Ralph McQuarrie, a visionary conceptual designer and futurist, played a crucial role in shaping the designs and overall visual appeal of the original trilogy. In addition to his work on the core films, he created concept illustrations for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and the depiction of the Ark of the Covenant that appears in a Bible at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He frequently signed his work with his initials, "RMQ." As a tribute, McQuarrie was tuckerized with a cameo appearance as General Pharl McQuarrie in The Empire Strikes Back. Much of his conceptual artwork can be found in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe and The Art of Ralph McQuarrie. Furthermore, his work was showcased in the 2014 book The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, written by Tony DiTerlizzi. To commemorate the 30th Anniversary, McQuarrie's concept art was adapted into a series of action figures. These figures include a concept Chewbacca, a concept Han Solo, a concept Darth Vader, a concept Starkiller hero (the original version of Luke Skywalker), two different versions of the concept stormtrooper, and a concept snowtrooper.
Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie, a compilation of McQuarrie's Star Wars illustrations, was published on September 27, 2016. This collection featured a foreword by George Lucas and presented over 2,000 illustrations, which had been newly scanned and rephotographed from conceptual paintings, costume sketches, storyboards, book jackets, and holiday cards created for Lucasfilm.
The television show Star Wars Rebels has been significantly influenced by McQuarrie's artistic contributions in several ways.
- The visual style of Rebels bears a strong resemblance to McQuarrie's concept art. [6]
- The design of Lothal was inspired by some of McQuarrie's conceptual drawings. [6]
- The character design of Zeb and his species, the Lasat, drew inspiration from McQuarrie's early artwork for Chewbacca.
- A character modeled after an early McQuarrie design of "General Skywalker" is visible seated behind Sabine Wren in the episode " Droids in Distress."
- The design of Azmorigan was derived from early Jabba the Hutt artwork created by McQuarrie.
- The character Quarrie, who is introduced in the episode " Wings of the Master," is named in honor of McQuarrie.
- The Moyn are based upon a preliminary sketch for an alien bounty hunter in The Empire Strikes Back. [7]
- The stylized depiction of Darth Vader is an homage to McQuarrie's version, which was also featured on the cover of the first edition of the novelization of A New Hope.
- The standard forms of the E-XD infiltrator droids' are similar to C-3PO's original concept art.
- The design of the TK stormtrooper armor was based on McQuarrie's initial designs for the Stormtrooper armor.