The Art of Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back Paperback – September 20, 1994

This is the book that started it all for me. The very first "Art of" books that I bought decades ago. This one in particular The Empire Strikes Back is particularly special because it is my favorite film in the saga and favorite film of all time. My biggest influences and inspirations are here, my art heroes, Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie who's beautiful drawings, sketches, paintings, and overall brilliant designs are exhibited. The most amazing thing about this book is that the methods and even style of concept art is still used today, so if you are looking to learn from the Masters, this is the book I would start with. There are many more, but for me this is THE source.

Must have for any fan

OK.

Great book

A marked improvement over its predecessor, The Art of the Empire Strikes Back is packed with classic Star Wars art, and interesting behind the scenes trivia. I mentioned in my review of The Art of Star Wars that the actual 'art' was a bit sparse - tis not the case with the Empire book, no doubt thanks to the considerably larger budget/ability to hire more artists, and greater expectations of the movie itself. The art is divided into sections based on the in-movie location in order of appearance, starting with Hoth and concluding with the rebel ship at the end. Each section has a lengthy written forward providing some neat insight to the process behind creating each location, and why they were in the script. Aside from the stellar art(Lots of McQuarrie this time around, his work never ceases to amaze), there's a ton of interesting trivia - such as, Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer, the Executor, was originally not featured that prominently in the script, but once they built the 10-foot long model and fitted it with thousands of lights and then put it in front of the camera, they were so pleased and impressed with how it turned out they altered the story to give it more screen time.In conclusion, this is a great book for fans of classic Star Wars, and a pretty good book as far as art books go. Being a lover of all things content-creation related and most things Star Wars and many things art, I loved this book.

Book is in excellent condition. No issues with product. I would like to point out though. That the package was good but not clear on it to not bend it. I found it stuffed into my mail box. I would redo end that it be labeled " do not bend" as side from that no issue.

Although the book shipped almost right away, I don't agree with the rating of "good" for the condition of the book. Damage to the cover, spine and it smelled like its been in a trunk of a damp basement. To me, that's a book in fair condition. Then again, you get what you pay for.