You can’t tell the Star Wars origin story without Colin Cantwell, its first ship designer

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Colin Cantwell poses with some of the paintings and models he created.

“[Colin’s] artistry helped me build out the visual foundation for so many ships that are instantly recognizable today. His talent was and remains evident for all to see.”¹

George Lucas

The visual foundation of Star Wars

In 1974, George Lucas hired Colin Cantwell as the first designer to work on spaceships for a new science-fiction movie known then as The Star Wars. Colin used physical models as well as paintings to convey what those ships should look like, developing templates for the X-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE Fighter, Star Destroyer, and other ships that Joe Johnston and his fellow visual effects artists at Industrial Light & Magic used when creating the final versions.

During a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Colin said his approach to designing the ships involved “80% looks, 10% aerodynamics, and 10% whimsy.”

Sadly, Colin passed away in 2022, but his legacy lives on with this website. You can buy prints of his Star Wars creations, including the few autographed ones left, as well as dive deep into his life and all the other amazing movies he worked on, including Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the 80s classic WarGames, Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey, and many others.

Colin Cantwell's X-Wing Fighter model sitting on a table.

“Colin deserves a lot of credit for the initial vision of what Star Wars looked like.” — Joe Johnston, concept artist and visual effects technician for Star Wars²

 

Colin’s amazing creations

These are just a few of the models and paintings Colin created in 1974 and 1975 while working on a science-fiction movie that few knew would change cinema forever. All of these prints, and more, are available in our shop.

You can purchase these prints with Colin’s autograph (a limited number remain) or with a beautiful gold seal bearing his autograph and his drawing of the iconic X-Wing fighter.

 

Buy Prints

Autographed TIE Fighter flying
Colin’s version of the TIE Fighter.
Autographed print showing the front view of Colin Cantwell's Star Destroyer model.
Front view of Colin’s Star Destroyer model
Cantwell-Class Arrestor Cruiser, with gold crest
This Star Destroyer concept later became the Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser

 

Signed print of Colin Cantwell's model of the Y-Wing Fighter.
Colin’s model of the Y-Wing Fighter.
Large view of Colin Cantwell's model of the first version of the Millennium Falcon.
The Millennium Falcon, v1
Signed version of first X-Wing print
Colin’s first version of the X-Wing with its wings extended

There’s even more in Colin’s rich life

In the coming weeks, we will be adding even more blog posts about Colin’s extraordinary life, including his work with NASA and Hewlett-Packard, his two science-fiction novels (check out CoreFires and CoreFires II on Amazon in the meantime), his music, his quantum physics theories, and much more.

Colin’s life was a well-lived one. His journey will continue to inspire people for generations to come.

“I miss him dearly,” says Sierra Dall, Colin’s partner for the last 24 years of his life.

She adds: “It pleases me to turn Colin’s legacy over to Brad Cook, who is doing a wonderful job of redesigning and managing this site, as well as Eric Jacobs of TSJ Foundation, who is bringing Colin’s work to life at live events.”

 

¹ George Lucas quote from The Hollywood Reporter. Image used via a Wikimedia license.

² Joe Johnston quote used with permission.

¹ George Lucas quote from The Hollywood Reporter. Image used via a Wikimedia license.

¹ George Lucas quote from The Hollywood Reporter. Image used via a Wikimedia license.