All of the artworks in this portfolio by John R. Mullaney are hand-drawn and hand-painted originals — unique one-offs, each especially commissioned and approved by major film studios including Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Universal and more.

Every piece represents hundreds of hours of work, built up through multiple carefully applied watercolor wash layers to achieve depth of color, subtle tonal shifts, and rich texture.

Measuring up to 75 x 66 cm, these large-format artworks are executed in pencil, watercolor, ink and gouache on 300gsm watercolor paper. Each piece is meticulously researched to ensure screen-accuracy to the movie hardware it depicts.

Alongside these full-color works are the preliminary cutaway drawings created on A3 tracing paper. These pencil pieces form the foundation of the final paintings and are often highly detailed in their own right, representing the precision and planning behind the finished works.

Because of studio-licensed publishing protocols, these artworks cannot be reproduced as prints for sale — though I’m happy to provide complimentary gift editions with the purchase of any original. This makes the originals an exclusive, one-of-a-kind portfolio celebrating some of science fiction cinema’s most iconic ships, vehicles, and environments.

These investment-grade artworks are ideally suited for corporate buyers, entertainment memorabilia & art collectors, and fans seeking to acquire or gift truly unique originals. Whether it’s a preliminary cutaway of a beloved piece of pop culture or a fully realized cityscape from a galaxy far, far away, these works are designed to impress and inspire.

Pieces which are marked as RESERVED will be going under the hammer at the forthcoming entertainment memorabilia auction hosted by Propstore with whom John is proud to be collaborating. Propstore recently sold several of John’s pieces at their LA live auction for record amounts.

If you’d like to enquire about available pieces, or simply start a conversation, please feel free to email directly.

BATMAN

SERENITY

Joss Whedon’s cult TV series Firefly and the follow-up movie Serenity remain beloved cult classics and an influential high benchmark in sci-fi pop culture. At the heart of the series was the ship itself - Serenity - often described as the 10th character.

This rare set of cutaways were produced between 2010 and 2012 for Universal Studios in association with QMX – the official producer of Firefly & Serenity licensed collectibles - and were available as a set of four extra-large, 32" x 24” full-colour lithographs. The set sold in its thousands and has long since sold out.

John was given access to the original digital models & on-set photographs to produce these painstakingly detailed cutaway artworks of Serenity, her two shuttles and the Flying Mule. These definitive artworks depict every conceivable detail a fan could wish for, with easter eggs and props relating to particular episodes and scenes throughout.

The poster set was even celebrated by Firefly/Serenity star Nathan Fillion – Captain Mal Reynolds himself – who, on receipt of the artworks, tweeted, “ Framing them immediately ”

Serenity Preliminaries

STAR WARS

In 1999 John was approached by Dorling Kindersley and Lucasbooks to be the third illustrator on their world-famous Star Wars Incredible Cross Section series. Since then he has had his meticulously detailed vehicle cutaways and cityscapes commissioned and published in many of the series’ titles.

Thanks to a close working relationship with Lucasfilm’s archive and art departments, each image is extensively researched for accuracy and based on exclusive access to behind the scenes reference material. About half of the pieces below were approved by George Lucas and Star Wars lead concept designer Doug Chiang, whilst approvals for more recent commissions have been overseen and approved by Pablo Hidalgo - the head of Lucasfilm’s story group. He described John’s 2023 piece - the Fondor Haulcraft from Andor as an ‘iconic DK Star Wars cutaway artwork’.

John has most recently just completed three more artworks commissioned for DK’s Star Wars Complete Locations title - due for publication in March 2025. One of these pieces can be seen below - a cityscape of Nevarro from The Mandalorian - a show for which he has also completed a cutaway of The Razorcrest ( not yet available/published but a personal best piece for the artist ).

Star Wars Preliminaries

More Star Wars preliminares to come in 2025

ALIEN

Of all the science fiction franchises he has illustrated, Alien is the one most personally loved by John. He has contributed illustrations to two major titles about the series both licensed by 20th Century Studios – Alien: The Weyland Yutani Report commissioned in 2014 by Insight Editions, and Free League's Alien – The Role Playing Game. The updated version of this 2019 title is due for publication in 2025 and includes John's latest artworks of ships and weaponry from Alien Romulus.

John used The Weyland-Yutani Report project to showcase his illustration and film-making skills by methodically chronicling the creation of one of the commissioned artworks. Featuring time lapse footage and a soundtrack composed and recorded by John, APC Cutaway has notched up 64,000 views on Youtube and received rave reviews such as: 'Genuinely Incredible to watch', 'This is some of the most amazing work I have ever seen' and 'A masterpiece'.

John's original cutaway artworks from the series have already sold out, but the remaining pieces have to be seen with the naked eye to be truly savoured, in particular his large format artworks of the iconic Aliens Powerloader and Alien's Nostromo.

The below 2D artworks were commissioned by Free League for their Alien Role Playing Game. As with the cutaway art, these precision pieces are painstakingly researched using photographs of the original miniatures so that detailed components such as even the panelling are screen-accurate.

Alien Preliminaries

HALO

Between 2016 and 2017, John was commissioned by Egmont Publications (under license from Halo creators 343 Industries) to produce cutaway art for Halo Warfleet, a publication depicting the ships from the Halo universe. Personally invited to collaborate on the project by legendary Star Wars cutaways artist Hans Jenssen - whose work first inspired John’s love of cutaway art - John depicted five ships from the Covenant fleet whilst Hans depicted the human ships.

With their organic curves and unusual designs, the Covenant spaceships represented a departure from the more utilitarian designs seen in Star Wars and Alien, and an opportunity for John to create a fleet of distinctive cutaway artworks rich in vibrant colours.

Halo Preliminaries

TERMINATOR

WARHAMMER