Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Movie poster art - review of new book: "The Art of Robert E. McGinnis"

This is topic Movie poster art - review of new book: "The Art of Robert E. McGinnis" in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-29-2015, 07:58 PM:

The Art of Robert E. McGinnis

quote:
Robert McGinnis ( born 1926 ) is an American artist and illustrator. He is known for his illustrations of more than 1,200 paperback book covers and 40 movie posters, including Breakfast at Tiffanys (his first film poster assignment), Barbarella, and several James Bond and Matt Helm films.

Beautiful reproductions of his poster work in the linked article. If I ever get back to work I'll be adding this book to my Kinema Kawasumi Archives collection.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-30-2015, 10:01 AM:

Robert McGinnis' work is pretty incredible. I admire the subtle details in his figure drawings & paintings, particularly the hands. It's one thing to draw or paint a beautiful woman's face. I think it's more difficult to get the hands right. He is in the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame.

Sadly movie marketing isn't very open to this kind of artwork. The marketing people are afflicted with ADHD or something. They don't have the patience to allow an art director to work with an illustrator and develop a hand drawn/painted illustration over a period of a couple or so weeks. Today it's all about Photoshopped photography of actors digitally collaged into dozens of different options. That way the marketing people can spend more time not making up their minds and end up with a designed-by-committee image that is bland and forgettable.

Work like that of Robert McGinnis only comes through when the illustrator is allowed to make a lot of the creative decisions to come up with a singular vision.