Star Wars isn't my favorite franchise by any stretch of the imagination, but as an artist and designer I appreciate that it's been without peer in terms of iconic imagery, jaw-dropping character designs, and finely-detailed and memorable mechanical constructs. Some of the most popular characters in the series owe much of their popularity simply to how well they were designed, even if they barely are in the films. Some don't even have speaking lines and yet are still popular.
Many of them could've gone quite differently. Yoda was once going to just be a glorified lawn gnome, for instance.
Iconic ships like the Millennium Falcon were once entirely different in initial conception (many scrapped versions just became regular transport ships).
Which is why it's good to appreciate just how well the series handled its many exotic aliens and fantastical sci-fi transports in the final films. There are HUNDREDS of ships and aliens and robots in the series, both in films as well as the comics, games, novels, and toys.
Starting off, and being disappointingly predictable, I think my favorite alien design is still the Dathomirians... mostly due to Darth Maul. I tend not to gravitate towards "humans painted different colors" in terms of alien designs, but from the very first concept art of him I saw during the film's marketing to the first trailer shot of him with his big entrance, it gave me something I feel Star Wars always lacked but I never knew what - a magic ninja space devil.
As a design, he's both incredibly intimidating and yet also incredibly stupid, all at the same time, which is perfectly Star Wars. He's the angsty Sith lord who clearly listens to nu metal and got inked up to show his mom she wasn't the boss of him. He's human ENOUGH, but the red and black color scheme, crown of horns, and tribal tattoos creates a sort of alien savagery that Star Wars hadn't quite had before and that would've looked quite odd in the original trilogy. I'd chalk the retconning of his death and return in material like Clone Wars and Solo: A Star Wars Story almost entirely on the fact it was a design too good to waste. The rest of his species was equally elegant and unsettling, like a race of alien nightmare creatures.
As for my favorite mechanical design, I'm quite fond of the Naboo Starfighter. I think I can thank the N64 games for that...
It's like a sports car - sleek and streamlined, smooth and flowing to sharp points, and with a bold yellow that is a far contrast to most of the other gray ships in the Star Wars universe.
I just realized I used two examples from The Phantom Menace, which isn't even a movie I remotely like, but artistically it was incredibly imaginative in its designs and concepts. It looks fast, nimble, and classically retro.
And then I guess you have stuff like Dewbacks and Tauntauns, which double as both aliens AND transportation.
Out of all of them, which alien, droid, or creature design stood out to you most? And which mechanical vehicle became your favorite? There doesn't need to be any rhyme or reason for it, but it would be nice to share why that's the case. Whether it's Ewoks or Gungans, Jabba's Khetanna luxury barge or Yoda's Homemade Evacuation Pod, which stuck with you after you saw it?
Many of them could've gone quite differently. Yoda was once going to just be a glorified lawn gnome, for instance.
Iconic ships like the Millennium Falcon were once entirely different in initial conception (many scrapped versions just became regular transport ships).
Which is why it's good to appreciate just how well the series handled its many exotic aliens and fantastical sci-fi transports in the final films. There are HUNDREDS of ships and aliens and robots in the series, both in films as well as the comics, games, novels, and toys.
Starting off, and being disappointingly predictable, I think my favorite alien design is still the Dathomirians... mostly due to Darth Maul. I tend not to gravitate towards "humans painted different colors" in terms of alien designs, but from the very first concept art of him I saw during the film's marketing to the first trailer shot of him with his big entrance, it gave me something I feel Star Wars always lacked but I never knew what - a magic ninja space devil.
As a design, he's both incredibly intimidating and yet also incredibly stupid, all at the same time, which is perfectly Star Wars. He's the angsty Sith lord who clearly listens to nu metal and got inked up to show his mom she wasn't the boss of him. He's human ENOUGH, but the red and black color scheme, crown of horns, and tribal tattoos creates a sort of alien savagery that Star Wars hadn't quite had before and that would've looked quite odd in the original trilogy. I'd chalk the retconning of his death and return in material like Clone Wars and Solo: A Star Wars Story almost entirely on the fact it was a design too good to waste. The rest of his species was equally elegant and unsettling, like a race of alien nightmare creatures.
As for my favorite mechanical design, I'm quite fond of the Naboo Starfighter. I think I can thank the N64 games for that...
It's like a sports car - sleek and streamlined, smooth and flowing to sharp points, and with a bold yellow that is a far contrast to most of the other gray ships in the Star Wars universe.
I just realized I used two examples from The Phantom Menace, which isn't even a movie I remotely like, but artistically it was incredibly imaginative in its designs and concepts. It looks fast, nimble, and classically retro.
And then I guess you have stuff like Dewbacks and Tauntauns, which double as both aliens AND transportation.
Out of all of them, which alien, droid, or creature design stood out to you most? And which mechanical vehicle became your favorite? There doesn't need to be any rhyme or reason for it, but it would be nice to share why that's the case. Whether it's Ewoks or Gungans, Jabba's Khetanna luxury barge or Yoda's Homemade Evacuation Pod, which stuck with you after you saw it?
