Huyssen & Huerta

Abbott & Costello…Martin & Lewis…Harold & Kumar…Barats & Bereta

Now meet the movie poster world’s most dynamic duo, Roger Huyssen and Gerard Huerta, the lettermaking wonderboy who created the infamous AC/DC logo, among many others. They may not be as well-known as some of their contemporaries, but these guys go together like peanut butter and jelly with Huyssen doing the illustrations and Huerta providing the killer fonts. From candy bars and cereal boxes to album covers and Swiss Army watches, Huyssen and Huerta’s Art Deco-meets-Rock N’Roll designs have indeed made the world a much better-looking place.


The Bassmaster (1920-1996)

On Tyler Stout’s website, I came across a clip of a documentary with design legend, Saul Bass. The man’s name and work are so iconic, it was interesting to see what the real person had to say.

Stout It Out

Like Peter Strausfeld, a young American artist/designer of our time named Tyler Stout has been touted by SlashFilm for his limited edition posters for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, TX.

This is an interesting trend in our bland, everything-looks-the-same, poster-by-committee cineplex world we live in now. What if every movie theatre had their very own poster designer?

The House That Strausfeld Built

For roughly 35 years, from post-WWII up until 1980, Peter Strausfeld created unique, limited edition movie posters in wood and lino-cuts for just one venue: the Academy Cinema theatre in London, England.

Think about it. That’s like if the Cinerama Dome or Grauman’s Chinese Theatre had their own personal movie poster designer back in the day. That said, Mr. Strausfeld’s painstakingly made posters are now extremely rare, but you can buy some affordable reproductions at various online print shops.

The Rockwell Files

When people think of Norman Rockwell, they typically think of his old Saturday Evening Post covers of Americana and the Four Freedoms series. But he also did a few movie posters back in the day.

What I also love, too, is that you can see his signature on each one!

Reynold Brown (1917-1991)

Ever wondered who created the posters for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Ben Hur? Reynold Brown, that’s who! Most people remember him as one of Roger Corman’s go-to-guys doing cheesy monster movie posters for AIP back in the day — but this fella drew more than just teenage werewolves and killer sea creatures. From Cat On A Hot Tin Roof to Spartacus to, yes, Love Slaves of the Amazon, this popular artist will be remembered for many years to come.

You can preview his book here at The Illustrated Press

And here’s part 2 from his PBS documentary, The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters (you can watch the whole thing on YouTube, but I started at part 2 when he arrives in Hollywood)…

Steve Frankfurt, Movie Poster Design Legend

Named one of AdAge’s People of the Century as well as being inducted into The Art Directors Hall of Fame, Steve Frankfurt has conquered both Madison Avenue and Hollywood. His title designs for Downhill Racer and Rosemary’s Baby are both routinely listed in the Top 100 posters of all-time. Not content though to merely dominate the worlds of legit entertainment, he once even did a remarkable campaign for a porno (Emmanuelle).

Akikomatic!

The Auteurs recently did an exclusive interview with Akiko Stehrenberger, the illustrator who conceived the poster for Funny Games and many others I hadn’t seen before.

Poster Ripoff?

I couldn’t help but notice the strong resemblance between the posters for Mel Gibson’s new thriller, Edge of Darkness, and a 1956 movie called Edge of the City starring Sidney Poitier, which was dreamt up by everyone’s favorite design legend, Saul Bass.