Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker | Sketchbook — Jon McCoy Art

Hi all! I wanted to share a bit more insight into the work I did with the amazing team on Star Wars Ep IX: The Rise of Skywalker. I’m calling it a sketchbook, as you will see, due the extremely rough and unfinished nature of the artwork!

To start, these were some of the very earliest rough sketches I played with. Simply exploring and feeling out the atmosphere and mood.

Similarly to the previous set of images, these were exploratory visual ideas. Simply trying to get back into feel of the world. We really aimed to maintain the established visual language of Star Wars, whilst also trying to push it further. This is one of the most challenging aspects to continuing and expanding such an iconic franchise.

One of the core aspects to the universe of Star Wars is of course, the method of destruction of a planet! These were some very quick thoughts on ways that could appear.

This was a really fun idea I got the chance to play with. We were asked to explore a possible story point, of Kylo Ren venturing to an abandoned Coruscant. And as my friends know, abandoned cityscapes are a personal favourite of mine. I aimed to convey a deeply eerie sense of foreboding for this story point.

These sketches were a very quick exploration of a potential prison design. I thought the idea of almost endless verticality would be a cool possibility for a Star Wars prison.

These were development sketches for the story point of Kylo Ren carving through miscellaneous, unknown enemies searching for the Wayfinder, that would guide him to Exegol.

These sketches were a small part of the work that the whole team contributed some amazing work to, for the festival on Pasaana. We also developed Ochi’s ship, which was abandoned there.

One of the more iconic subjects we were able to play with and explore, was the bridge of the Star Destroyer, as well as a new conference room. These were some ideas I threw in there. One idea being, a blood red carpet that only Kylo would be allowed to walk on. And another idea of a tri-spoke layout for the main forward bridge that I thought could look interesting.

In the film, there’s a scene were Chewbacca is being interrogated/tortured. We were asked to generate some ideas for this scene and designs of the machine that would be holding him in these terrible stress positions! I aimed at portraying a very iconic and unique pose that Chewie would be held in, to make the shots memorable.

One of my favourite sets in the film was Kylo Ren’s white sanctuary room. As it felt counter intuitive to the usual dark and gloomy spaces the antagonist inhabits. We were asked to create a sense of multiple layers and levels…almost so that there was no clear way in or way out to the space.

Here were some completely miscellaneous left-field ideas I wanted to throw into the mix!

One of the main design questions we had for the film, was the idea of the resistance base, which would support the few remaining resistance fighters from The Last Jedi. One idea I suggested, was that the Millennium Falcon, become the actual resistance base itself. I had the vision of an 80’s toyset, where compartments would extend and slide out, turning the original thing into something else. Later, the idea of the Blockade Runner becoming the ship which everything was built around was decided, and we started visualising and developing that idea.

Here are some sketches and ideas for Kijimi. The first two images were my very initial impressions of what Kijimi could look like. We had a clear direction early on, of many levels and steps leading to places, which gave the place a very dynamic feel. I did a number of sketches of an interior for a set, where an old friend of Poe Dameron would reside. I’ve also included some sketches that show the design development of the architectural features of Kijimi, as well as the sketch and final concept of Rey, Finn and Poe trying to avoid detection by the occupying Stormtroopers.

Here are some sketches of the Star Destroyer resistance attack on Exegol. This was a great challenge to take on. While there were different reactions to the idea of space horses attacking a Star Destroyer, I did think that a character riding a horse-like creature, holding a Lightsaber was a really great look! ..which I aimed to portray in these thumbnails.

Finally, here are some sketches of the Death Star ruins and habitats of Kef Bir. These sketches were great fun to do, as we were encouraged to maximise drama with these shots. In terms of scale, composition, depth and movement. We also developed the indigenous culture’s technologically primitive community and architecture. It was meant to visually contrast the overwhelming height of technology, the ruined Death Star, sitting in it’s ocean.