Among concept designer Iain McCaig's contributions to EpisodeI are the look of the film's many costumes. Although realized as constructions of leather and fabric by Trisha Biggar, McCaig first explored many of the costumes of The Phantom Menace through illustration.

"Trisha used the concept designs like a historical reference," says McCaig. "The art department created what this world actually was like and then she made the costumes that would work on film and on the set."

The concept artists' work often overlapped and they commonly bounced ideas off one another; though as pre-production progressed, they each divided the huge amount of conceptual work along their different strengths. The bulk of McCaig's workload consisted of detailed sketches of the human and humanoid characters. Integral to these illustrations was wardrobe.

"As a character designer, a costume is part of the character," says McCaig. "The costume goes all the way -- it includes what they look like, how they wear their hair...everything."

McCaig also worked as a storyboard illustrator. He would take his designs through the action described in the script in dynamic, detailed drawings. This was necessary to see how the designs worked when placed into sets or action scenes. "In the best concept design you end up storyboarding as well. You might end up designing a look, and then suddenly realize the character has a hairstyle up to here that tends to run into doorways," laughs McCaig.

Before such concerns came into play, though, McCaig let his imagination run wild for his initial drawings.

"Norman Rockwell once said designing is like throwing a ball against the wall," McCaig says. "The final design is the ball coming back, and it never comes back as hard as you threw it. So throw it really hard. That's the theory. Design really wild, way out there. And then George Lucas will pull it back to where it needs to be."

It wasn't only aesthetics that dictated pulling back a design. A marker -and-ink illustration sometimes just doesn't work as a real-life costume. "I handed finished costume designs over to Trisha and she would point out something: if the seam of the belt buckle goes here, then that'll be a belly poking out. Or: this isn't a flattering shoulder line -- so I'd go back and tweak the drawings, and make things possible," McCaig explains.

"She made a lot of the goofy things that I'd drawn work, and I think that is the mark of a great costume designer. She can come in and redesign what's been designed. She can make it real, and make it better."

Such design philosophy meant many different versions of particular costumes went through revisions and modifications. Among the wardrobe designs most carefully worked upon were that of the Jedi.

"We went through every experimentation," McCaig recalls. "At one point, they were supposed to be a police force -- very militaristic and regimented. They wore black, neo-police uniforms. Very dark-looking -- even Yoda was dressed in black. They have their little braids and a long samurai ponytail that came out on a stick on the back. In the end, George said 'You know what? When you see Obi-Wan, I want you to know instantly that it's Obi-Wan.' So we got the old cloak out of storage and studied it."

In much the same way, Lucas wanted Yoda to be recognizable. "I did a lot of Yodas in between, one where he had a beard that came down and tied beneath his chin. It ended up like the Jedi -- George wanted you to look at Yoda, and know it was Yoda. So he lost his black costume, and he lost his strange hair."

Another returning character was Palpatine, though he would look quite different as a senator than he would later on as Emperor. In this case, the process was the opposite; McCaig used color to separate future and past Palpatines. "We wanted you not to know his future -- it doesn't matter if you know but it's nice to hide it a little. We had to find things that were subtly pompous -- not overtly -- so that you know that he had much pride and arrogance."