John Alvin

John Alvin was an American designer most known for creating movie posters for some of the biggest films of all time. He first gained notoriety for his poster for the Mel Brook’s Blazing Saddles in 1974- one of my favorite comedies. Over the course of his 35 year career, Alvin created movie posters for the biggest movies of all time including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Lion King. This list of his movie posters is extensive and includes some of my favorite movies like Blade Runner, Gremlins, Cape Fear, Red Dawn, Willow and Spies like Us.

                In addition to his work in creating movie posters, John Alvin contributed designs to more than 135 films. He created art for some of the biggest franchises in motion picture history such as The Pirates of The Caribbean, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Alvin had a close relationship to Disney Studios and worked on a number of animated projects for them. “He captured the heart of whatever the assignment was,” Federico Tio, executive vice president of marketing for Walt Disney Studios from 1990 to 2005, said in an interview on Friday. “John became synonymous with almost all of the recent posters for Disney” — for films including “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Little Mermaid” and rereleases of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Pinocchio.” (Hevesi)

These are a couple of the designs from John Alvin that I really liked on his website. The two from the Lord of the Rings franchise, something about the eyes in both these pictures that really grabs my attention. Boba Fett, this is a cool picture of one of my favorite characters from Star Wars. Alvin was clearly a very talented artist.

Hevesi, Dennis. “John Alvin, Designer of Memorable Film Posters, Is Dead at 59.” The New York Times February 11, 2008. Online. Retrieved from: www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/movies/11alvin.html

Official John Alvin Website: http://www.johnalvinart.com/Default.aspx

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alvin