Own a unique piece of Star Wars history: a portfolio of Colin’s signed photo prints and sketches

This site has only begun to scratch the surface of Colin Cantwell’s life, but we’ve served up another glimpse into his Star Wars years with the addition of a unique portfolio of his signed artwork in our online store. It’s a $3,300 purchase, but there are a limited number of them in existence, and each comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Sierra Dall, Colin’s long-term partner of 24 years.

Send a message via the contact form on this site to discuss the purchase of this unique item.

Let’s dive into the items that are currently only available in this portfolio. Click an image to see the whole portfolio in our online shop.

Spacecraft above a desert

The print on the left is the Star Destroyer design that became the Cantwell-Class Arrestor Cruiser that you can buy in our shop , but the one on the right may be an early X-Wing concept drawing.

X-Wing and TIE Fighter in flight

Both of these early concept models for the X-Wing and TIE Fighter should be familiar to fans, but these are new views of them in flight.

Spacecraft above a mountain range

The TIE Fighter print on the right is available in our shop, but the spacecraft on the left is new to this site; it may be another early X-Wing concept drawing.

Early version of the Sandcrawler

The Skyhopper print on the left is available in our shop, but the Sandcrawler on the right is new to our site. It was the first iteration of the Jawas’ vehicle created; it changed dramatically for the final version.

Fighter craft concept sketches

These look like early sketches Colin created before crafting the finished concept drawings shown above. Note the wheels on one of the ships — the X-Wing had wheels before George Lucas said to remove them.

Colin Cantwell Portfolio concept sketches of Skyhopper and early TIE Fighter

TIE Fighter with a long nose(!)

The sketch on the left was very likely used to build the final Skyhopper model shown above. On the right, we have a very early iteration of the TIE Fighter with a long, X-Wing-like nose.

Star Destroyer and Death Star sketches

The sketch on the left was likely used as the Star Destroyer shown in Colin’s concept drawing of the opening space battle, and on the right, we have what looks like an early Death Star.

Star Destroyer sketch

These are sketches that likely informed the final version of Colin’s Star Destroyer that became the Cantwell-Class Arrestor Cruiser.

Mystery sketches

These sketches are currently unidentified, but we think they may be rough ideas for the floating Imperial City from an early screenplay draft. (That floating city became Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back.)

Colin Cantwell Portfolio photos of Colin with George Lucas and his prints; red concept art of an X-Wing attacking a Star Destroyer

Portraits of the artist as a young (and old) man

You also get two photos of Colin: the first is him showing his Y-Wing model to George Lucas, and the second is him later in life, with many prints of his work. The red print on the right is available in our shop.

There’s more where that came from

In the coming months, we’ll share more images of Colin’s work on Star Wars, including the first version of Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder, along with information about the other movies he worked on, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, WarGames, The Andromeda Strain, Corvette Summer, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and more.

And beyond that, there are even more areas of his life to explore, including (but definitely not limited to):

His admittance into Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin architecture school by Wright himself. (“There’s no waiting list for you,” Wright told him.)
His job as a photographer for the famous furniture designers, Charles and Ray Eames. For fun, he built a gravity well, which got him fired by Charles Eames but rehired when other designers put in a good word for him.
The time he attended a lecture by famous writer, designer, and futurist Buckminster Fuller and took three days off from classes at UCLA to ponder what Fuller might have missed. That short period of time was foundational for Colin’s interest in quantum physics, which he pursued until he died in 2022.
His work for NASA in the 1960s, including the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit near Walter Cronkite during the incredible moon landing on July 20, 1969. He conveyed the astronauts’ progress to the news anchor as one of the most memorable moments in human history unfolded.
His work at Hewlett-Packard, where he took the company’s software from 8 colors to 5,000, ushering in the modern era of computer graphics.
The time he wrote an opera with Philip Glass. (Yeah, we need to learn more about that one ASAP.)
His two science-fiction novels, CoreFires and CoreFires II.

Stay tuned!