Blog5: Graphic Designer John Henry Alvin
Posters
by John Alvin: http://www.posterguide.org/browseposter.php?browse=1&id=5
John
Alvin's story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/movies/11alvin.html?_r=0
Switching over to more
of a design outlook rather than animation, John Alvin was the creator of many
famous movie posters such as the 1982 E.T. Extra Terrestrial, 1983 Twilight
Zone: The movie, 1991 Hook, 1991 Beauty and the Beast, 1992 Aladdin, 1992
Batman Returns, 1992 Pinocchio, 1994 Alien, 1994 The Lion King, 1995 Balto,
1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1997 The Little Mermaid, 1998 Quest for
Camelot, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and finally the Lord of the Rings
and Harry Potter Trilogy (and many more poster designs are linked above). Unfortunately
John Alvin passed away from a heart attack at the age of 59 in 2008, but his
work will always live on. John painted images for over 135 films during his 35
years of working in the business. His daughter stated that "He captured
the heart of whatever the assignment was" and her words to me ring true
because if you look at his work it is obvious that he should be commended for
his talents with visual art. During his college career Mr. Alvin was working
freelance with a man named Anthony Goldschmidt who was an art director in
Hollywood. This paved the road for John's success in the movie business because
he was asked to paint a poster for Mel Brook's comic western "Blazing
Saddles." This particular poster shows Mel Brooks wearing an Indian
Headdress and Cleavon Little with sunglasses riding a horse. In 1982 Steven Spielberg had Alvin create a
poster for his E.T. the Extra Terrestrial film. Spielberg was inspired by the ceiling
painting within the Sistine Chapel "The Creation of Adam" where God
and Adam are about to touch fingertips. In Spielberg's version E.T. and the boy
are touching fingertips with a glow in the center. John Alvin actually used his
daughter, Farah Alvin as the human hand model for the poster. John even worked for big names like Walt
Disney Pictures where he created numerous paintings for posters such as
"The Lion King" and "Hunch Back of Notre Dame". The
executive vice president at Walt Disney Studios even admitted to the Los
Angeles Times that John Alvin's paintings were the reason why these big name
movies became big name movies. It is all about advertising, without it there is
no way to persuade the audience to see these movies. Within this type of
business the most effective way to "sell" a movie is to convey an
extremely moving scene through visual art that will sway the people. This type
of art is not only to create something beautiful for people to see, but it also
must have the advertisement aspect to it as well. I myself realize that to work
in this type of business one must know how to persuade the masses as well as
create something beautiful and captivating to look at. People in general are
drawn to beauty, it is embedded within our DNA. Without visual art, there is no
real way to "explain" beauty. One has to see it for themselves. John
Alvin was an amazingly talented man, and his work remains inspiring and
beautiful to this day.
