| Original Artwork for Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Set | |
| Kenner released several Star Wars playsets during the vintage years that had colorfully-painted cardboard backdrops. The Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Set was one of them. It was a sort of updated version of the earlier Land of the Jawas; it even re-used the plastic base of the earlier toy, though now it was molded in white rather than tan.
Above you see the original artwork that was used to generate the Hoth set's backdrop. It's quite large, as you can probably tell by referencing the penny in the lower right corner. I've had this item hanging in my loft for years, and most collectors who visit--even the ones who are intimately familiar with vintage Star Wars toys--fail to guess what it is. I think that's because the painting does not include the bulk of the AT-AT portion, which on the final production toy was three-dimensional, attaching to the backdrop and projecting a couple of inches out into space. The art for these AT-AT components must have been done as separate painted pieces.
Here you see a close-up of one of the destroyed Imperial Walkers. You might be able to tell that the laser blasts are not painted but are pieces of day-glo paper that were cut out and applied to the painting's surface.
This close-up of a flaming snowspeeder shows that the artist used thick, caked-on areas of paint to represent flames.
In this shot you can probably tell that much of the blue shadows on the snow areas are rendered in some kind of pastel. The artist could afford to work roughly at this scale. Once the art was reduced, most of the flaws and rough areas that are evident in this close-up would cease to be discernible.
Finally, here's a shot of some text that occupies the lower portion of the piece. It gives a product number and tells us that the item was to be scaled down by a factor of 50% for production. I'd always wanted the art for one of the playset backdrops, so I was really glad to acquire this. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Ron Salvatore |
| From the collection of: | Ron Salvatore |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Product Artwork |
