WEG Art Megathread

[spaceCowboy]

West End Games had a phenomenal art team and I have been collecting a LOT of images from them. These largely come from scans found on the D6 Holocron and are not the cleanest screenshots ever, but I feel like that adds to their charm! Many of these images remain the only visual depictions of their subjects and there will be a lot of variety in ships, uniforms, and more that does not always match what we see on screen. Again, I feel like this adds to the charm, we need to loosen up on the idea of "accuracy" in a franchise that has been running for half a century and can be portrayed in innumerable ways.

Opening the thread with an image by Mike Vilardi from 1997's Pirates and Privateers

[spaceCowboy]

I figured I may as well begin with what many consider the "birth" of legends, Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. The sourcebook for Heir to the Empire came out in 1992. These are not all of the images in the sourcebook, merely what i find interesting or aesthetically pleasing.


Wedge Antilles, by Allen Nunis and Paul Daly


Allen Nunis


I really love this depiction of Coruscant by Allen Nunis, all the spires and ships make it feel so massive


Talon and Mara! Allen Nunis strikes again.


Only seven X-Wings roaring down into the atmosphere, but here is Rogue Squadron by Allen Nunis


Allen Nunis and Paul Daly



These last two are by Allen Nunis and Xeno Beckwith

[Platt Okeefe]

THIS is real star wars. Everything else is fanfic and slop

[spaceCowboy]

Alright! Time for 1993's Dark Force Rising!

I'll be mostly grouping this batch by artist, and I think we can really see some of their strengths here. Again, this is a collection of things I personally like, so not everything in the book will be represented.

First up is Rob Caswell, who worked on eight of the WEG books and designed both the AT-PT and the Wild Karrde!













Next is the incomparable Mike Vilardi. Often called the "workhorse" of WEG, his art can be found in Galaxy Guides, Adventure Journals, and rpg books for both WEG and Wizards. We will be seeing a ton of him in this thread, and I absolutely love his renditions of Mara and Luke.










Vilardi does such an interesting Bothan, I really like it.






So cool!


Mike Nielsen gives us some great Ewoks


This is John Paul Lona and Mike Nielsen. I really love Lona's linework

[Crakka]

I really love this depiction of Coruscant by Allen Nunis, all the spires and ships make it feel so massive

Andor Coruscant would look like this if they weren't cowards.

[spaceCowboy]

Andor Coruscant would look like this if they weren't cowards.

I think the Coruscant we see a bit of in TIE Fighter looks more like this than it does anything else. I would love to see Nunis illustrating Wedge's Gamble or Krytos Trap.

[Platt Okeefe]

Andor Coruscant would look like this if they weren't cowards.

I think the Coruscant we see a bit of in TIE Fighter looks more like this than it does anything else. I would love to see Nunis illustrating Wedge's Gamble or Krytos Trap.

I do think the coruscant depicted in rogue squadron is much closer to that of the prequels though. Underworld portals and everything

[Jaxtonian]

I adore the WEG art. When I was first getting into TTRPGs years ago I would just scroll and scroll and scroll through WEG PDFs on trove for inspiration. There's some great stuff later but nothing has truly had the magic of the WEG stuff, and I will cherish it for that.

Again, I feel like this adds to the charm, we need to loosen up on the idea of "accuracy" in a franchise that has been running for half a century and can be portrayed in innumerable ways.

Exceedingly, exceedingly true as well

[SpoonMyMeatFolds]

These are kinda the most beautiful star wars has ever looked

[korosmajor]

Really love the way that Mara is drawn in these. I prefer her design here to the one in the comic adaptation