Ralph McQuarrie created about twenty-one production paintings, working mostly in gouache, opaque or semi-opaque watercolor, or a combination of gouache and acrylic. Following his meetings with George Lucas, he finished five key illustrations very quickly, taking a day or two for each, between the end of January and the first few days of March 1975. As model maker Colin Cantwell would finish approved concept vehicles, such as the Y-wing, McQuarrie would implement them into his paintings.
