Fans of legendary Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie will be pleased to find several new exclusives available only at Celebration Japan this month, a three-day event being held in Chiba, near Tokyo, July 19-21. A stunning McQuarrie-inspired poster by renowned sculptor Lawrence Noble, an exclusive book of McQuarrie's Star Wars artwork (including several never before published pieces!), and a pair of all-new prints that continue the popular series of "concept to finish" artworks that have been offered at previous Celebrations.
Here's the lowdown on McQuarrie exclusives you can expect to see at Celebration Japan:
McQuarrie Tribute Poster by Lawrence Noble
Ralph retired in the late '90s, never having completed a painting of his original poster concept. This piece of Star Wars history has been missing until now.
As a tribute to McQuarrie, noted illustrator/sculptor Lawrence Noble picked up a paintbrush for the first time in years to complete a painting based on Ralph's original concept art.
"We wanted to do this in the style of a poster from 1977," says Noble. "It was a wonderful project to work on - I enjoyed picking up a paint brush after so long. The poster was even produced in the same size (27"x 41") as the original Star Wars 1977 Theatrical U.S. one-sheet."
Lawrence Noble (see our profile here) first met Ralph McQuarrie at a Northern California art show (Space: Fantasy & Reality) organized by noted art collector William Plumb. Both artists worked on exclusive show posters for the event. Noble will be attending Star Wars Celebration Japan, and as with Star Wars Celebration IV and Celebration Europe, he will be sculpting a Star Wars character bust throughout the weekend at the show - this time of Luke Skywalker.
Lawrence Noble is the designer of many motion picture advertising campaigns including Time After Time, Flash Gordon, Sharky's Machine, The Empire Strikes Back (10th Anniversary Poster), and more recently, he produced sculptures for Searching for Bobby Fischer and The Rock. He is also responsible for several bronze sculptures adorning Lucasfilm's Big Rock and Presidio campuses. Samples of his work can be seen on his official website.
This Star Wars Celebration Japan store exclusive is limited to 2000 copies and has a retail price of $25 US.
Star Wars Art of Ralph McQuarrie Book
Dreams & Visions Press' Stan Stice discusses this rare exclusive book available only at Celebration Japan:
"Ralph had recently found a large folder with drawings and paintings from Star Wars and Empire that no one has seen for years or has ever seen. All of this after we finished the big [Art of Ralph McQuarrie] book. I was thinking of a way to get the art out there, and then comes Celebration Japan.
"Celebration Japan gave me the opportunity to showcase these recently found jewels and to include art that we could not fit into the first book. I pitched the idea of a Japan exclusive with the new art and to expand the book. It was approved.
So I took the Star Wars section from The Art of Ralph McQuarrie and added the new-found art, included art that did not make the first cut, increased the page count by about 30 pages and came up with a nice Japanese Star Wars exclusive. I shrunk the book down to 9"x12" and made it a soft cover. I was able to use one of the cover designs we did not use on the first book.
"Ralph is pretty happy with the book. The new stuff is wonderful and people will finally get to see his art and drawings that have been forgotten all these years."
This is a Celebration Japan exclusive, limited to 1978 copies. For more information, go to the publisher's site here.
Celebration Japan Exclusive McQuarrie Prints
Following in the line of 30th Anniversary concept art prints created for Star Wars Celebration IV and Star Wars Celebration Europe, two new prints, each limited to 125 individually numbered copies showcase two more of Ralph McQuarrie's original Star Wars production painting concepts from original pencil drawing to finished painting.
These pieces will be available in the Art of Ralph McQuarrie booth in the artist area for $40 US (each) while supplies last.
For more information about Celebration Japan, visit www.celebrationjapan.com.
