The Hand-Painted Scenes of The Original Star Wars Trilogy That Made Us Believe It Was Real

Ralph McQuarrie

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) used matte paintings to create the Rebel hangar in Return of The Jedi. Models also played apart. But it’s the artwork that stands out. Nowadays, photorealistic CGI is the default technology for special effects, but in the 70s and 80s, background sets in movies were hand-painted.

These matte paintings were created by Chris Evans, Mike Pangrazio, Frank Ordaz, Harrison Ellenshaw, and Ralph McQuarrie. Continue reading »