“Far, Far Away”, Digital From @starwars #theriseofskywalker #colincantwell #reylo #bendemption #benandrey #bensolo #kyloren #rey #jedi #sith #starwars #thelastjedi #theforceawakens #lightsaber #scifi #conceptart #wacom #digitalart #draw #drawing #painting #darkside #skywalker #babyyoda #yoda #theforce #gallery #art #artwork #artist https://www.instagram.com/p/B5ycd4lAMgA/?igshid=uesrmbq02zc5

When Colin Cantwell began work on Star Wars back in 1974 his dedsigns formed a huge part of the template of the saga, giving form to X-Wings, Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters and more. In that original swathe of designs was something known as the Javelin Destroyer and while it has flirted with fame in the decades since it finally found its place in the 11th episode of the debut season of Andor, now known as the Arrestor Cruiser. Star Wars fans who have plumbed the depths of the making of the original trilogy already knew about that painting. Fans like Peter Briggs, co-writer of the 2004 movie Hellboy and someone who not only pored over every detail of the original movies as a kid but even had a chance to tour the Return of the Jedi sets in London one day in 1982. “I have a particular obsession with what we now call the Arrestor Cruiser — a 1974 Colin Cantwell design for George Lucas’ mighty Star Destroyer,” Briggs recalls. “Colin had already tried his hand with a Star Destroyer that looked something like a cross between a stacked World War I Naval Dreadnaught and the Flatiron Building in New York, but when pictures were published of Colin’s long, sleek javelin-head Destroyer with the big radar dishes (originally intended by Colin to be anti-ship/space-to-land lasers) … I was in love.” As if his younger self had been reading the future mindset of the ILM crew, Briggs continues: “It was the one specific design of Colin’s that looked as if you could take it straight off the page, put it in the middle of an Imperial fleet, and it would still look right at home. A keen toy collector (and amateur modeler), I coveted a three dimensional representation of the Javelin Destroyer for years, but couldn’t find time to fudge one together.” In the meantime, Briggs had been chatting with Colin as the 2018 release of Solo: A Star Wars Story neared, and a friend let him know that not only was Hot Wheels going to release a die-cast toy of Colin’s ship, but it was going to be a piece of official merchandise from the movie too. He remembers: “I was there opening day for Solo to see the mighty ship — now called an Arrestor Cruiser — in action. What a swizz! We got a brief shot in an Imperial recruitment video at the Correlia Spaceport, looking elegant and menacing alongside a Star Destroyer … and that was it!” However, Briggs and other fans found their disappointment short-lived, since the home video release of Solo featured a cut scene in which the Arrestor Cruiser played a prominent role. In fact, it was even the ship a young Han Solo was assigned to. Four years later, Briggs finally felt some vindication when he saw that aforementioned scene in Andor: “Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael has his Fondor starship halted in orbit above the planet Segra-Milo by a prowling Arrestor Cruiser (even identified onscreen as ‘Cantwell Class,’ finally giving Colin his legendary onscreen status!), its dishes now gigantic tractor-beam arrays that prove ineffective against Luthen’s tricked-out spycraft. And 12-year-old me was finally happy.” [amazon box="B0D9C7KWG3"]

Introduced to George Lucas in 1974 by mutual friend Hall Barwood, it's impossible to imagine the creation of Star Wars without the contributions of Colin Cantwell, the first spaceship designer on Star Wars. In 1975 he designed the first versions of the TIE Fighter, X-Wing, landspeeder, Star Destroyer, Skyhopper and Death Star, giving shape and form to those iconic silhouettes and carving his place in the Star Wars pantheon. Two years after his passing, his wife Sierra Dall has now passed Colin's official website into the hands of Brad Cook who takes over the day-to-day running of the site with a view to redesigning the site to be an ongoing reminder of Cantwell's contributions to the GFFA, CE3K, 2001 and other classics of the genre. [gallery link="file" size="large" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="167118,167117,167116,167115"] Brad Cook and Sierra Dall, Colin Cantwell’s long-term partner, are proud to announce the launch of a revamped website dedicated to preserving the legacy of the legendary first designer of many Star Wars ships, including the X-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, Death Star, Star Destroyer, and others. The new website features a blog that will dive deep into various aspects of Colin’s life over the coming months, starting with his work on Star Wars. The first two blog posts introduce his Star Wars work and discuss Colin’s creation of the first version of the Millennium Falcon. A future blog post will explain how one of Colin’s Star Destroyer concept paintings became the basis for the Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser. That ship appeared briefly in the movie Solo (and was meant to be featured in a scene that was deleted but is available as a bonus feature on the film’s home video editions) and played a prominent role in episode 11, “Daughter of Ferrix,” in season one of the Disney Plus series Andor. Another future blog post will detail Colin’s extraordinary involvement in the moon landing on July 20, 1969. He worked for NASA in the 1960s and functioned as the “HAL 9000,” as he described his role, for Walter Cronkite during the CBS News broadcast, giving the news anchor updates as the lunar lander approached the surface. On a related note, Colin also worked with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, which will, of course, get a blog entry too. In addition, the new website features the first official online shop dedicated to selling autographed and non-autographed prints of Colin’s work on Star Wars, including pre-production paintings and photos of the models he built. The autographed prints are the last ones available, given Colin’s passing on May 21, 2022. Other future plans include a partnership with TSJ Foundation, a non-profit organization whose goal is to inspire minds, uplift spirits, and create lasting memories with their unique approach of promoting the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) using immersive and interactive themed experiences. Many of TSJ Foundation’s immersive experiences feature a Star Wars theme, and the non-profit created Galactic Visions: The Colin Cantwell Legacy, an exhibit for the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) Museum in Columbus, Ohio. Sierra Dall, who was Colin Cantwell’s partner for the last 24 years of his life, said: “It pleases me to turn Colin’s legacy over to Brad Cook, who is doing a wonderful job of redesigning and managing the new website, as well as Eric Jacobs of TSJ Foundation, who is bringing Colin’s work to life at live events.” [amazon box="B0D18PNXNL"]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/khl2Enu3yIo?feature=share Check out this amazing custom Kenner Y-Wing, based on a design by Colin Cantwell that was sent to Hasbro’s Design Director for Fan Product for Marvel & Star Wars Steve Evans which looks like the kind of dream toy many kids from baxck in the day staring at those Ralph McQuarrie production paintings would have dreamed of playing with. I opened my mystery package to find a custom Kenner Y-Wing inspired by Colin Cantwell's designs! [amazon box="1368095178"]

#rip #colincantwell #conceptartist for #starwars #xwing #tiefighter #imperialdestroyer https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd_NgqTMgdm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Holy cow. Colin Cantwell the designer for the Star Wars ships etc liked one of my pictures. My dog is getting more famous then me. #bedlamoriginals #ghoststories17 #starwars #colincantwell #supercool #muchexcite

Started on some of the detail #weathering I also added a few more sets of #turbolasers . Can’t have enough #guns on your #stardestroyer #scalemodel #model #scalemodeling #colincantwell #starwars #imperialstardestroyer

HOLY SHIT!!! Colin Cantwell, the man who concept drew and designed the X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Star Destroyers and the Death Star just liked my Imperial Fleet t-shirt post. The man behind the deadliest weapon in the galaxy gave me a thumbs up. #starwars #behindthescenes #colincantwell #conceptartist #anewhope #episode4 #honoured #deathstar #conceptart