079: Millennium Falcon Pursued!
We soar away from Tatooine!
I was never quite sure where the Millennium Falcon‘s artillery was positioned. Hmmm…
I guessed top and bottom. But then, how do Luke and Han look over their shoulders at one another when sat at their guns later in the film? Hmmm… perhaps the artificial gravity is pointing differently in the gun emplacements? Nope, still doesn’t seem to make sense to me.
Perhaps you can help me out readers; in the comments section below!
Art Notes: there is a God
Yes, I’ve seen the light! A marker that does flippin’ lasers!
Quite a lot of effort was put into the top panel here. There’s so much rich colour on the rendering of Tatooine. Though at my tender age I hadn’t understood how if you work green straight onto its complimentary colour red, they try to neutralise each other and you get brown mud–or grey. Side-by side marks of complimentary colour can work–a lá The Impressionists–and at close-range,each can actually heighten the intensity of the other.
And do you see that very liberal use of the same green highlighter pen in the bottom panel? I couldn’t resist it. That would have been great fun to try out that effect: in which the green light from the lasers was filling the cockpit. (the red lasers in the top panel were probably added at a later date). But it’s very adventurous indeed for a 9 or 10 year old kid, if I do say so myself. As Han Solo would say, “You know, sometimes I even impress myself.” My dad might be an Atheist, but he sure as Hell proved there was a God–when he brought one of these heavenly fluorescent felt-tip pens home from the office stationery cupboard! It was probably a revelation for me and I became an instant true believer in the wonder of purloined stationery.
And it was like a miracle. You used this felt pen and it was almost like the colour popped off the page. Like it was backlit–like those fancy luminescent effects in the Battle of the Planets animated TV series. Remember those, readers? I was excited by that as a kid. I’d never seen it before. I suspect Disney had been doing backlighting effects for decades, maybe even as far back as Snow White, but one rarely got to see those. Certainly not on the telly, at any rate.
Also impressive, is the fact that this drawing is about 4 decades old (I write this in 2016) and the colours are still bright. Keeping your artwork in the dark really helps to stop it fading.
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We see the Millennium Falcon filling the frame, with Tatooine in the background. There are also 3 Imperial Star Destroyer ships in hot pursuit and firing upon her.
PANEL 2
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Now we're inside the Falcon's cockpit, sat behind Ben Kenobi, Chewbacca, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. The stars are streaking—although they haven't gone to light-speed yet—and bright green light from the imperial laser fire is filling the interior.
the coloured lighting effects are really are very impressive for a 9 / 10 year old! Genius!
I know, Candace! (and I don’t mean the ‘genius’ bit) But isn’t it exciting trying out new discoveries and seeing how well they work? It’d be great to be like that every day. But you see, back then, there was no pressure, no critics, no boss or client: you could try anything you liked–and learn form it in prefect ‘safety’.
Go on though, tell me how amazing I was again 🙂
Yes, the artificial gravity is turned sideways in the turrets, so that it’s like Luke and Han have a regular horizontal hallway between them (instead of a vertical tunnel). If they look back over their shoulders, ba-da-boom, they’re looking down the hallway. If you’ve got a toy millennium falcon, just tip it up or down so it’s vertical, to get the idea.
Hiya John,
(have we met here before?) I think Dan Pollard–another reader–may have suggested this to me as well. Perhaps they shot the interiors before they finished the exterior design of the ship?
I’m still trying to make sense of the overhead positioning of the quad-cannon in relation to the person using it.
Feck it–who cares? It makes it all so much more fascinating! Enigmatic.