The final film in the Skywalker saga comes home today on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, and we have three free, printable covers featuring gorgeous concept art from the movie.
The raging seas of Kef Bir make an unforgettable backdrop for the final duel between Rey and Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a roiling ocean as turbulent as the pair perched on top of the Death Star debris.
As concept artist Adam Brockbank sat down to capture the moment during pre-production, he and other artists collaborated to strike a balance between the unforgiving organic environment and the unmistakable metallic struts of the moon-sized Imperial battle station, he says. “The main challenge with Kef Bir -- we just called it the 'sea planet' at the time! -- was one of scale,” Brockbank says. “How to integrate the rusting ruins of a Death Star, which we know is the size of a small moon, into a raging sea with giant waves, in a way that was so convincing that you wouldn’t give it a second thought?”
With the production working on deadline, Brockbank collaborated with art director Petra Balough, who was helping to create the practical set pieces for the scene, and further cement the look and feel of the moment. “Sometimes a concept illustration is about how to frame a scene, sometimes about establishing a design or idea with clarity,” Brockbank says. “This illustration fell somewhere between the two…What it does establish is the tremendous dramatic potential of the breaking waves and the surf spray, which echo the inner tumult of our protagonists.”
As we celebrate the release of the 4K Ultra HD™ and Blu-ray™ editions of the final film in the Skywalker saga today, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, StarWars.com is thrilled to offer three free, exclusive printable insert covers featuring concept art from Adam Brockbank, Christian Alzmann, and Stephen Tappin. Scroll down to see each one as an insert or slip cover and get directions on how to make your own!
“The original artwork that caught J.J. [Abrams'] imagination was by Jon McCoy,” Brockbank says. “One of Jon’s sketches featured these long, curving ribs, almost like giant breakers in the raging sea.”
“Earlier on we had done some concepts trying to understand what it would look like if Kylo and Rey were in two totally different places and they were using their physical Force connection to fight one another with lightsabers,” Alzmann says. Ultimately, as an artist it was the use of light sources that hinted to the out-of-place helmet in this piece.
Tappin’s piece captures the urgency of the Resistance heroes fleeing from the First Order on stolen speeders, artistically propelling Rey, Chewbacca, Finn, Poe, BB-8, C-3PO, and their pursuers with his use of perspective and soaring strokes of color to suggest the landscape hurtling by.
Ready to customize your own copy? Good people will follow if we lead them, so here are your step-by-step instructions.
INSERT COVERS
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