A Rare Glimpse at the Matte Paintings From the Original 'Star Wars' Trilogy

When the original Star Wars trilogy released back in 1977 (Star Wars), 1980 (The Empire Strikes Back) and 1983 (Return of the Jedi) respectively, a handful of artists at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) hand-painted numerous scenes and sets. While we take CGI for granted nowadays, back then matte paintings along with models were used to create many of the iconic settings in the three movies. The matte paintings were created by Chris Evans, Mike Pangrazio, Frank Ordaz, Harrison Ellenshaw and Ralp...