An Exclusive Look at the Fabulous Concept Art Behind Solo: A Star Wars Story

The latest Star Wars movie is upon us, which means so is a cavalcade of books about the process of bringing the world of a young Han Solo to life. To celebrate, we’ve got an exclusive look at the gorgeous concept art behind Solo, courtesy of Phil Stozak’s latest Star Wars art book.

The Art of Solo: A Star Wars Story, published by Abrams Books, offers unprecedented insight into the Lucasfilm art department’s concept work over the course of Solo’s production—providing insight from artists, designers, and other members of the crew about how the movie came to be, as well as a veritable treasure trove of never-before-seen concept art that shows how the characters and worlds of the movie came to be as they are on the big screen.

io9 is proud to debut just a few samples of some of the art you’ll find in the book below—and don’t worry if you’ve not seen the movie yet. There’s nothing too spoiler-y!

There’s a secret to Lando’s scarf here. From artist Glyn Dillon:

“The pattern on his scarf is an Easter egg: I took a still from A New Hope where Luke is swinging across the chasm with Princess Leia and adjusted the levels so it was dark and the pull lights on the Death Star were hard white. Donald Glover really knows how to wear this kind of outfit. It’s Lando on his way up, isn’t it? His costume is still a bit rock ‘n’ roll and young, but you can tell that he has a pride in the way he looks. We all know where he’s heading.”

Artist Neil Lamont on the inspiration for the mountainous environment seen above:

The Southern Alps extended into other countries, but the Dolomites are in Northern Italy, our area centered around Cortina. The Austro-Hungarians and the Italians fought over the area during World War I. You go there, and could very well be in Austria. They’ve got all of these incredible, highly decorated gingerbread chalets, German gothic writing, even on the signposts. It’s bizarre. And they speak this incredible hybrid German/Austrian/Italian.

We are actually using some of these World War I trenches up on this place called Montepiano. We’ve got to be 6,000 feet up, maybe more. They’ve dug trenches, what they call the via feratta, ledges cut into the mountainside with a very rudimentary iron handrail, on what feels like a pinnacle. It’s just incredible. The work and winters they must have endured…

The Art of Solo: A Star Wars Story is available now.