I is for Iain McCaig
Here's the story behind the design of Darth Maul by Iain McCaig (Star Wars)
McCaig had no idea he was designing one of the most popular Star Wars villains ever. "When I was working on Darth Maul, Drew Strudan, who does the posters, said, 'Do you realize you are making icons?' I said if I knew that, I could never do this!"
At first, when Ian was asked to design the new Sith Lord for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace he tried to design a mask or helmet. “Part skull. Part Nazi Helmet. I tried everything I could think of to better it before eventually throwing in the towel.”
Finally, George Lucas said, "Draw your worst nightmare." McCaig’s worst nightmare was a vision of the undead with red ribbons falling over its head. So, Lucas asked for his second worst nightmare and McCaig told him he was scared of clowns.
As part of his design process he grabbed anyone he could find to model and began laying patterns over their face.
Finally, he got David Dozoretz from the animatics group and superimposed a circuit board on his face. Lucas liked the idea and McCaig took it from there.
McCaig stated, "If you were to strip the flesh off your face right now...the muscles would form a Darth Maulish pattern."
"I was thinking about what might make someone a Sith Lord, and it seemed that pain would be a fine meditation. So in my drawing I had Maul bind his head with razorwire interspersed with black feathers, an excruciating ritualistic device to centre his Dark side energy." The feathers became horns after looking at the silhouette.
McCaig wanted to balance the horror of Maul’s tattoos with an element of beauty and softness, to "lend an element of seduction to the dark side."
He said Maul’s whole body was designed "based [on] the idea of peeled flesh and muscle patterns...he’s covered from head-to-toe. Every inch of him." Lots of people gave him designs for Maul's tattoos. "Especially women - who were suggesting different patterns, especially red spots on his butt." At one lecture he showed the Sith Lord from the waist down with a big red dot on each butt cheek.
You can see more of Ian McCaig's work at his (infrequently updated) blog at http://iainmccaig.blogspot.com/. Also check out his book below.
What do you think of the illustrations? Did anything surprise you about his origin?
This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 27 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and crafting a post around it. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here.
Hosts: Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report, Matthew McNish at The QQQE, Tina Downey atLife is Good, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Elizabeth Mueller, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain, and Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small. Check the Facebook page and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.
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Here's the story behind the design of Darth Maul by Iain McCaig (Star Wars)
McCaig had no idea he was designing one of the most popular Star Wars villains ever. "When I was working on Darth Maul, Drew Strudan, who does the posters, said, 'Do you realize you are making icons?' I said if I knew that, I could never do this!"
At first, when Ian was asked to design the new Sith Lord for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace he tried to design a mask or helmet. “Part skull. Part Nazi Helmet. I tried everything I could think of to better it before eventually throwing in the towel.”
As part of his design process he grabbed anyone he could find to model and began laying patterns over their face.
Finally, he got David Dozoretz from the animatics group and superimposed a circuit board on his face. Lucas liked the idea and McCaig took it from there.
McCaig stated, "If you were to strip the flesh off your face right now...the muscles would form a Darth Maulish pattern."
"I was thinking about what might make someone a Sith Lord, and it seemed that pain would be a fine meditation. So in my drawing I had Maul bind his head with razorwire interspersed with black feathers, an excruciating ritualistic device to centre his Dark side energy." The feathers became horns after looking at the silhouette.
McCaig wanted to balance the horror of Maul’s tattoos with an element of beauty and softness, to "lend an element of seduction to the dark side."
He said Maul’s whole body was designed "based [on] the idea of peeled flesh and muscle patterns...he’s covered from head-to-toe. Every inch of him." Lots of people gave him designs for Maul's tattoos. "Especially women - who were suggesting different patterns, especially red spots on his butt." At one lecture he showed the Sith Lord from the waist down with a big red dot on each butt cheek.
You can see more of Ian McCaig's work at his (infrequently updated) blog at http://iainmccaig.blogspot.com/. Also check out his book below.
What do you think of the illustrations? Did anything surprise you about his origin?
This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 27 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and crafting a post around it. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here.
Hosts: Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report, Matthew McNish at The QQQE, Tina Downey atLife is Good, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Elizabeth Mueller, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain, and Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small. Check the Facebook page and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.
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I still cannot believe the way that they constructed the look of Darth Maul. When I saw the orgins when I was researching Maul....I was in awe what he could have looked like. I am glad that Maul looked the way that he did.
ReplyDeleteThis is so amazing. I've always wondered how they got his look. Thanks so much for sharing. I've mearned somehting I've always wanted to today.
ReplyDeletewow man, this post is gold.
ReplyDeletethough I have heard Iain say that he also got the pattern idea from rainforest poison frogs patterns, it was some youtube video.
I Geeky Daddy, you're right. I don't think he would have been as popular if he'd just had some stripes on his face. Subject: [filmsketchr] Re: Film Sketchr: See 'Star Wars' Darth Maul's Secret Origins In Ian McAig's Concept Art
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool.
ReplyDeleteDarth Maul was great, but so under used in movie. Especially given all the thought that went into him.
I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.Looking forward to seeing what you do all month!TimThe Other SideThe Freedom of Nonbelief
Darth Mail has a larger role thanks to the Clone Wars TV show, but he's definitely a fan favorite. Thanks for stopping by Timothy. Hope we'll see you again soon.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, thanks for visiting and I'm glad you learned a little about an amazing artist.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty awesome. Weird to think that he evolved into the iconic look. One likes to imagine Darth Maul just popped out fully-formed. And to be honest, I always assumed the horns were a demonic reference, not inspired by feathers.
ReplyDeleteNigel, I remember reading a quote from Lucas where he said Darth Maul was a combination of various cultures views of evil. I think we all made that assumption.
ReplyDelete