Fan Focus: Mike Hanson’s tributes to Colin Cantwell
The ripple effects of Colin Cantwell’s work on Star Wars spacecraft has washed over many fans, including EC Henry, Angelos Karderinis, and Eric Guedes (we interviewed them here), Jason Eaton (learn why he recreated Colin’s Y-Wing Fighter), Cristofer Adrian (check out his tribute to Colin’s Star Destroyer model), and Mike Hanson, who graciously responded to a few interview questions from us.
Like Jason Eaton, Mike has enjoyed serving up his own take on Colin’s Y-Wing Fighter. He created a series of images on his ArtStation account that examine little details, such as computer consoles in the cockpit and gunner turret. “My goal was to flesh out Colin’s Y-Wing design as much as any other Star Wars ship,” he explains. “Obviousl,y there needed to be a cockpit and controls for the crew to use and I tried to stay faithful to Star Wars aesthetic. I tried to imagine what this Y-Wing’s reason for existence might be. Perhaps it was an even older model Y-Wing pushed into service or a desperate attempt by the rebels to use a prototype.”
Mike’s version of Colin’s Y-Wing Fighter soars into action.
Close-up of the turret and cockpit in Mike Hanson’s Y-Wing Fighter
Mike Hanson’s version of Colin’s Y-Wing in combat
A great view of Mike Hanson’s take on the gunner turret in Colin’s Y-Wing
A long list of potential Colin-related projects
Asked for plans to tackle some of Colin’s other designs, Mike replies: “I usually have a long list of potential projects I might do. Recently there have been so many great models done of Colin’s Star Destroyer and Millennium Falcon designs. I am usually drawn to projects that are not as well-known designs in fan art. It would be interesting to do something like his T-16 Skyhopper or one of his designs for Star Destroyers when they were more space-fighter-sized.” That last one would be the one known as the “Sith Ship” in Colin’s collection.
“Without Colin, Star Wars might feel like a very different place!” — Mike Hanson, 3D artist
Side view of Colin’s Star Destroyer model. (Click to buy this print in our shop.)
Colin’s Skyhopper model. (Click to buy this print in our shop.)
Summing up his thoughts on Colin’s work, Mike says: “It’s fascinating to see where his concepts started and where the final designs ended up. What was added and what was taken away. Colin did an amazing job making instantly recognizable and unique designs that have truly become icons of cinema and will live on to inspire generations to come. You can even see some of his unused concepts surfacing again in Star Wars shows like Andor. [The Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser, as discussed here.] He set the course for Star Wars to feel like a lived-in, industrial, tactile world. Spaceships weren’t just shiny and sleek but had lives of their own. Without him, Star Wars might feel like a very different place!”
Mike is also a fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, two other movies that Colin worked on too. (As with Battlestar Galactica, the first two-part episode in the series was also released theatrically.) We hope to explore both of those projects in future blog posts. Stay tuned!