Jim Henson and Frank Oz co-directed this 1982 fantasy, which is notable as being the first full-length, live-action film to feature no human characters at all; puppets play all major roles. It’s notably darker than anything the pair had worked on previously and apparently ended up suffering at the box office; parents were unsure about its suitability as a family film and it was also up against the mega-hit E.T.

The film features puppets and other creatures designed by the renowned English illustrator Brian Froud, whose fantasy artwork has brought him international acclaim. He worked directly with Jim Henson to concept, design and even help to build the complex puppets seen throughout the film. Froud would go on to collaborate with Henson on Labyrinth (1986) and his son Toby even played the baby of the same name who is kidnapped at the start of the film.

This particular poster is the advance US one sheet and the artwork is often wrongly credited to other artists, including Bob Peak and Richard Amsel. Bob Peak did do a poster featuring the titular crystal, but this wasn’t used in the US and can be seen on the Japanese B2. Richard Amsel did the final US one sheet and the artwork features on the UK quad (as well as posters from other countries).

After a bit of research I was able to determine that the designers of this poster were Jeff Kerns and Lili Lakich at the agency Calko, Kerns and Lakich. The latter is well known for her work as a sculptor of neon and has worked in various fields of design for over three decades. Lakich started her professional career designing for the entertainment industry at Seiniger Advertising in Los Angeles. In 1981 she left to form her own studio with two partners and continued to work on film posters and other marketing material until 1987. Her official site’s about page lists an impressive range of work, including logos, identity, brochures and annual reports, signage, packaging, websites and fundraising campaigns for corporations, nonprofits and individuals. Her neon artwork can be seen on the Lakich studio website.

I emailed Lili to ask her if she could recall who was responsible for the artwork on this poster and the following is an excerpt from one of her replies:

I’m afraid I can’t remember who the illustrator was for The Dark Crystal. Somewhere I have a framed poster which may have his name on it, but I can’t access it easily. It was not Bob Peak or Richard Amsel but a young guy that we hired to do comps and then the finished artwork. It was done for Calko, Kerns and Lakich which was my advertising agency from about 1980 to 1987.

UPDATE 05/06/2012
A reader of the site got in touch to confirm that the artist is Bob Lee Hickson and the Dark Crystal image can be seen on his website here.

The film’s original trailer can be seen on YouTube.

This is the scarce international advance one sheet for the release of one of animation studio Pixar’s best films, 2001’s Monsters, Inc. It’s hard to believe it’s been 13 years since it hit cinemas as the fourth full-length feature from Pixar and a lot has changed since. It’s fair to say that their critical and box-office success rate has taken a hit with recent releases, including their last film, the prequel to this story, Monsters University.

Based on an original story created by director Pete Docter with help from other Pixar creatives, the film is set in the monster-filled city of Monstropolis, home of the titular corporation. The company generates ‘scream power’ for the city by having specially trained monsters enter the bedrooms of human children to scare screams out of them at night. Focusing on top-scarers James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman), and his one-eyed partner and best friend, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), the story follows events after a toddler called Boo is accidentally brought back through the door portal into Monstropolis and Mike and Sulley have to deal with this unprecedented situation without the company finding out.

The film was a huge critical and commercial success at the time of release and cemented Pixar’s reputation as the gold-standard for computer-animated film making. This international one sheet was printed to be used in English-speaking territories around the world and the image of Mike and Sulley is unique to this particular poster.

This is the B1 poster for the original Polish release of The Empire Strikes Back, which was one of the most anticipated sequels in the history of cinema following on from the unexpected international success of George Lucas’ original Star Wars (1977). The first film wasn’t released in Poland until 1979 and Empire Strikes Back appeared in 1983, the same year that the original trilogy came to an end in most other markets with Return of the Jedi (released a year later in Poland).

This highly-stylised image, the centre of which resembles Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in the outfit he wears during the opening scenes on the ice planet of Hoth, was created by the designer and artist Jakub Erol who was born in Zamość in 1941 and graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1968. He worked as a prolific poster artist for over 25 years and designed several iconic images for both Polish and American films. Some of his other poster highlights include the bizarre image he conjured up for Ridley Scott’s Alien, a striking design for James Cameron’s The Terminator and the poster for Robocop. One of his best, in my opinion, is the skull-style poster he created for the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Polishposter.com website features many of his designs, several which are for sale, and the Polish cinemaposter.com website also features three pages of his work. This list of his designs on the same website gives you an idea of how prolific an artist he was.

Note that the name of director Irvin Kershner has been misspelled at the bottom of the poster (Wershner).

This is the artwork style Japanese poster for the release of George Lucas’ sci-fi classic The Empire Strikes Back, which features a fantastic illustration by the Japanese artist Noriyoshi Ohrai which, in my opinion, is the best artwork for the best film in the six film saga. I’d have a hard time choosing between this and Tom Chantrell’s classic design for the greatest overall Star Wars poster artwork.

As well as this Japanese B1, the artwork featured on a Japanese B2 as well as several other international posters, including an Australian one sheet. Sadly it was not to be used for the US or UK campaigns. In 2010, for the ESB 30th anniversary, Lucasfilm released a limited edition one sheet of the poster taken from the original artwork transparency – see this article for more info.

Noriyoshi Ohrai is my favourite Japanese artist and certainly in my top five greatest film poster illustrators of all time. He’s responsible for a number of other Star Wars related posters, including this lovely 1982 B2 to celebrate the release of the Japanese dubbed version of the original film. He is also know for a series of Godzilla posters, some of which can be seen here. In March 2014 a retrospective exhibition was held in Japan of Ohrai’s work and I made the trip over to Miyazaki to see the exhibition and I’m very glad I did as it featured most of his original artwork and a whole array of posters and book covers. A full report will follow soon.

The posters I’ve managed to collect by him can be seen by clicking here.

This is the B1 advance poster for the Japanese release of The Empire Strikes Back, which by 1980 was one of the most anticipated sequels in the history of cinema following the continuing international success of George Lucas’ original Star Wars (1977). This image of bad guy Darth Vader’s helmet was also used for the North American advance one sheet and is a photograph of a prop helmet created to be worn by Dave Prowse in the original trilogy. The photo shoot for this poster was apparently done by the respected poster designer and artist Bob Peak, who was responsible for many classic 70s and 80s posters, including Apocalypse Now, The Spy Who Loved Me and Superman.

This image was only used for the B1 size Japanese poster, with a photographic montage being used for the standard B2 whilst Noriyoshi Ohrai was responsible for the artwork on the superb alternative style B2, which was also printed as a B1 size poster.

To see more posters by Bob Peak in the Film on Paper collection click here.

This is the photo montage style Japanese poster for the second (and best, IMO) film in the original Star Wars trilogy. Noriyoshi Ohrai was responsible for the artwork on the superb alternative style Japanese poster.

This version prominently features Cloud City, an outpost and gas mining colony floating above the planet Bespin, and the place to which Han Solo and Princess Leia flee after the battle of Hoth. Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) is the administrator of the city and an old friend of Han Solo who, unbeknownst to the crew of the Millennium Falcon, has cut a deal with Darth Vader to allow the rebels to be captured in return for continued autonomy from the Empire.

Rather brilliantly the character line-up features a Tauntaun, the bipedal reptomammal used by the rebel alliance as patrol mounts on their native planet of Hoth. Also in the line-up is the bounty hunter Boba Fett, many fans’ favourite character in the entire Star Wars universe.

A fantastic illustration on this Japanese B2 for The Empire Strikes Back by the Japanese artist Noriyoshi Ohrai which, in my opinion, is the best artwork for the best film in the six film saga. I’d have a hard time choosing between this and Tom Chantrell’s classic design for the greatest overall Star Wars poster artwork.

As well as this Japanese B2, the artwork featured on a Japanese B1 as well as several other international posters, including an Australian one sheet. Sadly it was not to be used for the US or UK campaigns. Last year, for the ESB 30th anniversary, Lucasfilm released a limited edition one sheet of the poster taken from the original artwork transparency – see this article for more info.

Noriyoshi Ohrai is my favourite Japanese artist and certainly in my top five greatest film poster illustrators of all time. He’s responsible for a number of other Star Wars related posters, including this lovely 1982 B2 to celebrate the release of the Japanese dubbed version of the original film. He is also know for a series of Godzilla posters, some of which can be seen here. In March 2014 a retrospective exhibition was held in Japan of Ohrai’s work and I made the trip over to Miyazaki to see the exhibition and I’m very glad I did as it featured most of his original artwork and a whole array of posters and book covers. A full report will follow soon.

The posters I’ve managed to collect by him can be seen by clicking here.