AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: IMPERIAL GROUND FORCES AT WORK!

Now released onto the Hoth surface, the Imperial Snowtroopers recce the enemy power generators in this great production painting idea for The Empire Strikes Back that sadly never made the film, as the Walkers vs ground troops instead became the singular focus of the ground conflict. Though approved by George Lucas in the film's pre production stage, the final design of the Snowtroopers was ultimately on screen- realized differently, surely due to the later influence of director Irvin Kershner, working with UK costume designer John Mollo.

McQuarrie's approved design for the Imperial Stormtrooper from George Lucas.

As seen on the battlefield in this other McQuarrie art.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: BRINGING POWER TO THE REBELLION!

The king of matte paintings when it came to depicting the natural environs of the ice planet Hoth, 'Wunderkid' artist Michael Pangrazio brings to life a shot of the Rebel base power generators for a view ultimately not used in The Empire Strikes Back. (Note the curved tracks towards the generators, from some kind of vehicle we ultimately never saw, or perhaps linked to the location filmed Rebel Tank.) Presumably created to make the generators objective stand out for audiences during the film's major battle sequence, a model (shown below) would instead act as a replacement shot via the telescopic sighting made by General Veers in his AT-AT Walker. Other shots of the generator were achieved by further matte paintings (superimposed onto previously shot second unit location footage) from both Pangrazio and Harrison Ellenshaw.

More on the behind the scenes location and effects filming for the Hoth scenes:
https://www.starwars.com/news/hoth-behind-the-scenes