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THE LAST JEDI Concept Designer Shares Art and Behind-The-Scenes Porg Photos

by Eric Diaz

Like every chapter in the Star Wars saga before it, The Last Jedi was filled with an assortment of amazing creatures and aliens. But all of these new life forms came from a long and rigorous pre-production at Lucasfilm before getting their chance to appear in the final film.

Now ILM concept artist and designer Jake Lunt Davies is sharing many of the original creature concepts for the movie on his Instagram, from the very first sketches to the puppets used in the final film. And yes, this does of course include the porgs. Didn’t think he’d forget those precious  little guys, did you??

Below you can see an early concept for the Thala-siren, which you might remember is  the lumbering sea beast from which Luke Skywalker gets his daily helping of milk, straight from the source. You can also see on the puppets which were used on set in Skellig-Michael island. One thing this new trilogy of films has brought back to Star Wars is the use of practical effects, as seen by the giant puppet below.

Another piece from The Last Jedi – a low-angle milking POV study of the Thala-Siren. If you need a break from those udders, you can gaze up her lovely snout. Rather than having teeth, Thala-Sirens’ mouths are lined with stiff baleen-esque bristles to filter out their krill-like food from the sea water. They also feed on large shell fish, picking them up with the prehensile tips of their mouths and smashing them open on the rocks to suck up the soft insides. So that’s why the milk tastes so delicious. #starwars #starwarsthelastjedi #thelastjedi #thalasiren #conceptdesign #creaturedesign #seacow #greenmilk

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French magazine SFX have run a feature on the TLJ Creature department. Here’s a behind the scenes pic of the Thala Siren puppet in situ on location. Tom Wilton and Derek Arnold are sealed inside whilst Robin Guiver is on head duty. #starwars #starwarsthelastjedi #thelastjedi #thalasiren #creaturedesign #conceptdesign #puppet #bts #behindthescenes

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The Canton Bight sequence in the casino was essentially this film’s version of the Mos Eisley cantina from A New Hope, with a huge abundance of new aliens introduced. But not all of these aliens made it into the final cut of the film, like this little cyclops guy down below; hopefully he shows up down the road somewhere:

From the deleted Canto Bight hammam scene in The Last Jedi, this is Kedpin Shoklop played by Warwick Davis. He was vaporator salesman of the year and won a 2 week trip to Canto Bight. It was all going so well, mixing with the rich and famous and living the high life until disaster struck in the sauna. Hopefully we’ll see more on the Blu-ray. #starwars #starwarsthelastjedi #thelastjedi #cantobight #conceptdesign #creaturedesign n

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It seems no one knows what to call the new First Order ball droids, even those who designed it! Is it BB-9E, or BB-H8? I guess 9E is it’s official name, but we all know what we are calling it when it’s not around.

BB-H8s looking at YOU!! Another TLJ design #bb9e #bbh8 #starwars #thelastjedi #conceptdesign #bb8

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And, as promised, there are porgs. The little bird like creatures who lived on the island of Ahch-To were created by a mix of CGI and practical effects, and you can see some of the puppets used on Skellig Michael down below.

Another behind-the-scenes photo featured in the french magazine SFX showing the Porg puppets and control rigs about to be placed into shot on to Luke’s discarded lightsaber. #starwars #starwarsthelastjedi #thelastjedi #bts #porg #porgs #puppets #creaturefx

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More Porg concept art from The Last Jedi. DON’T swipe if Porg injury might be upsetting 😄 After discussing the moment when the curious Porgs investigate the discarded Lightsaber in TLJ, I couldn’t resist drawing up the alternative conclusion. After having spent so long developing these characters it was somewhat cathartic. Sorry. 😄 Nice to see it make into the Art Of book too, thanks @sfzuckuss . #starwars #starwarsthelastjedi #artofstarwarsthelastjedi #conceptart #conceptdesign #porg #porgs #porgslightsaber #lightsaber #lukeslightsaber #panorama #swipeable #swiperight #swipeleft #panols #pannify #spincle #instaswipe #instapan #instagrid #panoramaview #photosphere #pano #panoramic

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To see more of Jake Lunt Davies’ amazing art, be sure to head on over to his Instagram account for art from The Last Jedi and a whole lot more.

Which is your new favorite The Last Jedi creature? Besides the porgs of course.  Be sure to let us know down below in the comments.

Even More from The Last Jedi!

Images: Lucasfilm