Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,473PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,473
Miami, FL USA
RIP. Did not know that the X-Wing and the Death Star were created by the same person.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Colin Cantwell, the concept artist behind sci-fi details in Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and War Games, has died. His longtime partner Sierra Dall confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 90. Cantwell got his start in science fact, working for years at the Jet Propulsion Lab during the space race-filled 1960’s. From his work with JPL and NASA, Cantwell moved onto film. His first project was consulting with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Cantwell said in a Reddit AMA that he “persuaded him not to start the movie with a 20-minute conference table discussion.” In that same Reddit AMA, Cantwell lays claim to creating the “first real color monitor for Hewlett Packard.” And yet his UI designs for War Games were mostly monochrome.
Some of Cantwell’s most enduring contributions to pop culture were the original designs for he X-Wing, A-Wing, Star Destroyer, TIE Fighter, & Rebel cruisers. He designed the Death Star and, as he put it, “gave it its trench.” The Death Star’s trench was actually a happy accident. As Cantwell recounted in his AMA, “I didn’t originally plan for the Death Star to have a trench, but when I was working with the mold, I noticed the two halves had shrunk at the point where they met across the middle. It would have taken a week of work just to fill and sand and re-fill this depression. So, to save me the labor, I went to George and suggested a trench.” From there, the trench run was born. Great design, kid. That was one in a million.
Ken Cartwright
No single drop of rain feels it is responsible for the flood.
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,473PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,473
Miami, FL USA
The guy was certainly very talented and he worked on a lot of big iconic films.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel. Romanian born Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor. 1928 - 2016.
Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. C.S. Lewis, 1898 - 1963.