Republics, Empires and Rebellions that Might Have Been: A Star Wars Art: Concept Book Review



With 2014 just beginning, I'm going to kick off this year’s posts the only way a geek like me knows how: by talking about some of the swag I got for Christmas. For now, I’ll be taking about Star Wars Art: Concept which was recently published by Abrams Books. Read on for my complete review.

Star Wars Art: Concept provides a historical cross section of Star Wars concept art, from the pre-production years of the first movie during the mid-70s up to the present day over three decades later. As such, it is not a comprehensive archive of concept art but a concept art sampler, providing glimpses into the conceptual work behind the movies, animated series and video games.

To understand why this book was assembled and published in such a way, you have to consider that Concept is part of a larger series of Star Wars art books published by Abrams, a series that also includes Star Wars Art: Illustration, Star Wars Art: Comics, Star Wars Art: Visions and Star Wars: Frames. Each of these books covers different visual aspects of the franchise as a whole, instead of focusing on a single title within the franchise. If you want a complete set of concept art for a specific Star Wars movie, animated series, comic book series or video game, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

The opening essays in Concept by Star Wars movie vets Joe Johnston, Ryan Church and Doug Chiang, as well as a concluding interview with Erik Tiemens, who worked on Revenge of the Sith, do a great deal to explain how essential visual art has been to the success of the franchise, so much so that there probably wouldn't be a franchise without it. Indeed, having a clear understanding of what the audience should see on the screen is crucial to building fantastic, fictional worlds; if special effects-driven movies fail to impress--either practical effects or CGI--it’s because their makers didn’t think creatively enough ahead of time before using the effects.

Star Wars Art: Concept does have some unusual choices made by the publisher. The movies are well-represented, as is The Clone Wars animated series; however, concept art from only a handful of video games appear in Concept. Concept art from video games released during the '90s is conspicuously absent, and not a single example of concept art from the popular Knights of the Old Republic series appears within the book’s 176 pages. Curiously, artist Hajime Sorayama gets four pages for his private commission work, even though none of the work in question had anything to do with the development of any Star Wars title; thus, why his work is in Concept and not Star Wars Art: Visions is a mystery to me.


Star Wars Art: Concept is a great purchase for fans who appreciate the franchise's lengthy history and understand where each of the pieces featured in the book belong in its chronology. As someone who grew up with Star Wars and remains fascinated by it, I love Concept and I look forward to picking up some of the other Abrams Books publications to see more perspectives on a galaxy far, far away.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with
Read more

FOUND: Mechanical Shark from Universal Jaws Theme Park Ride

Image
When the Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida shut down its Jaws ride back in January 2012, Jaws fans everywhere were devastated. Yet even though this part of the Jaws franchise is no longer operational, some of its sharks are swimming around out there … including places such as Frederick, Maryland. A few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow Jaws fan named John Ryan, asking me if I knew anything specific regarding the sharks from the Universal Jaws ride. He was asking because he thought he found one and is trying to verify its authenticity. We spoke on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and here’s what he told me about his find: “I've been collecting Jaws memorabilia for decades and when I found this incredibly rare gem sitting in a backyard in Frederick, Maryland, I wondered about its connection to the state. The current homeowners said the shark was already there when they purchased the property. They also told me it had been the subject of neighborhood rumor for y
Read more

Machine Robo's Magnificent Robot Combiners

Image
I don't collect Transformers merchandise, but I see articles and advertisements about it when I browse through Japanese robot toy sites. From what I can gather, one of the latest product lines for Transformers is called "Combiner Wars" , a line that consists of five or six transforming robot toys that combine into one bigger robot. Combiner robot toys have been around for a long time, and Transformers had quite a few of them even back in the '80s. Yet of the many combiner robot toys I've seen over the years, the ones that have consistently impressed me were the ones released by Bandai under the Machine Robo line. Whereas other robot toy lines are stuck in the novelty of combining smaller toys into a bigger toy, Machine Robo has used the concept of combination to promote creative play. Read on for a review of how Machine Robo has built upon its combiner toys throughout the years.
Read more