Collectibles

Item Description

The Empire Strikes Back - original Star Wars one of a kind oil painting by official artist Ciara McAvoy

Info from the artist Ciara McAvoy:

I always loved movies and to pay for my studies I started working in a movie theater as a usher, and then a year later, a projectionist. When I got home I painted portraits of actors and scenes of the films I had seen. I just loved the experience of being transported with a film… and it was a way to prolong the joy I had while watching these movies.

I got used to staying up nights, turning them into my work days, and worked or painted all the time. It's really when I saw Star Wars that I realized the art I wanted to create was movie art, above all other forms. I realized there was art in every aspect of movies, and I wanted to be part of that.

After movie posters had become a simple digital photo, I starting trying to improve the design and give a second life to advertising campaigns stuck in the new uninventive often uninspiring rut of photos.

Since my movie art was good, the movie theater director started to stick my posters on their walls and I began to seriously consider a career in the movie poster industry. I sent my work to movie magazines and almost immediately got published.

I think a great movie poster is like the setting on a beautiful diamond ring or the package on an elaborate gift, which for potential fans is the movie itself. A beautifully wrapped present gets people excited to open it up and see what’s inside. That’s what really great film art, in terms of movie posters, aspires to do, and should do if the artist is at their best.

Lucasfilm was one of the world's leading film and television production companies when I was asked to do some work for them and I was still very young…but the reason they approached me in the first place was that they heard about me through Leonard Maltin - the American film critic- who discovered my work for "Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back"-  and recommended me to Skywalker Ranch. I was soon invited for contract work by Allan Kausch, the continuity editor of several Star Wars guides and sourcebooks, including Star Wars Galaxiy Magazine, at Lucasfilm.

It is an oil painting on canvas. Yes I have been commissioned by  Lucasfilm (15th anniversary poster). No I didn't win an award for this one simply because I painted it 15 years after the release date.
The film was released on May 17, 1980, and the expected award time frame is one year after the release date.

What makes it worth $8000 ?

- I had several paintings of this size and medium sold for between 8k-18k  big pieces like Revenge of the Sith (over $20000).

- The Star Wars and Indiana Jones titles are of course the most popluar and are sold out  immediately when one becomes available.

- As I don't paint "fan art", the piece I created is an original promotional paintings approved and officially licensed for the film.
All my posters or illustrations have been commissioned by distributors, producers, directors or magazines who had the necessary license to publish them. A real collector is always looking for ollicial stuff.

- The first three Star Wars films are always the most valuable in terms of memorabilia

Both Disney items and Stars Wars memorabilia hold their own increasing value individually,   Printed posters (not original art) for the original Star Wars trilogy have sold for $10,000 to $20,000, and will increase in value...