As a preeminent designer and illustrator of cinema art and one-sheets, artist John Alvin has created some of the world's most widely recognizable movie art including the collectible Star Wars Tenth Anniversary poster as well as posters for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, The Lion King, Blazing Saddles, and many, many more.

Alvin has also produced many special works for the Star Wars saga; hisStar Wars Concert and Star Wars Tenth Anniversary poster are among the most collectible Star Wars art in the market today. Additionally, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. exhibited Alvin's The Phantom of the Paradise as one of the best posters of the 20th Century. Recently, Alvin was commissioned by Twentieth Century Fox to create three new paintings for the international video re-release of the Star Wars Trilogy.

As a youth, Alvin was almost as fascinated with the previews of coming attractions as he was with the movies themselves. He couldn't wait for the Sunday paper to arrive to see what movies were playing.

"From the time I was 12, I guided myself toward the entertainment industry, at times unknowingly." Alvin reveals, "The closest I could get to the movies without being an actor, author or cinematographer, was to draw 'terrific art' about them."

Alvin acquired a full array of artist's skills and techniques as a student of the distinguished Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. After college, Alvin found himself working for the prestigious Hanna-Barbera animation studio.

"In my first years out of art school, freelance work was irregular and as my wife Andrea and I were beginning our life together, Hanna-Barbera offered me a chance to bring home a weekly paycheck," Alvin recalls. "Andrea was then a professional animator and for a short while, we both worked there. I designed and drew layouts that set up the scenes for animators."

In 1974, after a year working with Hanna-Barbera, and doing freelance work on the side, Alvin got his chance to put his love of film and his artist training to work by creating the campaign art for Mel Brooks' comedic Western Blazing Saddles.

"It turned out that Mr. Brooks was unhappy with all the advertising materials to date and this proved to provide the outside chance for some one new (me) to give it a try," Alvin says. "He loved what I painted and that started a very interesting and rewarding career for me."

When Alvin is hired to create a one-of-a-kind poster for a film he will sometimes get to see a rough cut of the feature.

"This is the most ideal because it gives me a very good idea of what the audience will soon experience," Alvin says. "On certain occasions, I've been given only a script. In almost all instances, I work from still photos from the production and, if they are available, special unit photography. Concept art tends to be exactly that and not necessarily completely accurate as to what's on the screen."