Anakin vs. Obi-Wan: Behind the Concept Art of One of the Most Iconic Star Wars Moments
In this interview, Ryan Church looks back at the finale of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and reveals the genesis of one of the crucial concept arts behind the Battle of the Heroes.
Surrounded by fire and flames, the heroes of the prequel trilogy are fighting each other on the apocalyptic planet of Mustafar. Darkness supplants the light while a massive lava flow which tears everything into the abyss illustrates the downfall of the Republic. The duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most iconic moments in film history and the culmination of the Star Wars prequels.
These crowning cinematic achievements begin with an idea, and then, as a second step, a painting. How does George Lucas's decade-old idea of this final duel become a reality through the help of digital brushes? To answer this and more questions, Lucasfilm Concept Design Supervisor Ryan Church takes us on a trip back in time to revisit one of the most striking concept arts that defined Revenge of the Sith.
First of all, does this piece have a name? How do you refer to it?
Ryan Church: This piece has no name, sometimes I would give pieces a descriptive name but rarely. This is a moment I'd been thinking of literally since I was a kid and I first heard rumors of how Darth Vader was created, that he was fighting Obi-Wan and fell into lava. So I'd always had that in the back of my mind.
What was the first thing George Lucas told you about this moment?
Very early in Episode III development George Lucas started talking about the duel and he wanted to see as many variations on the duel as possible. Everyone in the art department started illustrating the moment. I did this illustration after we had kind of figured out the basic beats and I knew they would be fighting on some machinery that was sinking into the lava. I wanted to illustrate that moment as an iconic shot and this is what I came up with, a few hours of work probably done the night before a meeting.
This isn’t just any moment. It’s the duel the whole trilogy is building up to. Did you feel any pressure while working on this?
I didn't feel any specific pressure because at the time we were all just in the process and I had no idea that just by chance it would happen to look like what ended up in the movie, we were all going for 'epic' because that's what the moment had to be – all the emotion and danger in one shot.
When you draw a concept art like this – where do you start?
I started this piece as I did all illustrations back then, using Corel Painter with one layer and just lightly scribbling in shapes – the two figures and the machinery receding into perspective. Then I lay in some dark values and get a mood going, and only then will I pick up the lights – in this case starting with the two lightsabers to make sure that's where the viewer's eye goes first and then the rest of the scene to show the lava and danger.
The most obvious difference between the movie and the concept art is the color of Anakin’s lightsaber. How did this change come about?
As far as the lightsaber color, I would sometimes be very arbitrary, using whatever color I thought would jump out in the scene. In other cases I would use a color that I thought might provoke a response from George Lucas, a jumping off point for a conversation we might have. The presentations and meetings were amazing, he was always wanting to hear what we thought. Sometimes he loved some of the ideas and sometimes he'd call us nuts and laugh!
According to The Star Wars Archives 1999-2005, the first version of this motif was finished October 31, 2002. Almost two years later you flipped the image, enlarged the characters and changed the background. What’s the story behind that? When was the final version logged?
Yes, like I was saying I did the image very quickly amongst many others, trying to convey a moment. Only later, once we started to see the final shots and development of the movie did it become more obvious that it was a pretty good representation of what made it all the way to the finale – lots of luck involved and a constant back and forth between concept, live action photography, editing and post production visual effects. Somehow the image withstood all of that and remained relevant. So I went back in and 'finished' it or took it a bit further.
Obi-Wan already has the high ground – was this intentional at the time?
Hah, I've actually never consciously noticed that Obi-Wan has the high ground. I don't think this was in the script when I first did the image, but it must have come from some discussion with George Lucas or I just got lucky. It's become an iconic meme line, very funny. I never noticed that.
Another thing I love is the almost inconspicuous reflection of the lightsabers in the faces. Anakin’s face is especially striking to me. There’s not just rage pulsating in his eyes. He actually looks kind of sad and lost. Perhaps it’s the little boy from Tatooine starting to realize what he’s become. What’s your philosophy when it comes to faces in concept art?
Yes, my figures aren't usually very good but I had a lot of practice at this time rapidly indicating them and I was definitely trying to put the emotion in the illustration as loose as it was. I was using pretty large 'brushes' at the time so it was impossible to get too much detail which is a look I really like, more indicated than detailed. But trying to get the emotion and the clarity of the moment in there, I remember I was listening to a lot of dramatic opera at the time, late at night, saving the best illustration for last and trying to funnel all this personal and professional pressure into the artwork, it was a very fun time.
When you finally saw the fully realized scene on the big screen, how did that feel to you?
Seeing it on the big screen was crazy, it takes me two or three viewings to gain any objectivity because I'm watching something I was so closely involved with it's tough to watch it as a viewer without just thinking about what I was doing on the day we finaled a certain shot or how I had a stomach ache when I did the sketch for that thing or whatever. So I watch the audience instead and as long as they're enjoying it I get a great sense of satisfaction being a small part of the process bringing Lucas's vision to the screen.
You can follow Ryan’s work on Twitter, Instagram, ArtStation and his website.
Image credit: Lucasfilm/Ryan Church
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