Imagine FX Magazine Takes Inside Look at Labyrinth and Dark Crystal Posters!

The latest issue of Imagine FX magazine takes a look at the creation of classic fantasy film posters from the 1980's, including Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal!

The issue features interviews with Ted CoConis (Labyrinth), and an expert on the work of  Richard Amsel (The Dark Crystal, Flash Gordon).

In this excerpt Adam McDaniel, an expert on Richard Amsel, talks about Amsel's work on the poster for The Dark Crystal.

"His poster for Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal is stunning, and was innovative at
the time. He centred the work around logo art created for the film by Brian Froud, who also designed many of its creatures. On one layer there’s a piece of velum with a montage of strange characters. The castle housing the crystal and the broken landscape around it burst up from the bottom of the poster in front of the parchment. It speaks of mythology, legend, and a time long ago."

Sadly, Richard Amsel passed away in 1985 from HIV. A few years later when it came time make the poster for Labyrinth artist Ted CoConis was chosen.

"Supplied with the idea of the Labyrinth and a logotype for the movie, the challenge for Ted was to bring the key characters together without it looking too complex. The film struggled at the box office, but its poster is iconic and today it has a cult following. “Every single character is a work of art in itself brilliantly conceived, masterfully constructed,” says Ted. “In the end, Jim picked out a handful of key figures, and I was free to tie everything together with whichever ones worked best for the design. “I was completely free to do whatever thought would work best in terms of concept and design. The only client input – which I had to override – was their insistence that Sarah be portrayed in blue jeans. That was completely inappropriate for the look and feeling of the painting as well as the movie itself. She simply had to be wearing the gorgeous gown she wore in that fabulous ballroom scene.”

The issue also features interviews with John Alvin (E.T., Gremlins), Renato Casaro (The
Never Ending Story, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) as well as a look at the process John Alvin and Steve Crisp used to make the posters for Willow, and The Princess Bride. 

If you're a fan of 1980's fantasy movies I highly recommend you pick up a copy.