MattMahdi said:I'm sure we're all familiar with the Ralph McQuarrie painting of Chewbacca's house with Lumpy balancing on the rail. In a way, because McQuarrie did it, it's something that truly gives the Special a legitimacy it might otherwise not have. That, and much of the conceptual art that SKot has at his site. The program was taken seriously by some talented people who did excellent work. [Too bad the rest of the production didn't rise to the same level.]
When and where did that painting see print?
I _assume_ that it was created specifically for the Special because we can see Lumpy.
So does anyone know whence it came? And, equally important, whether it's possible to find a larger, higher-resolution image than what's generally available?
The matte painting they actually ended up using (2 of them actually - one for day, one for night at the end) was very similar to the Ralph McQuarrie painting, but was repainted by another unknown artist. I'm not sure exactly when McQuarrie painted the original piece, but I believe it was well before production began on the Holiday Special, and served as an inspiration for the show. I'm guessing it was earlier in 1978, when ideas were being thrown around for the Special. As to when it saw print, I'm not sure about that one either. It was hard to find anywhere, that's for sure, let alone in any kind of quality. Sadly, Kashyyyk was not included in the 1995 Illustrated Star Wars Universe book, so it wasn't there. I do know that more recently a giant version of it was included in The Art of Ralph McQuarrie book, along with a few other amazing HS pieces, some of which have never been seen elsewhere. My original source for a decent-resolution image of it? I purchased a couple of Star Wars ScreenThemes screen savers that included a lot of McQuarrie art in 1024x768.
Oddly enough, there's some Joe Johnston Wookiee family artwork that I figured was pre-production art for the HS... but it's dated 3/8/79! Why it would be AFTER the show aired is a mystery to me. By that time, everybody knew it was a failure, so what was LFL up to? Were they talking about a TV series? Or thinking of featuring Wookiees in the next film? I'm hoping someday I can ask Joe Johnston that question.
--SKot