Raise the Titanic movie poster

Illustrators Speak Out

Raise the Titanic movie poster
Raise the Titanic movie poster illustrated by John Berkey

Movie poster illustrators interview

MovieMaker Magazine has an interview with three famous movie poster illustrators lamenting the state of movie poster design in relation to art. Artists Drew Struzan, John Berkey, and John Solie offer their take on their past work and the “declining state of movie poster art”.

Drew Struzan:

“I think the ’80s were the era when poster art was strongest,” says Drew Struzan. “It started to taper off in the ’90s when computers came into it; it took a lot of work away. People got excited about this new medium of computers for the last 10 years to the point where there were hardly any illustrations at all. As they learned how to use computers, the quality of the work kind of declined.”

John Berkey:

“The nicest part was always seeing the finished product,” he says. “I enjoyed being a poster artist; it was fun to be a part of that time. I didn’t know it then, but it was the end of illustrators working on films. I think the field of illustration in general has kind of collapsed.”