homenaje a Ralph McQuarrie Star Wars characters Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, has died at the age of 82.

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Original sketches of Imperial Storm Troopers by artist Ralph McQuarrie.

Photograph by: Getty Images Files , Thewrap.com

Ralph McQuarrie, whose conceptual designs were behind the Star Wars characters Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, has died at the age of 82.

Director George Lucas credited McQuarrie for bringing his vision for Star Wars to the big screen.

"Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars," Lucas said in a statement.

"His genial contribution, in the form of unequalled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy.

"When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'Do it like this."'

McQuarrie also helped to create concept designs for the original Battlestar Galactica TV show, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

McQuarrie's conceptual work on the 1985 film Cocoon won him the Academy Award for visual effects.

A statement on McQuar-rie's website, posted after his death Saturday, said his influence on design will be felt for-ever. "There's no doubt in our hearts that centuries from now amazing spaceships will soar, future cities will rise and someone, somewhere will say . . . that looks like something Ralph McQuarrie painted," it read.