concept art

Ralph McQuarrie is one of people whose name may not be known to the public at large, but whose imagination gave rise to some of the most indelible, incredible imagery in all pop culture. He was a designer, a concept artist, and a creator who could take fantastic ideas and give them form, serving an essential role in the making of classic films and TV shows. Born on this day in 1929, McQuarrie designed the spaceships seen in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and E.T., he conceived the look of the original Battlestar Galactica, he was responsible for a central image in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, he production designed Cocoon, and he worked as visual consultant for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But inarguably, his major achievement was defining the look of the Star Wars universe.

Designs have surfaced for WWE fighting game that, in the greatest tragedy that has ever befallen mankind, was never actually produced. And they are amazing. Check below for designs featuring "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, John Cena, and VINCE MCMAHON'S MECH SUIT. For real.

Multimedia concept art is always pretty neat, if only to see how things might've been, and that's especially true for movies based on comics. We're all pretty familiar with how the real Spider-Man (oh you know what I mean) looks, so little twists to his costume that are done for the big screen are always worth looking at, even if they run the gamut between "pretty cool" and "terrify

Hey, remember Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire from 2001? It's okay if you don't, since it didn't have Fox Robin Hood or someone singing about ice puns, which, for good or ill, tend to make for the most memorable Disney movies. What it did have, however, were concept designs by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, which have led to the movie becoming a cult favorite in recent years despite a poor initi

Read all of Friday's raddest links, after the jump.

Movies: If you thought the 2005 Fantastic Four film was a departure from its Marvel Comics source material, wait until you see the unused concept art for Dr. Doom and the Thing by Constantine Sekeris. Art Shows: "Lazer Lips and Glass Helmets", an art show featuring nearly 20 new retro-futuristic pieces of artwork by Ming Doyle and Toby Cypress, will kick off a 7 p...

I'm on record as being a guy who kind of hates Batman Returns, but if there's one thing I genuinely love about that movie, it's that a significant portion of the plot revolves around an army of actual penguins with rockets strapped to their backs...

Marvel Comics has its share of "architects," but come next year, fans with gaming consoles will be able to take on shuffling around the "building blocks" of their favorite universe on their own (after a fashion) in the new Lego Marvel Super Heroes video game...

Despite all the carnage that the reptile alter ego of Doctor Curtis Connors got up to in last summer's The Amazing Spider-Man movie, things could have been worse: At least a tour bus wasn't trashed in the midst of the Lizard carnage, as was the original plan...

Video: Stan Lee reads "A Visit from St. Nicholas" like a true believer... in Santa. Proposals: Eddie Zarick shows off his arc reactor proposal prop. How could any body turn down a ring stored in this thing? Toys: DJango Unchained is getting a lovingly MEGO-like 8" toy line from NECA...