Jedi Master Yoda has become one of Star Wars’ most beloved characters, but he originally looked very different from his current iconic design. Star Wars is known for featuring a wide variety of unique aliens, planets, and spaceships. However, much of what viewers see on-screen is much different from the creators' original concept art. This includes Yoda, who went through a long evolutionary process before reaching his final design.
Introduced in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Throughout Star Wars' multi-decade run, Yoda’s look has changed multiple times, switching from a puppet to a CGI character and back to a puppet. However, Yoda’s design changed greatly before he even appeared on-screen for the first time. Many artists contributed to Yoda’s design before Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released, and their concept art shows Yoda evolving from a garden gnome to his iconic look today.
Published in 1980, The Empire Strikes Back Sketchbook shows concept art sketches drawn by Joe Johnston and Nilo Rodis-Jamero that model makers were later able to use to create aliens, props, and settings. Many of their Yoda sketches are similar to his final design, featuring pointy ears, wrinkles, and a small stature. In contrast, one sketch depicts Yoda as a dwarf-like creature with a full beard, pointed hat, and “magic” staff. Later designs moved away from this fantastical emphasis toward Yoda’s alien look.
The 2016 book Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie depicted many of McQuarrie’s art pieces, which contributed to the design of both Star Wars settings and characters. In particular, one illustration for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back depicts Luke visiting Yoda’s hut on Dagobah. Here, Yoda looks much closer to his final design, but he is still slightly larger with visible, long, thin legs. Later, Yoda’s design had to change for puppeteers to be able to operate him from below the main stage. Due to this, artists had to extend Yoda's robes to the floor to hide the puppetry.
Ultimately, Yoda’s design came from Stuart Freeborn, a make-up artist. Based upon sketches by all of the earlier artists, Freeborn sculpted a clay model of Yoda’s head. He also incorporated many of his own facial features, blending them with Yoda’s impish look. Given Yoda’s unique design, it makes sense that his development required multiple artists and a long process to become the iconic Star Wars character that he is today.
