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Showing posts with the label The Art of Star Wars

Book Review: 'The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

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© 2015 Henry N. Abrams Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On December 18, 2015, Henry N. Abrams (aka Abrams) Books published image archivist Phil Szostak's The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh book in The Art of Star Wars series of books devoted to the concept art used by Lucasfilm Ltd. to create the Star Wars live-action movies. Following the traditions established by Carol Titleman in her 1979 book The Art of Star Wars, Szostak curates an impressive array of pre-visualization paintings, costume and set designs, concepts for Resistance and First Order starships and secret weapons such as Starkiller Base, and sketches and photos for such now-iconic props as Kylo Ren's "crossguard lightsaber" and Rey's handy fighting stave. Released on the same day of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' theatrical release, The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens features artwork contributed by renowned production designer Rick Baker (who wrote the book's forewor

Book Review: 'The Art of Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope'

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(C) 1979 Ballantine Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  In   November of 1979, Ballantine Books (then the sole licensed publisher of Star Wars novels and most of the literary tie-ins) published two versions of Carol Titleman’s The Art of Star Wars . One was a limited-edition hardcover, which I have never seen, the other was one of those "trade paperback" editions (coffee table size but in softcover). What made The Art of Star Wars a must-get for me in those days was that it contained the entire fourth revised draft of the screenplay for A New Hope (it was the first time I had seen the Episode IV subtitle, even though I bought this after seeing The Empire Strikes Back ). The screenplay included scenes that were later edited out of the final film (mainly scenes on Tatooine focusing a bit on Luke's life there and introducing Biggs Darklighter early in the film’s first act. Another deleted scene – which was restored for the Special Edition 20 years later – intro