Solo: A Star Wars Story | Corellia Lighting Development
In today's post I wanted to talk about some of the explorative aspects of concept art on a production. On Solo: A Star Wars Story, I worked closely with James Clyne and Neil Lamont to help develop the look of Han's home world: Corellia. As I mentioned in previous posts, the form language and structure of the world was quite clear. The next phase was considering how we would light the design and develop the correct mood and atmosphere of the world.
Lighting is a fundamental component of imagery and art for me personally. Cinematography is one of my favourite aspects of a film, and contributing to it in any way is a highly fulfilling part of the work.
The initial feel was a heavily industrial polluted smoggy atmosphere, which along with the design language of Corellia is again, one of my favourite things to paint. I thought a giant intense sun would also add great depth to the images. I aimed to make everything feel like it was covered in rust as though the ship construction of Corellia had been around for hundreds of years.
After further discussion it was decided that a better fit for where we were in the story, was exploring another approach to the lighting of the world. So I was asked to essentially re-light the initial concepts into a more bleak, overcast and oppressive impression (another one of my favourite lighting scenarios to paint!).
We aimed for the time of day to feel like just before dawn, as in the script, we'd have just watched Han arrive at Mother Proxima's during a night scene.
Steely blue, overcast and diffused light, with giant opaque structures in the sky (semi-constructed star destroyers) help visually tell the story of the oppression the people of Corellia are under from the Empire.
This was a reference board of atmospheres and colour palettes I put together for myself.
Here are some more examples of the exploration we went through developing the world of Corellia.
