By Pete Vilmur
Though sculptor/illustrator Lawrence Noble has been an esteemed member of the Star Wars cadre of artists since the days of The Empire Strikes Back, it wasn't until 1990 that most fans finally came to recognize his many talents. In 1990, 10 years after the 1980 debut of Empire, an unused piece of artwork from the original poster campaign surfaced in the Lucasfilm Archives and was resurrected as a fan club poster. Renewing members to the club discovered a stunning poster of a larger-than-life Vader reaching out over Hoth's landscape in their fan club kit, attributed to an artist most fans were not yet familiar with: Larry Noble.
That same year, a striking miniature bronze sculpture of Yoda was offered in commemoration of Empire's first 10 years, also carrying Noble's signature. Like the poster artwork, the original clay sculpture had been crafted in 1980 for The Empire Strikes Back, and was only made into bronze ten years later as an Empire commemorative.
Who was this enigmatic illustrator/sculptor, fans thought, and why haven't we heard of him before? Actually, Noble's silent contributions to the saga at the time included a series of Return of the Jedi poster concepts as well, although the final jobs ultimately went to other artists. As a passionate Star Wars fan, Noble hoped that his artwork would someday become officially associated with the saga he so deeply admired.
"It was just the biggest disappointment of my career," says Noble, recalling the sting of those early rejections. "I was dumbstruck with the idea that all of this energy and effort had gone into [those pieces] -- I felt like George Patton, when he was relieved of command and says 'A whole world at war and I'm not a part of it?'"
But with his work finally unveiled to the Star Wars fan community after a decade of dedicated effort, Noble was elated. "To me, it just reinforced the whole reason why I did [them]. It made me realize that maybe the energy had lied dormant for ten years, but wasn't going to go away. And it hasn't."
