Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt [Paperback]

Bob Woods (Author)

Book Description

Series: Star Wars | Publication Date: November 11, 1997

Two decades ago, the original Star Wars poster was painted by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. In the high-pressure world of the film business, they had thirty-six hours to finish it--and the result was one of the most famous pieces of movie art ever created.

Over the course of their careers, the Brothers Hildebrandt have portrayed the denizens of Middle Earth, of the Marvel Universe, of OZ. And now, twenty years later, Greg and Tim have returned to that galaxy far, far away, taking with them legions of fans as they portray Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Darth Vader, and the rest of the legendary cast.

This volume gathers together, for the first time ever, their amazing Star Wars paintings. And at the same time, it takes us on amazing tour of the Hildebrandt studio, revealing the amazing process of creating masterpieces.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Two decades ago, the original Star Wars poster was painted by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. In the high-pressure world of the film business, they had thirty-six hours to finish it--and the result was one of the most famous pieces of movie art ever created.

Over the course of their careers, the Brothers Hildebrandt have portrayed the denizens of Middle Earth, of the Marvel Universe, of OZ. And now, twenty years later, Greg and Tim have returned to that galaxy far, far away, taking with them legions of fans as they portray Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Darth Vader, and the rest of the legendary cast.

This volume gathers together, for the first time ever, their amazing Star Wars paintings. And at the same time, it takes us on amazing tour of the Hildebrandt studio, revealing the amazing process of creating masterpieces.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (November 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345423011
• ISBN-13: 978-0345423016
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, January 25, 2000

By 

Nathan (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt (Paperback)

This book would have been more appropriately titled Star Wars: The Art of Shadows of the Empire.

While this book showcases most if not all of the Star Wars art by the Brothers Hildebrandt, it centers on the SotE story. It has all of their many paintings depicting the story in chronological order, along with quotes from the book, photos of their various models and references, early sketches, them at work, and commentary on their creative process. All of the art is beautifully rendered on the glossy pages.

After the are depicting the main story, there are 10 large portraits, one each of all the main characters, which are, if anything, more breathtaking than the story paintings, followed by six renditions of the characters' ships, including the stinger and virago. After that there are six paintings of Boba Fetts adventures in the comics and six paintings of Dash's adventures in the game. If you are a star wars or SotE or just a sci-fi art enthusiast, you should have this book. Forget the SotE comic, this one is much more well done and it is simply stunning.

I place very high recommendation on this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for illustration students, February 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt (Paperback)

Besides being extremely fun for Star Wars fans to see their heroes represented in art, this book, like Dorman's book, is great for art students because it shows the painting's process from concept to live model to finished work.

4.0 out of 5 stars Joy and excitement for fantasy and imagination, December 15, 2009

By 

Robert Salmon "Tinderbox" (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt (Paperback)

Greg and Tim Hildebrandt are American illustrators best known for painting the original Star Wars movie poster, the groundbreaking Tolkien calendars of the 70s, and Marvel artwork of the 90s.

This volume covers the 100 paintings they completed for the "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire" trading card set that was released in 1996 as part of the Lucasfilm multimedia project that included a novel, comic series, and video game. The paintings illustrate scenes from Steve Perry's novel, telling of events that took place between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi".

The artwork is presented much larger than its intended trading card finished size, so there is less detail in the blown up images than you'll find in their larger formatted paintings. But they are masters of light, color, and design. Included are many behind-the-scenes photos of their working methods in their studio, sketches used to develop the paintings, how they posed live models, and chose the multitude of props from the Skywalker Ranch.

Their joy and excitement for fantasy and imagination really comes through in their work. It's astounding how prolific and energetic they are (they were given less then a year to complete the project!). Their style here is looser, more fluid, expressionistic, and less "Old Master-y" than their Tolkien years, but it fits the format and action-oriented subject matter of the Lucas universe.