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Ralph McQuarrie

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Ralph McQuarrie

Biographical information
Born	June 13, 1929 Gary, Indiana, USA
Nationality	American
Career
Star Wars work	Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi Shadows of the Empire
Other work of note	Battlestar Galactica E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Cocoon Jurassic Park

[Source]

"George had ideas about how his picture would look. In fact, I think the look of the picture was more interesting to him than the plot."

―Ralph McQuarrie^[src]

Ralph McQuarrie is a visionary conceptual designer and futurist responsible for the look of the original trilogy of Star Wars.

He often goes by the initials "RMQ", which he uses as his signature. Most of his concept art is featured in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe and The Art of Ralph McQuarrie.

In addition to the Original Trilogy, he provided concept illustrations for Shadows of the Empire. He also provided the illustration of the Ark of the Covenant seen in a Bible near the beginning in George Lucas' Raiders of the Lost Ark.

McQuarrie was tuckerized via a cameo in The Empire Strikes Back as General Pharl McQuarrie.

In the 30th Anniversary toy series, McQuarrie's concept art is turned into actual action figures. Such figures include a concept Chewbacca, a concept Han Solo, a concept Darth Vader, a concept Starkiller hero (the precursor to Luke Skywalker), two separate releases of the concept stormtrooper and a concept snowtrooper.

McQuarrie's artwork was such a strong influence on the look and feel of the original trilogy that some scenes from the films are virtually identical to the concept art provided by McQuarrie. An example of this can be seen below.