The Muppet Show concept art.

Early sketches of Statler & Waldorf, and some members of The Electric Mayhem. 

“Leon ‘Doctor’ Eltonjohn Dontshoot”–hehe.

At Jabba’s court and aftermath: Return of the Jedi (1983) art by Ralph McQuarrie.

talesfromweirdland 

At Jabba’s court and aftermath: Return of the Jedi (1983) art by Ralph McQuarrie.

Concept art for old favorites Predator, The Black Hole, Ghostbusters, and Short Circuit.

Concept art for four old favorites: The Predator (1987), V.I.N.CENT (Disney’s The Black Hole, 1979), Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (Ghostbusters, 1984), and Johnny 5 (is alive) (Short Circuit, 1986). The last one is by famed designer Syd Mead.

Ray Harryhausen drawings for the 1966 fantasy movie, One Million Years B.C., starring Raquel Welch.

Ray Harryhausen drawings for the 1966 fantasy movie, One Million Years B.C., starring Raquel Welch.

Grim Fandango (1998) concept art.

talesfromweirdland 

Grim Fandango (1998) concept art and model sheets. Great designs by Peter Tsacle and Peter Chan.

Concept art for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Doug Chiang’s concept art for The Phantom Menace (1999) remains one of my favorite things about it. It also shows what could have been: a black-clad Obi-Wan, going at it alone, and Geonosians in the place of Neimoidians. Nerd!

Costume designs for The Wiz (1978).

Costume designs for The Wiz (1978). The Wiz is a musical, but there’s nothing jolly about it. It’s a sinister film. Dorothy and her companions travel through a strangely abandoned, urban Oz; and whenever they do encounter other characters, they are often hostile in a quiet but persistent way, casually cruel and colorful, like bizarre survivors of a nuclear holocaust (the nightmarish Subway Peddler, above, is one of those characters). It seems like it’s Sunday for most of the time, about 6 o’clock in the evening: it’s dusk, dim, the sky is overcast, the streetlights are on, though they light the way for nobody.