I don't normally cover animated movies or television, but I broke that rule once before with Star Wars: The Clone Wars so I figure it's safe to do it again. This is mainly because the concept art for Clone Wars and Rebels are based on the art of the late concept illustrator master Ralph McQuarrie.


"For me I wanted to develop a style different from Clone Wars," said Star Wars Rebels Executive Producer Dave Filoni. "This show is going to be different from Clone Wars; it's intentionally going to look different. We're not proceeding with the same style. We wanted to give it its own look and feel. For me, that always goes back to Ralph McQuarrie, and that's a name you're going to hear over and over again. Star Wars owes so much to Ralph, and I'm very dedicated to the history of Star Wars and of Lucasfilm. We need to maintain and respect that history but also do what made it great it always leapt forward."

The show will be animated and is set in the 19-year gap between the Star Wars films Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith and the original 1977 film, Episode IV: A New Hope. It will air in autumn 2014 on the Disney channel before moving to a regular slot on Disney XD.


Find out more about the upcoming show and see more images after the jump (click to enlarge).


Lucasfilm described the show this way:

Star Wars Rebels Executive Producer Dave Filoni pulled back the curtain on Lucasfilm's highly anticipated animated series for Star Wars Celebration Europe attendees today, discussing the huge influence of original Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie on the look and feel of the show, and revealing the series' unique logo and select designs.

Filoni talked at length about the use of McQuarrie art as a springboard for the series, showcasing many works from the original trilogy, including landscapes and characters, and detailing how they inform the visual identity of Star Wars Rebels.

For Star Wars Rebels, fans were given their first look at the Ghost, which will be the main character's ship and play a big part in the series, as well as a computer rendering of a very McQuarrie-esque Stormtrooper, the interior of a Star Destroyer, and more. The show's logo, a minimalist yet powerful design, is notable for its orange and black color scheme, which recalls the flight suit colors of Rebel pilots in the original Star Wars trilogy.

While unable to attend in person, Executive Producers Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman shared their excitement for the series in a video message recorded specifically for Celebration attendees.

The series is set between the events of Episode III and IV -- an era spanning almost two decades never-before explored on-screen. It takes place in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape.

Star Wars Rebels will be produced by Lucasfilm Animation, featuring many of the key talents that made Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It is scheduled to premiere in fall 2014 as a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel, and will be followed by a series on Disney XD channels around the world.

One of the key designs in the show is the Rebel ship called "The Ghost."

"It's actually a pretty big centerpiece for the show," said Filoni. "We all like the sense in the classic films that the Millennium Falcon that was a ship but it was also a place it was like a home. We wanted to give this new generation of kids a place they could go feel safe when they were running from the Empire. And I'm really excited about that. We're on the run again. The Empire is controlling the whole galaxy, so we needed a home and a ship."

The Star Wars Rebels CEII Pins revealed the Rebel Ship Schematics.

In case you can't read the Star Wars writing called Aurebesh, here's what it says according to TheForce.net:

Modified VCX-100 light freighter, Corellian Engineering Corporation,
Metrics: length: 43.9 meters, width: 34.2 meters, height: 14.5 meters,
1. nose turret's gunner position,
2. forward floodlights,
3. main cockpit,
4 crew quarters,
5 port docking ring,
6. starboard docking ring,
7. dorsal laser cannon turret,
8. main cargo hold,
9. engine assembly.

Here's some more concept art.

Finally, here's a description from StarWars.com

Production has begun on Star Wars Rebels, an exciting, all-new animated television series based on one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time. Scheduled to premiere in fall 2014 as a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel, it will be followed by a series on Disney XD channels around the world.

Screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is one of the executive producers on Star Wars Rebels and will write the premiere episode. He is joined by Dave Filoni as executive producer, who served as supervising director of the Emmy nominated Star Wars: The Clone Wars since 2008.

Executive producer Greg Weisman brings with him a wealth of animation experience with credits such as Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Gargoyles.

Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide, said, "The entire team at Lucasfilm has provided extraordinary creativity and innovation for over three decades, and we're thrilled to be bringing the expansive and imaginative world of Star Wars to Disney XD's viewers."

"I couldn't be more excited to explore new corners of the Star Wars universe," said Kathleen Kennedy, president, Lucasfilm. "I think Star Wars Rebels will capture the look, feel and fun that both kids and their parents love about Star Wars."

The action-filled series is set between the events of Episode III and IV -- an era spanning almost two decades never-before explored on-screen. Star Wars Rebels takes place in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape. Details about the show are a closely guarded secret at this point.

Star Wars Rebels will be produced by Lucasfilm Animation, featuring many of the key talents that made Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Some of the artists that we know about are Andre Kirk (http://bunsenbrown.blogspot.com) and Amy Beth Christiansen (http://artbyabc.com/).

You can see more concept art by Ralph McQuarrie on my blog and see more of his work at RalphMcQuarrie.com. 

Visit the official Star Wars Blog for a full recap of this panel and other Star Wars Celebration Europe events!

More information about this developing project will be found on StarWars.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/starwarsrebels.

Thanks to Idle Hands for images

What do you think of the illustrations?
 
© Copyright 2014 Lucasfilm Animation. All rights reserved

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If the Empire is looking for a way to recruit, they should look at these Star Wars pin-up posters.

Above Image: Imperial Recruitment Pin-up Poster "Do your part, SERVE!" by Feng Zhu

One common method of propaganda uses images of beautiful men and women to make people think that if they follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. In that sense, these are brilliant.

Feng Zhu is a concept artist who's worked on Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). He drew "Imperial Recruitment" posters for the trade paperback Star Wars Visionaries. They remind me a lot of the 50s WWII posters.

Check after the jump for the posters and click on them to enlarge.

Try and stay away from the Empire now.

You can see more of Feng Zhu's portfolio and design school fengzhudesign.com.

(Via Geekologie)

This is a cross-post from my other blog The Geek Twins

What do you think of the posters? Would you join the empire?


Z is for Zhu
This post was part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 26 days, I choose a letter from the alphabet and featured a favorite artist or property. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here. Check the Facebook page and follow on Twitterusing the hashtag #AtoZChallenge.

Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick(L. Diane Wolfe)

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See some designs by IainMcCaig that show what young Han Solo would have looked like in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Iain McCaig is an illustrator, storybhoard artist and conceptual designer. He was involved in the Star Wars film projects as well as John Carter of Mars.

Check them out after the jump and click on the images to enlarge.


Some concept art has been swirling around recently. It's not new or anything, but what makes it exciting is it ties into the news of Star Wars spin-off films.  It first appeared in the excellent concept art book Art of Star Wars III (Star Wars Episode III) from 2005.

The story goes that Lucas wrote early drafts of the script in which a 10-year-old Han Solo appears on Kashyyyk, Chewbacca's home planet, but the role was not cast or shot.

Here's the clip from the script:

HAN SOLO
I found part of a transmitter droid near the east bay… I think it’s still sending and receiving signals.

YODA
Good. Good. Track this we can back to the source. Find General Grievous, we might…

McCaig said, “It’s not in the script anymore, but we were told that Han Solo was on Kashyyyk and that he was being raised by Chewbacca. He’s such a persnickety guy later on – he always has to have the best of everything – so I thought it’d be great if when he was a kid, he was an absolute slob.”

Thankfully, it got cut. I can think of 100,000 things wrong with this idea, but the biggest one is implying that Chewbacca was Solo's surrogate father. It changes the whole relationship.

You can see more of Iain McCaig's work at www.iainmccaig.com and iainmccaig.blogspot.com and on my Filmsketchr Concept Art blog.

Wikipedia Description
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' chronology.

The film takes place three years after the onset of the Clone Wars. The Jedi Knights are spread out across the galaxy leading a massive clone army in the war against the Separatists. The Jedi Council dispatches Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to eliminate the evil General Grievous, leader of the Separatist Army. Meanwhile, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, separated from Kenobi, his former master, grows close to Palpatine, the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and, unknown to the public, a Sith Lord. Their deepening friendship proves dangerous for the Jedi Order, the Republic, and Anakin himself who inevitably succumbs to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader, changing the fate of the galaxy forever.

Directed by George Lucas
Produced by Rick McCallum
Written by George Lucas
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz
Cinematography: David Tattersall
Production Design: Gavin Bocquet
Via /Film

@ Copyright [YEAR] [Studio], [Artist]. All rights reserved

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Here's a video compilation of Revenge of the Sith (2005) concept art by DarthTaramasalata. A great video set against the John Williams theme music.

What do you think of the video? Do you have a favorite illustration?
 
@ Copyright 2005 LucasFilm. All rights reserved 

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