When it comes to character designs, Star Wars gets criminals right.
For more proof of this assertion, look no further than some concept art recently posted by Adam Brockbank, a concept artist with an extensive body of Star Wars work. His most recent glimpse behind the scenes comes from concept art showcasing prospective costumes for Enfys Nest’s gang from Solo: A Star Wars Story. These are great designs, all layered and angular and messy.
Star Wars is at its best when designs look cobbled together, built from spare parts and whatever junk the designers could find—or, alternatively, whatever parts the characters in-universe could salvage. All of Nest’s gang has that look going for them. These are junkyard samurai, vaguely heroic even as they look incredibly dangerous. The helmet designs, which Brockbank says are by artists Glyn Dillon, Tonči Zonjić, and Calum Alexander Watt, are particularly fantastic.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is destined, it seems, to go down in history as a minor Star Wars release, not unjustly so. But this concept art is a reminder of just how good the film’s sense of visual style was. It looked like Star Wars, and it did so with real aplomb.
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