The Art of Star Wars Rebels is an absolute must-have art book for every Star Wars fan. The art book finally hit the virtual shelves of online book retailers and your author received his book yesterday. I was instantly sucked into the art book (figuratively, not literally) and couldn’t put this down until I read it from cover to cover. I was reading well after the rest of the family had gone to bed.
Science-fiction and fantasy fandom art books tend to be very dense with content. Art book editors and writers typically cram as many images and words as they can into every inch of a page. Graphics and words lose meaning and aesthetic value when reduced in size and smashed together. The Art of Star Wars Rebels is the exact opposite, thank the Force.
The art book is a carefully curated love letter to the art of the Star Wars animated series. Large graphics are thoughtfully placed on each page instead of lengthy, overwritten paragraphs and tiny images. The author, Daniel Wallace, writes judiciously throughout the book. Wallace chooses only the most essential words to explain the background of characters, locations, vehicles, and other assorted artifacts from the series.
DAVE FILONI
Dave Filoni wrote the foreword and continues to prove why he is an important asset to Lucasfilm. Filoni is first and foremost a Star Wars fan. He is also a creative genius who understands how to weave a coherent and meticulous narrative. In the foreword, Filoni explains the art direction for Star Wars Rebels focused on creating a narrative and visual bridge between Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The look and feel for Rebels was heavily influenced by the art of Ralph McQuarrie. Characters, locations, and storylines from The Clone Wars and Episodes IV-VI were woven into the narrative to further bridge the time between them.
ORGANIZATION IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION
The Art of Star Wars Rebels is wonderfully organized. Many art books I’ve read are too artistic or overthought in the way they’re organized. The Rebels art book organizes content in a chronological progression starting with early art and story development, then categorizing content by season.
The chapters for the seasons are cleanly organized by Characters, Environments, Props, and Vehicles. Each chapter showcases new characters introduced that season as well as the evolution of primary characters between seasons, such as Ezra’s transformation from pesky Lothal urchin to pesky Jedi Padawan, and Agent Kallus’ evolution from ISB bad guy to Rebel secret agent.
The character that changed the most in early development was Hera. Her character went from a chubby, short Twi’lek youth to a less chubby, short Twi’lek youth to a short, perky Twi’lek youth. So glad they decided to make her older—the romantic relationship between Kanaan and Hera would have not worked or just been straight-up creepy.
Learning how characters were developed was my favorite part of the art book. The most beautiful sections, however, were in the pages of “Environments.” The backgrounds and details of locations like Lothal, Tatooine, Mandalore, and other worlds are gorgeous. Some backgrounds are so detailed and the lighting so exact, they look like photographs instead of illustrations.
The Props and Vehicles sections contain everything a fan would expect to see from each season. From Inquisitor lightsabers, bo-rifles, and the Darksaber to Lothal rock art, Sabine’s graffiti, and Mandalorian jetpacks to the Ghost, Skystrike Flight Academy, and Tie Defenders. This book has it all.
Die-hard fans of Star Wars Rebels will want to add this art book to their bookshelf.
The Art of Star Wars Rebels is available on Amazon and other book retailer websites.
Check out our review of The Art of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order while you’re here.
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