His art has really inspired me, both just within SW and in design, painting, and illustration generally. McQuarrie's paintings are often even better at hinting at a world, allowing the viewer to wonder, than finished films or graphic novels. Art like his presents snatches of realities, leaving the rest to be populated by the audience's imagination.

I'd like to point out that in the last image, he's working on a matte for Empire in which he painted in a differently lit roof to the Falcon; the on-set lighting didn't please him, so he fixed it. The cool part is... did you ever notice that?

EDIT: Ha, looks like Spilka and I had the same idea!