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Two concept sketches depicting costumes in future Hill Valley hand-drawn by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) visual effects art director John Bell during early pre-production on Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future Part II. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travelled to a highly futuristic version of Hill Valley in 2015 to prevent his own son (Fox) from altering their family legacy.

These sketches originate from the collection of renowned effects maestro Bell, who designed the 2015 hoverboards for the film and other key effects elements. In 1986, Bell was hired to produce concept artwork depicting a futuristic Hill Valley - including these pieces featuring its future inhabitants - years before the film went into full pre-production. Bell ultimately received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Visual Effects for his work.

One sketch depicts an embracing couple annotated "Look out, it's 1976 all over again!," while the second sketch depicts two separate individuals labelled "Ideas for young people in the year 2020." Both are dated "6.86" and annotated with notes describing the costume styles, such as "functional look" and "of the disco era." Both are rendered in mixed media and signed and annotated in graphite by Bell on paper-backed cutouts. They exhibit minor edge wear. Dimensions: (each) 35.75 cm x 21.75 cm (14" x 8.5")

Sold without copyright; see notice in the Terms and Conditions.

Estimate: £1,500 - 3,000 Ω


Effects maestro John Bell's first major credit was as a storyboard artist for Industrial Light and Magic on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in 1986. Within two years, Bell had become ILM's effects art director, a role for which he designed and illustrated props, sets, and sequences for an outsized number of classic films. For Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future Part II, he designed the 2015 hoverboards flown by Marty McFly and Biff Tannen, earning him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Effects in 1990. He would follow that achievement with a string of acclaimed projects, including as art director for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park franchise, production illustrator for A.I. Artificial Intelligence, storyboard artist for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Best Picture nominee The Revenant, and visual development consultant for George Lucas' Strange Magic, among several dozen other credits. In honor of John Bell's continued work on behalf of global cinema, Propstore is proud to offer select memorabilia from this legendary craftsman's personal collection to the public for the first time.


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