THE ART OF STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Now it's pretty safe to say that the latest Star Wars trilogy has divided the fandom into two distinct halves. One half, clearly thinks that it's the best thing since sliced bread  (due to the efforts made to broaden the scope of the overall franchise). While the other half, would rather look at the layers of film wrapped around their own sandwiches (on account of the amount of disrespect shown to George Lucas's original vision). Either way, no matter what most of us might think, the one thing I’m sure we can all agree on is that the final part of the Skywalker saga looked really good on the silver screen. In fact, each episode looked so visually spectacular, that my mates over at Abrams decided to create a lavish book about what went on behind the scenes. Want to know more? Then please check out the following illustrations featured in…


The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Serpent Version 4A by Adam Brockbank.

Rey Versus The Serpent by Luke Fisher.

Main Street Sketch by Bob Cheshire.

Speeder Chase Version 06 by Stephen Tappin.

Boolio Gunner 05 by Lunt Davies.

Concept Art by Adam Brockbank.

Babu Frik: Alien Version 01 by Martin Rezard.

Kylo's Helmet 03 by Ivan Manzella.

The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Format: Hardcover
Price: £25
Author: Phil Szostak (with a foreword by Doug Chiang)
Page count: 256 pages
Publisher: Abrams
Size: 28.7x26.4cm

Synopsis: 'The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' is a fully-illustrated guide that elaborates on the steps taken by Lucasfilm in order to visualize the epic worlds, creatures, characters, costumes, weapons, and vehicles, featured in the final part of the Skywalker saga. Well, not only does it present us with some of the ideas that went into the making of this movie, ideas surrounding the look, the tone, and the general direction the filmmakers took, but in addition to this, it also presents us with possible-alternate-versions of a road less traveled. So if you’re a fan of art, design, as well as that elusive galaxy, far, far away, then please check out this creative and cinematic book.

Rey's Alternate Costume by Glyn Dillon

What I liked about this book:

• Visually, the art featured throughout this book is very diverse in both tone and style.
• Structurally, everything is fairly easy to follow and understand.
• Grammatically, the content is insightful, informative, and evenly peppered with both facts and opinion pieces.
  
• Stylistically, the design and layout cleverly conform to the conventions usually seen inside a glossy magazine.
• On the whole, the entire book has been nicely put together and is very enjoyable to read, even though I don't think it would satisfy some fans of the franchise.

What I didn't like about this book:

• Due to its dimensions, it's difficult to store in a conventional bookcase. 
• Due to its weight, it's fairly heavy to hold for a prolonged period of time.
• Due to the size of certain fonts, certain sections can be somewhat tricky to read.

'The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' by Phil Szostak, and Lucasfilm Ltd.

© Abrams Books, 2020 (C) 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. And TM. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

For further information, please don’t hesitate to check out the official Abrams Website, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Or better yet, why not pick up a copy via Amazon.