A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away.. actually it was really very close. Let me start over. Quite some time ago, I was captivated by the art of matte painting when my grandfather gave me a book for my 18th birthday called Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Special Effects. It was one of the best books I’ve ever read about visual effects in movies besides The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting which really goes into depth about the history and tradition of the art and craft of matte painting. In this article, we see some of the matte painters and their shots from the original Star Wars movies.