantly with colored pencil with multilayered sections glued onto illustrative backgrounds, akin to an animation cell. In his youth, Cantwell studied both in arts and sciences and thus worked with UCLA to create the university's animation degree and was their first animation graduate; he also worked and trained with Disney animators. This is one of the eight original illustrations created by Cantwell for Lucas in realizing his vision of Star Wars .
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Colin Cantwell
Approximately 11 by 20 inches
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