| Original Artwork for Unused Kenner Paint Set Images | |
| What you see here are original pieces of Kenner artwork. That much is clear. Their exact function, however, is a little more mysterious. This is due to the fact that they don't match up exactly with any product known to have been released by Kenner.
Nevertheless, we can make some guesses as to their purpose based on their appearance. For one thing, the black-and-white, linear quality of the images suggests that the consumer was intended to color them in some fashion. And Kenner did release two coloring sets with their first wave of Star Wars product: one, entitled Playnts, was a large poster-size kit with containers of standard paint; the other, called Dip Dots, was more of a water color affair. Of these two, the images you see here most resemble those of the Playnts set: they are a little more sophisticated than the Dip Dots images, particularly in the tight, wavy linear details meant to indicate shading and highlights. Also, although none of these images matches a Playnts sheet exactly, the first one seen on this page, depicting the Millennium Falcon and its interior, is nearly identical in parts to one Playnts image in particular (namely the sections including Luke and Ben Kenobi and the chess table).
(Overlay) I've added a new image to this set of the Landspeeder with the overlay not lifted. As you can see there is a smaller inset depicting an alternate version of the artwork. It's not exactly clear what part this alternate image plays but it is neat to see some of the other ideas that were thought up.
Whatever these are, the fact that they seem to have never been produced doesn't diminish their attractiveness. Hand-rendered product art like this is always nice to encounter.
These are two new additions to this series of artwork. Here we see R2-D2 and C-3PO on the desert of Tatooine. Note the Krayt Dragon skeleton in the background. The next is is that of Vader brandishing a lightsaber. In the background you can his and two other Tie Fighters in the heat of battle.
Here's a nice shot of artwork with the front covers closed. If you look in the lower right corner you'll see the label of the design firm that was hired out to create these wonderful pieces of artwork. This is the most important piece of information I've added to this update. It would appear that Ron was right. These are indeed pieces of artwork for the Playnts line. I've found this image that backs up my statement:
This image was taken from Spring 1979 Kenner Catalog (Supplement to the 1978 Kenner Catalog) If you look on page 3 for the Playnts Poster sets you'll see the above image. It is still unclear as to whether this set was ever produced but we now know that they were at least used for catalog photography relating to the Playnts line. |
 | |
| Description by: | Ron Salvatore, John J. Alvarez |
| Photo: | John Wooten, Chris Fawcett |
| From the collection of: | Anonymous |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1977 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Product Artwork |
