Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Pyrite Planet Labyrinth (2018)

Another concept for the pyrite planet labyrinth that Rey hides out in, from early development of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. At this point the structures had been abandoned, replaced by some sort of naturally formed maze. I introduced the idea of using columnar basalt as a geologically plausible way a natural maze might have formed. Ultimately the entire location and story that took place within it was abandoned in the outline phase.

I used custom alphas to sculpt the geometry in Zbrush, then rendered in Keyshot. I prefer to do my lighting in Photoshop, using clown, normals, and depth passes to generate masks. Generic rendered textures were enhanced with photo-texturing and paint.

I did innumerable variations on these images, trying rectilinear and hex mazes, varying the density of the breakup and position of the arena, amount of vegetation, etc. This was my favorite version.

I did innumerable variations on these images, trying rectilinear and hex mazes, varying the density of the breakup and position of the arena, amount of vegetation, etc. This was my favorite version.

A closer, lower angle focussing on the "arena" where Rey's Force-distance lightsaber battle with Kylo would have been staged.

A closer, lower angle focussing on the "arena" where Rey's Force-distance lightsaber battle with Kylo would have been staged.