UPDATE! Robert Bailey on his Sketches from Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

X-Wings

A long time ago George Lucas came across Robert’s aviation art website and asked him to work on Star Wars. Now Robert Bailey is a licensed Star Wars and Disney artist, who is also licensed for Marvel characters. Hit the jump to check out some really cool sketches from The Force Awakens…

 

 

(January 21, 2015)

 

Bailey has 2 sketches on his Facebook page with the new X-Wings from The Force Awakens. Both Sketches bear the stamps of Lucasfilm and are named “Attacking Force” and “Low Level Attack.”

 

 

X-Wings 02

 

Back in 2013 Rober Bailey was asked if he will be doing any sketches for the new set of Star Wars trilogies to be directed by J.J. Abrams or for the stand alone Star Wars films that would feature Boba Fett and a young Han Solo.

 

He replied (via theworldgoespop):

“Maybe Kathleen Kennedy (the new head of LucasFilm) will surprise me,” he adds. “If she phones me to do storyboarding, which I have done for other movies, I would be glad to storyboard for the next Star Wars movie.”

 

Well it appears they did surprise him. At least I don’t remember any official announcement about his involvement.

 

 

X-Wings 03

 

Thanks to Cantina member Sandis for the heads-up.

 

 

 

UPDATE!

 

 

(January 22, 2015)

 

It appears that many sites quoted our story wrong and misled many people. This is not concept art from the movie and we never said that. These are Robert Bailey’s sketches based on The Force Awakens and they are official art because he is an officially licensed Star Wars and Disney artist.

 

 

robert_bailey_star_wars_visions

 

Yesterday Mr. Bailey agreed to answer some of our questions regarding his sketches. Here’s what he told us:

Q: Can you confirm if you’re involved with the new Star Wars movies? There are some reports that you removed those sketches from your Facebook account.

 

A: I am overwhelmed with emails from everywhere about these sketches. I did not remove any from Facebook and they were still there the last time I looked. These are not ‘concept’ sketches for the new movie, although I have been doing Star Wars panels for some years. Initially, I was doing them directly for George Lucas, who wanted to review them for large oil canvases which I later did for his private art collection. All the sketches I am doing are, well, not exactly for fun, as this is my full time job, ….but for sale, mostly at Comic Conventions to avid Star Wars fans, who wish to own an original piece of SW artwork. No prints are allowed. Originals only.

 

Q:  We wanted to ask you if you made those sketches based on something showed to you, or you did them only based on The Force Awakens trailer?

 

A: I have been shown much about what I have seen and heard at Skywalker Ranch when I was there, which I cannot put on the net. So none of the sketches I do contain ‘classified’ information. Those which I have posted and will post are based upon the trailer alone. All I can confirm is what everyone has already seen in the trailer. Sorry I cannot add more information.

 

I hope this clears up the situation around those sketches. Special thanks to Mr. Bailey for his time.

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

79 thoughts on “UPDATE! Robert Bailey on his Sketches from Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:45 am
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    Very nice!

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:48 am
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    Wow, do we get a trenchrun like attack, awesome!

    • January 23, 2015 at 5:28 pm
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      “I have been shown much about what I have seen and heard”

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:50 am
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    Look, fan fiction.

    • January 21, 2015 at 1:03 am
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      At this point anything someone does while working in an official capacity is “fan fiction” since all those working on the movies are avowed Star Wars fans. So I’m not sure what this comment is supposed to mean.

      • January 21, 2015 at 4:50 am
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        Right. It’s not like selecting a jury for a high profile case, and you need to find people who have never heard of Star Wars to work on it.

        So you either hire people who like Star Wars, or people who dislike it. Very difficult decision, I’m sure.

        • January 21, 2015 at 7:37 pm
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          badumch

          if you don’t know what that comment meant, you are really a stupid person.

          • January 21, 2015 at 10:53 pm
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            Oh, right, there’s absolutely no way those three words could be interpreted in ANY OTHER WAY besides what anon 00.50 intended them to mean. Clearly I’m the stupid one.

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:50 am
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    In a certain point of view the two colored ones reminds me Ralph Mcquarrie old concepts.

    Great art.

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:53 am
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    The one where the engines are split instead of one on each wings is the only thing that resembles Ralph’s design..andthat is also the case in the last one, so those two are the ones resembling…

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:56 am
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    Notice the round and half round engines?

    • January 21, 2015 at 3:14 pm
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      Nice call

    • January 23, 2015 at 10:38 am
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      Yeah the movie version and the McQuarrie version. Maybe both will be in the movie?

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:58 am
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    The bottom pic is named Over Water Attack. I wish I could draw like this. Amazing.

    • January 21, 2015 at 1:27 am
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      You CAN draw like this, JeffG. Just print out a still from your favorite scene, get out your tracing paper and light box and start sketching. That’s all these are.

  • January 21, 2015 at 12:59 am
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    They finally catch on. “All that art leaked? Maybe we should appease the masses with some official art so they don’t get restless.”

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:03 am
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    Amazing how he can draw with both hands!

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:04 am
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    First sketch shows snowy forest hmmm

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:04 am
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    big deal, x wings from episode 4 but with different color stripes.

    • January 23, 2015 at 10:17 am
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      And revisions of the S foils and engines!
      Pay attention.

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:08 am
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    These are gorgeous! I don’t understand… is this concept art or is he drawing these based on screencaps sent to him?

    • January 21, 2015 at 1:23 am
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      It’s not a concept art. He is a licensed artist. He draws what he sees from movies and trailers.

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:15 am
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    These are PHOTOSHOP!! The last one lines up exactly with the still from the trailer only flipped. A few pencil sketch overlays, and voila! FAKE.

    • January 21, 2015 at 1:21 am
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      As someone who uses Photoshop every single day for the last 15 years, I can assure you, that is not the pencil sketch filter…

      • January 21, 2015 at 1:31 am
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        Thanks, Marc. After further investigating, I see that they are real Robert Bailey pieces. But they’re definitely not freehand. He’s using a lightbox and tracing stills. Which I suppose is a valid technique. Drew Struzan does it and so did Norman Rockwell.

      • January 21, 2015 at 8:41 am
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        Yeah, I WISH Pencil Sketch Filter looked that good.
        If I was gonna Photoshop it and claim it as artwork, I would have gone for Ink-Outlines, or my constant go-to, Cutout [neither one of which look like that style of pencil sketching].

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:25 am
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    Is it real?
    If so nice

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:36 am
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    Where are the space battles? All signs point to only in-atmosphere battle.

    • January 21, 2015 at 1:46 am
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      Hopefully they’re keeping some big surprises. I’m pretty sure JJ will not miss the chance to display epic battles. Even Star Trek was full of them.

    • January 21, 2015 at 2:07 am
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      Don’t worry, every Star Wars film has a space battle…

      TPM – Attack on the Naboo Blockade
      AOTC – Obi-Wan and Jango over Geonosis
      ROTS – Battle over Coruscant
      ANH – Attack on the Death Star
      TESB – Asteroid field chase
      ROTJ – Battle over Endor

      • January 21, 2015 at 2:51 pm
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        I’ve decided to list these space battles in order of their awesomeness counting down to #1…any one care to list their opinion? Here is mine…

        #6.TPM – Attack on the Naboo Blockade
        (Taking out the Federation ship was essential to victory by the films protagonists. Without it the droids were useless. This is Anakin’s first space battle, and it was cool that R2 was with him. Although fun and exciting, he was definitely the accidental hero in this battle. And the actual screentime of this battle was very minimal.)
        #5.AOTC – Obi-Wan and Jango over Geonosis
        (It was great to see Obi-Wan in action in his star fighter. This scene showed us that Obi-wan is actually a pretty decent pilot, and a little more insight as to why he hates flying. The nostalgia of the Slave I and the asteroids was also nice. This is the smallest scale space battle in the saga with only two ships.)
        4.ROTJ – Battle over Endor
        (Cool battle. Kind of a re-hash of the first Death Star attempt, but it was cool that they actually had to go inside the beast. Not to mention they were at the mercy of the strike team getting the shield down. It was great to see the Falcon in it’s first all-out attack on screen. And we see that Lando just might be the second best pilot in the galaxy – he broke his promise – Han will always be #1. The stakes were high in this battle and the impending doom of the star destroyers held at bay by the Emperor’s hubris kept this battle interesting, even if the focus was what was going on on the inside with Luke and Vader.)
        3.ROTS – Battle over Coruscant
        (Buzz droids aside, this was the biggest and craziest space battle in the saga. A lot of ships, a lot of explosions, a lot of everything. Although the focus here was not on the battle either, but getting inside Grevious’ ship to rescue the Chancellor, it was cool to see a space battle of this scale on screen for the first time.)
        2.TESB – Asteroid field chase
        (The Falcon in all it’s glory…Han showed us that he really does have a few surprises up his sleeve and that although they are few, he certainly does have his moments. Han racing through an asteroid field against all odds – 3,720 to 1 to be exact – outrunning TIEs, losing the Empire, escaping the space worm, on top of a great musical score…what more could you want? Now, if it wasn’t for that darn Boba Fett…)
        1.ANH – Attack on the Death Star
        (The Classic…this one started it all. It showed audiences that if an explosion happens in space, it will make a sound, I don’t care what Science says…We see Luke come to the front and prove that he’s not such a bad pilot himself…Luke uses the force for the first time…the trench run…Vader’s TIE and escort in pursuit…the triumphal return of Solo…and the last-minute impregnation of the Death Star with a proton torpedo while really tapping into the Force for the first time…all this and more puts this one in the #1 spot.)

  • January 21, 2015 at 1:44 am
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    This leak like pretty much all of them – is so intentional. We’ve seen this in the trailer already anyway.

    • January 21, 2015 at 4:45 pm
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      But now it’s GREEN!

    • January 24, 2015 at 8:58 pm
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      That’s because it isn’t a “leak” as was explained right up there in the article that you apparently didn’t read. This is Official Lucasfilm Licensed Artwork. Nothing more, nothing less.

  • January 21, 2015 at 2:12 am
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    After looking at his Facebook page, it looks more like he did these Episode 7 storyboards just for fun. Sure they have the Lucasfilm stamp on them, but so do all of his Star Wars sketches. I don’t believe these are actual pieces commissioned for The Force Awakens. He took one scene in the trailer and expanded upon it. Great artist regardless!

  • January 21, 2015 at 4:16 am
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    Those first 2 are amazing, like they’re popping off of the page. Robert Bailey is strong with the force 😀

    • January 21, 2015 at 8:48 am
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      Well just for the shading and texturing along he gets my kudos. Good, realistic shading is totally under-rated.
      If he wanted to do a aftrer-the-fact official Star Wars Sketch, DAMN WELL he traced it. Otherwise you’d get people bitching about how the leak is “a slap in the face” and “obviously some kid’s drawing that looks nothing like the trailer it’s ripped off of”.
      Not Breaking News by any means, but some decent art to look at.

      Perhaps they’re warming us up for an actual release of new material. ?

      • January 23, 2015 at 11:06 am
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        There are apps that can do this on my phone.
        Glad they are repainting the falcon as well for the spinoffs

  • January 21, 2015 at 8:51 am
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    Anyone else notice there two types of X fighter in the same battle?

    Either he’s drawing from the OT for fun,

    Or he knows something we don’t, i,e. Old X-Wings fighting alongside a Squadron of New X-Wings.

  • January 21, 2015 at 9:01 am
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    Wow look how similar that second sketch looks to the finished result! Amazing!

  • January 21, 2015 at 9:02 am
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    The classic X-wing sketches are not on his page anymore. Were they too hot to handle after all?

  • January 21, 2015 at 10:30 am
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    So, we are going to see, in the film, both the “new” X-wings and the old ones?

  • January 21, 2015 at 3:26 pm
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    What is misleading about these peices of art is when put in the art of books later on, make people think the art was pre-vis.
    This is part of the Magic of Lucas film and ILM, make people think you are more spectacular than you are.
    Very few pre production paintings match the finish product, the ones that do are done in post…like this one.

    • January 24, 2015 at 9:17 pm
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      If it is put in an artbook later on it will more than likely be noted that it is Robert Baileys original hand drawn artwork and not concept art. It is stated very clearly in the article that it is just that and is also presented as such on his facebook and personal website.

  • January 21, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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    i am starting to wonder if all my fellow star wars fans are fucktarded assholes? nothing makes you guys happy and you bash everything….it is getting a little old. a bunch of grown adults with families and alot with grandchildren…arguing on the internet and bashing a fucking KIDS movie….you people should really get a life…and maybe appreciate the fact that Star Wars is moving forward. you are all starving for ANYTHING star wars….but when you get it..you do anythign in your power to try and destroy it and act like you didnt want it. This guy did not announce that these were pre vis photo’s or story boards officially in the movie…but yet you tools draw your own conclusions and bash him…these are obviously for fun and to show his talent..he posted them on his webpage to say…hey check out these pics i did…and you all just shit all over it.. get a damn life.

    • January 22, 2015 at 11:20 am
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      Mate, I totally agree. I read these forums because I love Star Wars….end of story…but I’m getting really sick of the negativity. I bet every single person that bitches about the PT has seen them more than once and every single person that bitches about George Lucas has at one time or another thanked him for bringing such a wonderful story into our lives.

      • January 22, 2015 at 11:00 pm
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        I happen to agree with you. Though I love just about everything Star Wars. I have to admit that though the prequels do not come close to what the original trilogy did, even each of the prequels had something going for them. I’ll just focus on episode 1.
        Episode 1 – Movie was only okay, brilliant colors on the lightsabers, and was nice to see fast action scenes with Jedi. Jake Lloyd was pretty rough as an actor and I still believe that Episode 1 would me much better for the movie and the continuity from what Lucas already established with him. Obi-Wan said in episode 4, “When I first knew him he was already a great pilot”. The fact that it was a kid makes no sense to me personally. I think he would have been great starting Anakin off as a mid teenager, but I digress. Jar-Jar ruined every scene he was in PERIOD. Episode 1 had the best lightsaber battle of the prequel trilogy IMO as well. The one between Anakin and Obi-Wan in epsiode 3 left me wanting, and the acting was so bad, I felt little for the characters.

        The others had their moments, and episode 3 was my favorite of the prequels by far. That is just my 2 cents though so take it for what you will.

      • January 22, 2015 at 11:29 pm
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        Anon @ 11:20 AM

        “I bet every single person that bitches about the PT has seen them more than once and every single person that bitches about George Lucas has at one time or another thanked him for bringing such a wonderful story into our lives.”

        Is it really that strange for people to see movies that they don’t like more than ONCE? I don’t like the Prequels, but I like watching them, in part, to better understand why that is.

        And is it not possible to praise Lucas for certain things and criticize him for others? Does it have to be all or nothing?

        Criticizing Lucas for the poorly executed Prequels in NO WAY takes away from the fact that he, among so many other awesome accomplishments, gave us STAR WARS.

        • January 23, 2015 at 5:31 pm
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          Is it really that strange to watch a film you don’t like over and over again! Yes, very much. Reading the comments here is weirding me out so much. Reminds me of being a kid. I’m not from the US, didn’t get the Star Wars hype but I saw all those weird fans on TV and kept away from the movies for that reason. Watched them later and really liked. I’ve watched them a few times since. The prequels I saw ones, realised they were badly crafted movies and left it. I like this universe a lot and I’m looking forward to the new stuff coming out but watching bad movies over and over again just because they’re Star Wars, complaining about the new ones being fan fiction because only the one and only holy lord George Lucas has the right to decide what is really (sooo many do that here)….that’s just weird. It’s also not what I consider being a fan of something.

      • January 23, 2015 at 12:19 am
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        And how is that related?

        • January 23, 2015 at 10:26 am
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          About thanking him for bringing such a wonderful story to us.
          He produced it, and had the scriptwriter of Star Wars direct it, he over saw the whole production attempting to create a Disney-esque film of a marvel comic and failed miserably.
          He put his name on the final product, merchandised it, and when it was a flop he disowned it.

      • January 23, 2015 at 10:52 am
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        So you are a fan of Howard the duck.

    • January 22, 2015 at 11:14 pm
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      Anon @ 21:27 PM

      Dude. The VAST majority of the comments on this page are positive. Calm your rage.

    • January 23, 2015 at 10:39 am
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      Just to let you know at no time did I shit on you or anyone else, but art work like this does end up in the books later, compared to the finished product, and yet no mention of the dates they were drawn.
      Also many times have I’ve seen Mcquarrie art compared to film stills in documentries, yet no mention of either being a Production painting or a Preproduction painting, usually they are Post production paintings like this one.
      That is misleading in an art of book, and tries to imply that the work done was that exact.
      The finished millennium falcon looks nothing like the original Preproduction concept paintings. ( if not Filoni would have to hire more original artists.)
      You are ignorant and too quick to cry.

  • January 21, 2015 at 9:30 pm
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    I really hope that you all hate this movie and it ruins star wars for you and forces you to move on..i really do…that way it wil leave room for the real star wars fans to actually beable to enjoy it without all you jackasses around bashing and shitting all over everything all the time.

  • January 22, 2015 at 5:34 pm
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    Official fan art 😉

  • January 22, 2015 at 10:43 pm
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    Thanks Viral for clearing that up!

  • January 22, 2015 at 10:51 pm
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    I’m lovin’ his camo vest. I had a hard time spotting him!

    • January 23, 2015 at 12:32 am
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      Psycho vest.Looks freaky.

  • January 22, 2015 at 11:10 pm
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    When you fallowed up Bailey’s comment with “Well it appears they did surprise him”, you implied that these are in fact storyboards from the film. For you to correct your report (which you could have done by contacting him before you ran with another sites article in the first place) and then claiming that you never said it is kind of ridiculous.

    • January 22, 2015 at 11:24 pm
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      What? No I didn’t imply that. I meant they did surprise him about him being involved with TFA. It never even crossed my mind that these are storyboards. Have you ever seen what a storyboard looks like?
      The problem is that several sites quoted our story wrong and said that these are concepts. No one is mentioning any storyboards.
      Our first report still remains the same. We showed you some official art from TFA.

      • January 23, 2015 at 2:31 am
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        I’m sorry but the way I read this initial story was very much “This guy has been working on TFA and here’s some of his storyboards for the film”.

        I’m sorry, it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but the initial story DID imply this strongly via the way it’s worded. Nowhere does it make clear he’s simply an official “after the fact” artist.

        • January 23, 2015 at 8:13 pm
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          I’m sorry too
          …because that’s how I read it.

    • January 23, 2015 at 5:34 am
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      It was never implied that they were storyboard sketches. Initially, you will notice that the X-wings are Original Trilogy machines and not (by what you’ve seen)ST machinery. Second, Mr. Bailey is a licensed Lucasfilm illustrator…for MANY things. That alone don’t make these E7 storyboards….look at the sketches, and read the article first.

  • January 22, 2015 at 11:54 pm
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    Does anyone think those X-Wings could be flying over Naboo ?

    • January 23, 2015 at 12:10 am
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      No, because Naboo is like kryptonite material to Disney

  • January 23, 2015 at 1:27 am
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    What a gift it must be to be able to draw like this. A truly gifted man.

  • January 23, 2015 at 5:29 am
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    Figures, people will see a photo and a headline (taking it completely out of context) and lose their minds over it….read the article people….

  • January 23, 2015 at 10:36 am
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    I’m sorry guys but you should accept that this is also your mistake not to have clarified those are not concept art from the movie.

    – – – “Maybe Kathleen Kennedy (the new head of LucasFilm) will surprise me,” he adds. “If she phones me to do storyboarding, which I have done for other movies, I would be glad to storyboard for the next Star Wars movie.”

    Well it appears they did surprise him. At least I don’t remember any official announcement about his involvement. – – –

    The way you narrated the article lead to think this was concept art and storyboarding for the movie.

    • January 23, 2015 at 8:15 pm
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      That’s how I read it too.

  • January 23, 2015 at 7:11 pm
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    Star Wars is awesome.

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