Sad day,legend of an artist!!

I had not heard this! That's too bad. I remember opening up Topps' Empire Strikes Backs cards growing up and getting the basic cards with his production art on them. We wouldn't have the original trilogy we know now without his artistic input! RIP!

What more can be said about a man that defined a galaxy?

R.I.P Mr.McQuarrie my childhood would have not been as bright without you.

RIP

I missed this thread when it was new. Ralph McQuarrie created some incredible artwork. I really liked the Star Wars pre-production piece of C3PO and R2-D2 crossing the desert after their escape. In it C3PO looks like the "Machine Man" from Metropolis, honoring the cinematic past in that way though he's perhaps outmoded next to the multi-function droid coming up behind him.

In the Star Wars Widevision set by Topps in 1994 McQuarrie art was showcased in the set's only chase level, a 10-card chromium subset and the art looked great in that format. The chromium sheen cleanly reflected the shimmering heat of Tatooine's wastelands and metallic surfaces of the Death Star and space ships. The painting of the droids in the desert as a chromium widevision card is one of my favorite chase cards ever made.

In the late 90's I met Ralph McQuarrie briefly at a collectibles show he was signing at. In my collection the only sizable McQuarrie items I had were two Star Wars Mastervisions promo cards (Star Wars magazine inserts) so I brought those in case I could get something signed. Other people had more substantial things like nice art prints for him to autograph but he signed my cards too. I don't have a COA for those and maybe I should get those slabbed at some point, but all these years later, I like them as they are with the memory of meeting a great artist.