Who was the conceptual artist and illustrator who ‘saved’ Star Wars?

Many Star Wars fans know who he is, but what they may not know is that the entire fate of Star Wars rested in his capable hands — literally.

Episode 2 of the Disney Plus series Light & Magic reveals just how much conceptual designer and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie meant to Lucas’ story ever being told.

“I am not the greatest writer in the world,” George Lucas admits on-camera, acknowledging that if Star Wars was going to see the light of day, he’s need some talented collaborators.

His writerly shortfalls became evident to Lucas when his pitches to multiple studios were rejected. “I’d taken a proposal to a couple of studios,” he explained, “and they turned it down. They were confused by it.” 

To make matters worse, Lucas explained, studios were not exactly jumping at the opportunity to make a science fiction movie. Lucas points out that in the early 1970s, sci-fi generally did not do well at the box office.

George, who didn’t even learn what a filmmaker was until he was in college, found himself frustrated, but also at something of a crossroads.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to get the picture off the ground and I was rewriting it. I took it to every studio in town, and everybody turned it down. I was getting pretty desperate but once I decide I’m going to do something, I just don’t let anything stop me.”

Bound by his determination and unwilling to give up, the budding director needed a new direction. His film American Graffiti was doing well both critically and financially, but that didn’t seem to change the minds of those who heard his space opera pitch. The fact that he had a proven track record but couldn’t get traction surely caused more frustration for him.

Luckily, Lucas recognized that while he intended the film be a visual as well as a storytelling delight, he wasn’t much of an artist either. His drawings were very amateurish and simple; good for getting a point across, but they weren’t going to impress anybody. Put it this way; he had a killer stick figure game, but his movie pitches were obviously in need of some seriously eye-popping accompanying artwork to convey his vision.

That’s when he reminded himself that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and realized he needed to collaborate with a visual artist. After all, studioes were not intrigued listening to Lucas talk about “robots and wookies” and not knowing what they looked like. This realization led to the single most important moment in Lucas’ vision coming to life, and suddenly changed the fate of Star Wars from a good idea doomed to never see the light of day, to a dream made a reality.

As Lucas puts it, “I hired an illustrator, Ralph McQuarrie, to draw the characters that I had done.” Even more crucial to the process, Lucas was so inspired by McQuarrie’s illustrations and paintings, he says, that seeing the finished works actually inspired him to keep working on the story. 

McQuarrie claims that after Lucas came over with the script, he wasted no time embarking on some concept paintings. “I started on it the same day. I really got into it right away.”

The success of American Graffiti earned Lucas a pitch with Fox Studio exec Alan Ladd, Jr. During that pitch, Lucas claims that once Ladd saw McQuarrie’s drawings, he was hooked. Ladd loved the visuals, and believed in Lucas’ passion for the story. That’s all he needed to sign Lucas to a deal.

And, thus, Star Wars could be made. The challenges in actually making it certainly created some doubt as to whether it would live up to George’s vision and, for that matter, McQuarrie’s visuals. Funny enough, McQuarrie himself didn’t actually think the movie would ever get made. In the least, he thought if it did, then it still wouldn’t look quite like his paintings, because he couldn’t fathom a studio being able to afford pulling off such a major project.

McQuarrie was happy to be wrong, however. He has since gone on to be one of the most revered people associated with Star Wars, and his seemingly countless paintings later inspired other Star Wars projects and continued to be the visual basis of future films in the saga.

McQuarrie passed away in 2012, at the age of 82.

Without McQuarrie, we’re likely denied the tale of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and the greatest galactic war of all time.