Upcoming Star Wars show Maul – Shadow Lord went back to basics by creating backgrounds with painted glass, just like in A New Hope

It looks like the team behind upcoming animated Star Wars show Maul – Shadow Lord learned a lot from their predecessors, as they used traditional matte glass painting techniques to bring the cityscape of Janix to life.

In an interview with the official Star Wars site, Vice President of Lucasfilm Animation Athena Portillo explained that the team opted for old-school filmmaking methods to create the backdrop. “Cinematography, Lighting and VFX Director Joel Aron really took it up a notch with going back to the practical ways of capturing brush strokes by painting them on glass, shooting them, then strategically placing them in shots. He even went back to establishing matte paintings on canvas,” said Portillo.

Back in the days of the original Star Wars trilogy, the franchise created vast and detailed environments by painting huge glass panels, which were then blended into the scene. Areas such as Cloud City, Hoth, and the inside of the Death Star were created using his technique, which was a lot cheaper than making an actual set. However, differing from other Star Wars projects that used painted glass backdrops, such as A New Hope, Maul – Shadow Lord layers animated characters over the top rather than live-action actors.

We got our first look at the series in the first Maul – The Shadow Lord trailer and poster, which particularly showed off the thick brush strokes spoken about. Set after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the new series finds Sith Lord Maul “plotting to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. There, he crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who may just be the apprentice he is seeking to aid him in his relentless pursuit for revenge,” as per the synopsis.