If you’ve seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens — and if you haven’t by now, come on, just do it, the film’s great — you’ll know that it’s visually spectacular, and a lot of that is attributable to the impressive locations. Rey’s home planet of Jakku resembles Luke Skywalker’s desert home Tatooine (only with extra dead Star Destroyers), the First Order’s proto-fascist interiors are as imposing as the Empire’s ever were, and the characters romp through plenty of other striking locales. So it’s fascinating to look at some of the art that preceded the finished product — this collection of storyboards and concept art is taken from the book The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Phil Szostak, which is out now, and we’re delighted to feature it on Flavorwire.
“Jedi Killer, New Concept.” Pre-production, November 2013. Artist: Dillon
The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Phil Szostak © Abrams Books, 2015 (C) 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. And TM. All Rights Reserved. Used under authorization.
“TIE Loader.” Pre-production, July 2013. Artist: James Clyne
“Rolling Droid, Version 3.” Pre-production, August 2013. Artist: Christian Alzmann
“Chase, Version 2.” Pre-production, July 2013. Artist: Doug Chiang
“Ruin Set Paintovers.” Pre-production, April 2014. Artist: Thom Tenery
“It seems like all of these Star Wars movies are going to have so many contemporary flavors and concepts that arose in a post-9/11 world. In some ways, this ruins set feels like it’s more and more out of that sensibility.” — artist Thom Tenery
“Princess Leia Fatigues.” Pre-production, October 2013. Artist: Glyn Dillon
“Alt Kira (Rey).” Artist: Iain McCaig
“Spaceport, Rey POV.” Artist: Andrée Wallin
“Hangar Bay.” Pre-production, September 2013. Artist: Ryan Church
“This Star Destroyer hangar has to look decrepit and huge and old, which was challenging. We went back through the classic trilogy, and the hangar is one of the only Star Destroyer sets you see, the only set that can conjure specific, iconic imagery.” — artist Ryan Church