Ralph McQuarrie was one of those extremely bizarre humans gifted with the power to see and talk to aliens. He was so lucky that being a kid, and way before he moved to California in the 60s, these invited him for a few extraterrestrial trips.
I think the rest of his story, achievements and career, from Boeing & CBS to his latest work with Spielberg, are worldwide known by pretty much every sci-fi fan, especially Star Wars ones.
Unfortunately for us all McQuarrie just passed away at the age of 82 yesterday in his Berkeley home. The artist considered by many the co-creator of George Lucas’ famous saga had not only won an Academy Award for his work on Cocoon but inspired and pretty much imposed a way of conceiving the outer space, the bad aliens but also the most likable and chilren-friendly ones…. (*batteries not included, E.T….).
Besides visiting his website or facebook page please consider spending a few minutes visiting the dedicated sub-page the people @ Starwars.com have created for him with a slideshow covering some of the best Star Wars concept and licensed paintings by the Indiana space traveler.
