Like many poster artists of the 70’s and 80’s, Steven Chorney paid the bills doing illustration work for the likes of TV Guide and Reader’s Digest. Similar in style to Drew Struzan, his slick, shiny, starry-eyed one-sheets often stand out from the pack.
Everyone’s heard of The Coens, The Wachowskis, and The Hughes Bros — but what about Tim and Greg Hildebrandt? These wonder twins were purveyors of sci-fi/fantasy art (unfortunately, Tim died in 2006) and their legendary Star Wars poster is beloved by many Lucas fanboys, but their illustration was in fact based on the already existing Tom Jung version below (top right).
Boris Grinsson also did the original art for Bedtime Story (1964) — but if you haven’t heard of that one, you might remember the 1988 remake, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
The world tour of movie posters takes us back to 1950’s France and the home of legendary French artist, Boris Grinsson. This guy must be pretty good as his work will be on display this weekend at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences in Beverly Hills.
Check out his rich, colorful renditions of such classics as The Hustler, Double Indemnity, Some Like It Hot, and From Russia With Love. And if you really enjoy his stuff, go buy the book at Posteritati.
Ever since I read The Art of the Modern Movie Poster (Chronicle Books, 2009), I’ve been fascinated with European artists — especially Jerzy Flisak, an amazing Polish artist who died in 2008. Not much is known about his personal life, but his beautifully abstract work is unforgettable. Down below, check out his takes on the following movies: El Dorado, The Great Gatsby, Roman Holiday, Two For The Road, Young Frankenstein, and The Conversation.
Obviously, I’m not the only Jerzy Flisak fan. Check out the eerie resemblance between Flisak’s 1978 Polish poster for an Italian film called Down and Dirty and that of last year’s Paul Giamatti starrer, Cold Souls. Coincidence? Doubt it.
You know you must be pretty good if they make a documentary about you. And that’s exactly what they did with Robert McGinnis.
Famous for his iconic James Bond movie posters, McGinnis was also great at drawing the ladies. Apparently, he was so detailed that he once even requested Sophia Loren’s dress be sent to his studio to complete the poster for Arabesque.
Check out the trailer for Painting the Last Rose of Summer…
Meet John Solie, yet another movie poster artist who now mainly does Western Art (Remember Robert Tanenbaum and Howard Terpning?). By the way, what’s up with all these ex-movie poster illustrators into Western Art? Maybe it pays better.
Anyway, Mr. Solie is well-known for his portraits of the well-known (i.e., celebrity portraits) and has done a ton of stuff for TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, and even NASA! I guess those astronauts must’ve loved Strange Brew.
Movie Poster Museum 