Thread by @MrEwanMorrison

Star Wars was painted. Almost impossible to believe that most of the epic widescreen sci-fi images in the first 3 Star Wars films were done by 3 "Matte painting" artists. These are fake sets made with plexiglass and oil paint. Even the 100s of storm troopers were painted.

Spoiler: Those epic images in the first 3 Star Wars films were hand-painted! Back then before CGI matte paintings were used. Matte paintings typically depict landscapes painted onto glass using oil, acrylics, or pastels, and are either filmed through or added in post production

Pt.3. More of those Star Wars Matte paintings, that I am reliably informed were painted on shower doors - because they were glass and the right dimensions for widescreen. Matte paintings create "the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location."

pt.4. The amazing Hand-Painted Matte's from the Ewok forest moon of Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. The acted action occurred in the black shapes and the majority of the epic views were paintings. Matte painting is an old cinema art - now superseded by CGI

pt.5 Another amazing Film-Painting fact. James Cameron (director of Avatar) started out as matte painter & model maker. Here he is turning an abandoned field into a ruined dystopian New York cityscape for the Apocalyptic Sc-Fi movie "Escape from New York" (1981).
Thanks @chapps

Pt.6 Star Wars - painted on Shower Doors? Truth or myth? Perhaps someone at @DisneyLucasFilm can confirm (or deny) that the fabulous rumour that the original matte paintings for the first 3 Star Wars film were painted onto shower doors? We love the art & the mythology behind it

Pt.8 Stunning matte painting on ALIENS (1986) written and directed by James Cameron. Painting by Robert and Dennis Skotak. Matte paintings were also used in the original ALIEN film to fill in areas of the ship's interior as well as exterior shots of the planetoid's surface