“Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler! You've got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled"

From aintitcoolnews, I appreciate the talent of CG designers, but I’m pretty old school when it comes to matte paintings and deeply miss them as a dying, if not dead, part of the legacy of cinema.

So today let’s fondly look back at this brilliant artform via the brilliant Ralph McQuarrie hard at work touching up a matte painting of Bespin for The Empire Strikes Back. Call me stupid, but I wasn’t aware McQuarrie also contributed matte paintings to the movies. I grew up with his concept art (had a Luke on Taun-Taun from Star Tours’ gift shop on my wall as a kid) and now have an even deeper respect for him, which I didn’t think was possible.