Posterwire.com is a movie poster weblog. From images of the latest Hollywood one-sheets to vintage movie posters, this film poster weblog hopes to offer a bit of insight into film key art.
Illustrator James Goodridge shares a completed (and unused) illustration he created for a proposed Inglourious Basterds movie poster. As one of the few traditional illustrators working in Hollywood, James was also kind enough to answer a few questions about his background, his illustration work in entertainment advertising, and how he came to work on Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds:
Could you provide a short bio, including your education and work background, and how you came to Hollywood via London?
My formal education is sadly zero. The UK in the early 80’s was no place to get an art education. Without getting into political history, for reasons beyond my control the privilege of a college education was not an option. To this day it is something I wish I had been able to experience. I think part of the point of college is to give people the opportunity to be self indulgent, broaden one’s horizons, make mistakes and develop one’s own voice. I recall one college tutor at my interview saying “It looks like you know what you want to do, you’ll be fine.” The implication was that the place would go to a more “needy” candidate given the limited number of spaces. Amazing attitude from someone who should have known better.
Instead at the age of 18 I created a portfolio of would be movie poster illustrations over the summer and got a job with FEREF, a movie poster studio in London for the princely sum of 4000 pounds a year. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by the work of pre-eminent illustrators Brian Bysouth and Mike Bell. This was the closest thing I got to an education. A year later they were in financial difficulty, it must have been the 4000!
All this is before the internet so if you wanted people to see your work you couldn’t email it or create a website for it so I carried my huge portfolio to and around Los Angeles where I was well received and encouraged. Returning to the UK I subsequently worked for several years primarily illustrating book covers but returned to work in Los Angeles in the early 90s and met Drew Struzan whose work I had admired since childhood seeing his Alice Cooper album covers. I also was fortunate enough to meet and get to know John Alvin and it became clear that illustrators were still in demand, as John described it, “We’re now Hollywood’s best kept secret.” It was still some time before the studios were willing to “take the risk” of trying someone new but it is a very small community and once one studio uses you, people are very generous in recommending you to other studios.
Some of your work in Hollywood is as a film key art illustrator. One aspect of this is you do illustrations for movie poster concepts, photo shoot ideas, and other advertising proposals that the general public doesn’t see. In other words, many film advertising projects have illustrations generated in early stages even if the final product is photo based. Can you explain more about this type of work?
Primarily my job is to sketch the ideas of art-directors. Usually this means getting a thumbnail and a little reference for mood, sometimes it’s just a sentence and it’s up to me to compose it and bring it to life. Some clients are happy for me not just to communicate their ideas but to conceptualize myself: Wall-E, King Kong, Defiance and Hidalgo are examples of this. But mostly it’s a question of just making their ideas work. These concepts are presented to the client and photoshoots are arranged and that’s the end of my involvement. Although finished illustration is seldom used for a poster the work of the illustrator is still very much respected and I have been fortunate to work with people who, when the rare opportunity arises, will push for an illustration. It just doesn’t always work out. Equally there are times when a full colour comp or series of comps are commissioned even when there is no way an illustration would even be considered for the finished poster (Spiderman, Charlie’s Angels) but it communicates to the executives even more clearly than a black and white pencil sketch. Then there are the unexpected occasions such as with the Dogma DVD when, despite the prevalence on DVDs of new photographic covers being produced, I was asked to illustrate a cover but overall yes, photoshop dominates. Naturally I wish it wasn’t so dominant and there are many projects where I think illustration would have been a better option. Equally there are many projects where I think photography and photoshop are the right medium. When a photograph is interpreted by an illustrator inevitably there are choices made in terms of colour and emphasis which the use of a “cold” photograph does not permit. If you look at the meticulous scrap which [Norman] Rockwell shot and then look at what it became when translated to a painting you’ll get my point. The “danger” of photoshop is when rather than expanding your options it restricts them and the concept is dictated by the medium rather than the concept dictating the medium.
An illustrated movie poster is now the rare exception, rather than the norm. As one of the few key art illustrators working in Hollywood, how do you feel about this shift and the lack of illustrated movie posters when compared to the past?
There are those who maybe consider illustration old fashioned or dated. But there is seldom anything inherently dated in the work itself it is simply that it has been out of the public’s consciousness for a number of years. In fact it is often art that attempts to keep pace with fashion which is more likely to date, and faster given the transient nature of fashion.
Can you tell us how you came to work on Inglorious Basterds? The film’s marketing campaign used conventional photo based posters for all it’s one-sheets. Why did you decide to finish the proposed artwork you created as a final illustration on your own even if the studio had passed on it?
In the case of Inglourious Basterds I was called by the much respected creative director I’ve worked with on numerous projects including the Harry Potter series, 300, Lust Caution. The movie studio had already produced some teaser posters but wanted a fresh take, truer to the director’s vision and influences and the story. The creative director had only a few requests from the studio but this was to be an occasion where I had considerable creative input. I came up with 6 designs one of which became the favourite of all concerned. However at this time the movie studio decided they’d like to try building it in photoshop. A few weeks later I was asked to produce an illustrated comp. I should mention how important it is to have a creative director who believes in the illustration option and I was so fortunate that this was the case. The comp was approved with only minor changes but we heard nothing more. I never met with anyone at the studio or the filmmakers so I don’t know what took place but the decision was made not to pursue the illustration. I elected to paint a finished illustration as I didn’t want to get a call at the eleventh hour and have to produce it under the gun. So even when the illustration option is supported by the creative director and the filmmaker himself (check out the lovingly recreated posters used on the set of Inglourious Basterds) it is not a “slam-dunk”. It’s important to say that this is not unusual, people change their minds. Even an illustrated poster for Indy 4 was not a foregone conclusion. Now to people who care about these things it’s like not having John Williams score the movie or casting Matthew MacConnaughy as Indiana Jones but in the end fortunately the right choice was made.
Bottom line: This was the one project this year I thought I’d never get the opportunity to work on after seeing the early teasers so I was really excited to work on it. Yes, I wish the image had been used but I’ve been working in this arena long enough to know that, until it’s printed, nothing is certain.
You can see more of James Goodridge’s illustration portfolio by visiting his website Illustration Lives.
The Gallery Nucleus in Southern California is hosting an exhibition of movie poster key art created by legendary artist Bob Peak. The Bob Peak: Father of The Modern Hollywood Poster gallery show will feature over 40 of Bob Peak’s original illustrations, paintings, and a new line of limited editions prints.
Bob Peak was one of the bedrocks of classic movie poster illustration. His key art and promotional artwork for films includes West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Superman, and Apocalypse Now.
A one of a kind edition 40″ x 60″ print of Bob Peak’s “My Fair Lady” movie poster key art will be auctioned off at the show with the proceeds donated to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund.
The Bob Peak movie poster exhibition runs June 6th through June 23rd 2009 at the Gallery Nucleus, 210 East Main St, in Alhambra CA.
Dave Prager, of the weblog Our Delhi Struggle, details the interesting story of how he sought out a Bollywood poster painter living near Old Delhi (India) to commission a Bollywood-style movie poster from personal photographs:
And then, two weeks after we had commissioned it, Jenny and I came to Darya Ganj to behold our first starring role, captured in perfect 1970s Bollywood style. This poster accurately recreated the most exciting experiences we’ve had in Delhi so far: our spontaneous dances in various grand ballrooms, the time we fought criminals as special investigators in the Delhi police force, and that awful incident when our love of diamonds and danger forced us to turn our commandeered autorickshaws against each other.
Unfortunately, India is not immune to the dying art of movie poster illustration, but it is particularly sad considering the loss of these hand painted wonders and the artists who can no longer make even a meager living creating them.
Interested in your own custom hand-painted Hindi movie poster and can’t make it to Mumbai? The site Limona Studio will hire local Bollywood artists to paint one for you and ship you the movie poster painting canvas.
Just in time for the holidays we managed to get our hands on the new coffee table book Art of the Modern Movie Poster: International Postwar Style and Design. This movie poster design book certainly has to be one of the largest (and one of only a few) books on movie poster design as an art form. Weighing 8 pounds with over 500 pages, the book features 1500 movie poster images from 30 countries over the last 60 years. Also featured are profiles of movie poster artists, including legendary illustrators Saul Bass and Bob Peak.
From the book publisher Chronicle Books:
Art of the Modern Movie Poster — Critically authoritative, visually stunning, and physically massive, Art of the Modern Movie Poster is the first and last word on post-WWII film poster design. Showcasing fascinating examples from 15 nations, this collection of more than 1,500 exemplary designs is a must-have for film buffs, design and poster aficionados alike. The posters are organized by country of origin, offering an intriguing glimpse into each region’s unique visual sensibility and sometimes unexpected takes on familiar films. Gathered from the renowned collection of the Posteritati Gallery in New York—one of the largest holdings of international film posters in the world—this volume is the definitive survey of both film and popular graphic art in the modern era.
The book was created by designers Judith Salavetz and Spencer Drate, writer Dave Kehr, with images from the movie poster collection of Sam Sarowitz and his Posteritati Gallery in New York. The group previously collaborated on The Independent Movie Poster Book.
The official Chronicle Books blog features a post by designer Suzanne LaGasa about various cover design concepts for the Art of the Modern Movie Poster. You can see their exploration of book jacket designs before they finally settled on a “patchwork grid” cover design.
A gallery show for the book’s release is currently on display at the Lincoln Center’s Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery in New York City through January 4th, 2009.
Director Frank Darabont’s horror movie The Mist (based on the Stephen King novella) was recently released on DVD. In the film, actor Thomas Jane plays a movie poster illustrator, which has to be a first as far as film character occupations go. The movie poster illustrator as a hero character is interesting when one considers director Darabont’s strong feelings about modern movie posters. In this Comic Con interview with Chris Hewitt of Empire Magazine, Frank Darabont does not mince words about his assessment of the state of film poster art. The Frank Darabont interview begins at 2:10 in the Comic-Con Video Diary #3 (Part 2) (Warning: NSFW language):
“Blow me with that poster art” musings aside, Darabont has long been a strong advocate for movie poster illustration, which is apparent in his film projects, like The Majestic movie poster or the DVD cover art for the anniversary releases of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. The Mist Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD even includes a featurette called Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of An Artist about the famed illustrator, who illustrated The Mist teaser poster.
To honor the premiere of the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser trailer, we wanted to direct everyone to a new online article about artist Richard Amsel, who illustrated two of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark movie posters. From the author of the new Richard Amsel article, Adam McDaniel:
The key to his success, beyond raw talent, was the unique quality of his work and illustrative style. Amsel could perfectly evoke period nostalgia (his posters for THE STING and westerns such as McCABE AND MRS. MILLER come to mind), while also producing something timeless and iconic, perfectly befitting both something old and something new. And however different his approach from one assignment to the other, all would bear his instantly recognizable stamp.
Although Amsel illustrated one of the most recognized movie posters of all time (in addition to many other one-sheets), perhaps his greatest exposure was a record breaking run illustrating TV Guide covers in the 1980s. This work for TV Guide marked the last era for illustrated covers for the television magazine, just as the era of traditional illustration would soon end for movie posters.
The McDaniel tribute makes for an interesting read — it was nice to see comparisons between Amsel and American artist J.C. Leyendecker. Although he worked in the same mediums as other illustrators of his time (watercolor, acrylic, airbrush, and color pencil), the “crisp” detailed and flat lighting style Amsel often employed is something that alluded many artists. To see a great example of this type of the detail, look no further than Harrison Ford’s face right down to the whiskers in the domestic Raiders of the Lost Ark one-sheet. Amsel’s Raiders work is an interesting contrast to the dynamic lighting style of Drew Struzan’s recent Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull poster.
Famed movie poster illustrator John Alvin has passed away. Here is a statement from his family courtesy of IMPAwards:
We mourn the loss of JOHN ALVIN.
From Blade Runner to E.T to Beauty and the Beast, John Alvin left behind a legacy of art that will forever be followed, appreciated and respected by millions.
John loved “making movie posters” because he, just to put it plainly, loved movies. Thirty-eight years and over 120 film campaigns show that his contribution to Hollywood was very integral in shaping the landscape of motion picture advertising. Along with Peak and Amsel, John is now a part of an elite group. A group that helped create the “Golden Age of Movie Posters.” An era of art that sadly will never be echoed through the halls of an institution but more through halls and cubicles of our industry.
We lost a giant in our field and there will never be one like him ever again. Ever. John leaves behind his wife ANDREA his beloved daughter FARAH and a forever indebted Padawan.
We love you John and will never forget you.
Really sad news. John Alvin was one of the most important movie poster illustrators in the modern age, and having met him personally, was happy to find him to be extremely thoughtful and a giving person. He will be missed.
We came very close to declaring there was no “best” Movie Poster of the Year for 2007. Our annual pick for the best one-sheet for the year was coming up blank — there seem to be few choices for great movie posters. Looking at key art led to the same conclusion as looking at the movies themselves from the past 12 months: 2007 was not a great year for movies.
This past year, many marveled at the blockbuster eve candy of those sweaty 300 Spartans. Michael Bay’s Transformers was labeled a success mostly because the film was not as bad as many expected it to be. Many people searched eBay for a Spider-Man 3 lenticular 3D poster, which was as hard to find as a good review for the movie itself. Animation continued to be a dominant box office staple — three of the top ten grossing films of the year were Shrek the Third, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie.
Vintage advertising showed its influence with the dime-store pulp of the Black Snake Moan poster. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez wanted you to know how much they love the 1970s exploitation double-bills with the Grindhouse poster campaign. Were they trying to recreate the haphazard aspect of 70s B-movie advertising by creating a Planet Terror poster with Cherry Darling’s gun replacing the wrong leg?
Speaking of vintage, we liked the smokey distressed look of the 3:10 to Yuma movie poster, but is the sweeping (and blurry) duster jacket pose too Bob Fosse?
And speaking of blurry, some singled out the Michael Clayton movie poster as a good movie poster, but the blurred image of George Clooney with large typography seemed to fall into what some film ad creative directors call “book cover” design.
Artist Drew Struzan got to finish his own rejected poster design illustration from 25 years ago for the 2007 (limited theatrical, followed by DVD) release of Blade Runner: The Final Cut. The new Blade Runner DVD release features interviews with Blade Runner poster illustrators John Alvin along with Drew Struzan — a rare opportunity to see and hear film poster illustrators speak about their work. Alvin has some interesting comments about one-sheet design in the DVD’s Promoting Dystopia: Rendering the Poster Art documentary interview.
Topping many film critics best-of lists, Juno was labeled as “this year’s Little Miss Sunshine”. The Juno movie poster took that label literally by following the Little Miss Sunshine one-sheet example of “branding” itself via a strong color element (orange stripes in this case).
Was there a trend for 2007 movie posters? Our vote would be what we will call Big Sky Country, especially when looking at indie film posters. Lots and lots of big fields and big skies. All those vistas are not really a new trend, but there seemed to be fewer big heads floating in those skies lately.
Which brings us to our pick for the top movie poster of the year — The Savages movie poster illustrated by comic book artist Chris Ware. The movie tells the story of the dysfunctional relationship of a brother (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and sister (Laura Linney) dealing with their elderly father. What is interesting about the poster is all the things generally considered no-nos used in the one-sheet that don’t seem to take away from Ware’s illustration. Blue type against a blue background? Check. Overused Bank Gothic typeface set too small for copylines? Check. Rounded corners à la web design conventions influencing print design? Check. Reminiscent of another comic book artist illustrated movie poster featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman — the Happiness movie poster by artist Daniel Clowes? Check. Overbearing title treatment? Check. Inconsistent type justification (using centered, left, and right justified text)? Check. And failing to pass the gold standard test in film advertising ad critique smack-downs: Would your mother understand it? Check.
What we do like about the Chris Ware movie poster illustration for The Savages is that it is different than most key art campaigns (mainstream, indie, or otherwise) — it evokes a real feeling and direction about the characters. The trademark Chris Ware style of detached “coldness” is (literally) on display in The Savages one-sheet. Ware was an interesting choice to illustrate The Savages movie poster, since a common observation about his work is that his cartooning isn’t as strong as his writing, or at the very least, his artwork is overrated. It would be easy to criticize this top movie poster choice as yet another fan-boy sucking at the Chris Ware teet, but anything involving an alternative “comix” inspired illustration in a film advertising movie poster campaign deserves support.
Famed movie poster illustrator Drew Struzan returns to the warm embrace of his long-time client Lucasfilm with the release of the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser poster. Struzan last illustrated the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith movie poster for Lucas, and this marks his return to illustrating many of the one-sheets in the Indiana Jones series. (Although the first and perhaps best Indiana Jones movie poster illustration credit goes to artist Richard Amsel.)
The poster feels like a visual sequel to the previous Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom teaser poster, with a similar theme of Dr. Jones casting an impressive figure in a backlit entrance promising more things to come. There seems to be some debate about whether this piece of key art depiction of Indiana Jones accurately reflects actor Harrison Ford’s age, but looking at Crystal Skull promo photos it is hard to say how much “wear and tear” the archeologist will be showing on the big screen.
One thing we did notice is that the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie poster is using a different Indiana Jones logo than the previously released official Crystal Skull logo. Rather than an exact recreation of the original “Indiana Jones” logotype, this new teaser poster version of the logo differs significantly — using different letterforms, sizing, and kerning overlaps. Does this revised logo represent more unnecessary George Lucas title tinkering? Have they not settled on the logo for the Indiana Jones brand?
According to Film Junk, the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster was created by illustrator Richard Corben. (Update: This is inaccurate, see update below.) A respected comic book artist and fantasy art illustrator, Corben is best known for his work for Heavy Metal magazine. He also illustrated the artwork for Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell album cover.
Corben makes would have made for an interesting choice as illustrator for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force poster art. In the late 1970s, Corben created the art for a short story series called “Den” that was published in Heavy Metal magazine. His story was later adapted as one of the segments in the animated Heavy Metal movie. That movie story segment was the basis for a Heavy Metal movie poster, which was also created by, you guessed it, Richard Corben. The poster artwork features a triumphant pose of muscular hero “Den”, towering over a mound of creatures as an attractive female clutches his leg.
The towering hero layout Corben used should be familiar — it is sometimes known as the “King of the Mountain” or the “Conan the Barbarian” pose, since it’s origins go all the way back to pulp cover illustrations for Conan the Barbarian paperbacks and other similar magazines. This type of composition is so prevalent (especially in the realm of science fiction and fantasy art) it would be impossible to list every example of this theme. Although many artists (like Corben) work in this realm, the two most associated with this type of work are legendary illustrators Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta (both movie poster illustrators in their own right).
The ATHF movie poster may be the latest to use this look, but it isn’t the first movie poster to parody it. The Conan cliché has been parodied in past movie posters by the very artists who created this genre of illustration in the first place. For example, the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie poster (illustrated by Renato Casaro) was a straight forward depiction of “King Conan”. This poster style was literally “lampooned” when Clark Griswald took his place on top of the mountain in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movie poster. Chevy Chase returned to the top again in the National Lampoon’s European Vacation movie poster. Both of these Vacation posters were illustrated by Boris Vallejo — in this case parodying his own work and the genre he helped create. Other examples of “King of the Mountain” inspired layouts in movie posters: Star Wars (Style A), Barbarella, and Army of Darkness.
In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster, the ATHF team of Meatwad, Carl Brutananadilewski, Frylock, and Master Shake take their place on the mountain, complete with the required fantasy “babe” clutching Carl’s leg. No word as to whether this ATHF ad has caused panic in Boston.
Update: We received an email from Richard Corben’s official site saying Corben did NOT create the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster. We later received an email from Boris Vallejo’s official site confirming that the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film poster was illustrated by Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo. Glad the confusion has been cleared up.
