Before the computing era, ILM was the master of oil matte painting, making audiences believe that some of the sets in the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogy were real when they weren’t. They were the work of geniuses like Chris Evans, Michael Pangrazio, Frank Ordaz, Harrison Ellenshaw and Ralph McQuarrie ! Forever thank you, to their handmade art and the work of their colleagues, that made us dream of impossible worlds and fantastic places across Earth and the Universe.
There are more background paintings on this article, featuring comments by the masters/artists themselves !
Some of the following pieces were made by other artists 2:
exCUSE ME?!?!!??!??! TheYRE PAINTINGS?!??!!?!
SHUT UP I thought they were miniatures!!!!
It’s too beautiful. I could cry.
I love this because I’ll be watching a movie and think “how did they do that? Is that a building they built for this movie? Was it there beforehand? Is it cardboard or CGI? Is that actually some place on Earth that they’re filming?” And the answer to all of these now is “nope, that’s a painting”. I can’t believe some of the most iconic, familiar shots were paintings!
So now picture Luke and Skywalker fleeing from Stormtroopers and turning into a tunnel and disappearing into it.
And then for whatever reason, the stormtroopers crash upon the elaborately painted tunnel, Wile E. Coyote style.
And Han and Luke emerge from the side, holding paintbrushes. “Works every time.”
THis is what is lacking from cinema today.
