The Art Of Brian Bysouth

When I discovered that a British artist was responsible for not only my favourite Bond film poster (which I wrote about here) but also many others I liked, I decided he'd make an excellent subject for my occasional "The Art Of..." thread.

So here's a celebration of Brian Bysouth and his work.

1981
My favourite Bond poster (I wrote about the film here)

1973

1974

1975

1978

1981

1981
This was created for the British market after the distributor felt the Amsel poster didn't have enough action.  I wrote about the film here (where you can also see that artwork)

1981
Original element from the For Your Eyes Only poster

1982

1982

1982
This poster really grabbed my attention back then though I still, to this day, haven't seen the film...

1983

1985
Unused teaser poster (the producers apparently didn't think Bond looked thrilling enough in a white tuxedo!)

1986

1986

1986

1987 ( I wrote about the film here)

Brian Bysouth was born in London in October 1936 and his mother, a fashion artist, encouraged him to draw from an early age.  After winning an art scholarship to the Willesden School Of Art, he left at 18 to complete his National Service in the RAF.

Brian Bysouth working on the poster for Fort Apache: The Bronx (1981)
photo from the Film On Paper interview

After returning to school, he realised the only way to make a living was to become a commercial artist and joined an agency called Downtons, becoming interested in its film department.  His first poster was for Tiger Bay (1959) and, in between general illustrative duties, he worked on the campaigns for the Bond films Dr. No (1962) and From Russia With Love (1963), starting his long association with the series.

He went freelance in the early 70s, working with David Judd Associates and doing all kind of illustrative advertising work (including posters for British Airways, Yorkie bars, Halls Brewery and Quaker cereal boxes) as well as film poster design.  After setting up his own agency, Bysouth and Hayter Associates, in the late 70s - during which time he created the posters for Raiders Of The Lost Ark and For Your Eyes Only - he joined the FEREF agency in 1983.  As some of their biggest clients were major film companies (including Twentieth Century-Fox, Warner Brothers and UIP), Bysouth produced a lot of film posters as well as painting video covers, film campaign books and promotional brochures for the likes of the Cannes Film Festival.  As computers became more accessible, Bysouth taught himself how to use Photoshop and moved towards being an art director though he created the cover art for Paramount’s VHS releases of Star Trek and its various spin-offs.

The last painting Bysouth did for the Bond series The Living Daylights (1987), as all those since based been photographic (he said, in interview, that Licence To Kill (1989) suffered with “a very bland, ordinary, photo montage which sadly marked the demise of the painted James Bond Poster”).  The last Bond poster he was involved with was The World Is Not Enough (1999) which gained notoriety for the fact that Sophie Marceau’s bust size was increased.

Now retired, Bysouth still paints occasionally.


sources:
Interview at FilmOnPaper
Interview at Illustrated007

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The Art Of Bob Larkin

Back in the 70s, as an avid reader of Starburst, I saw an ad for a film called Shockwaves and the image - drowned Nazi zombies - was incredibly striking.  I saw the film, many years later and whilst it didn’t (in true exploitation art terms) quite live up to the promise of the poster, it certainly had its moments.  As part of my research, I discovered that the man who drew it also created the poster art for Kingdom Of The Spiders (which I wrote about here), the cover of Marvel’s adapation of The Empire Strikes Back and the poster for Joe Dante’s excellent Piranha (which I covered here).

So here’s a celebration of Bob Larkin and his artwork.

1974 - 1st issue of the comic published in the UK

1977 - film poster

1977 - film poster

1978 - comic

1978 - film poster

1978 - comic collectors edition (one of two variant covers)

1980 - Marvel cover (also used on the annual)

1980 - the UK title of "Humanoids From The Deep"

1980 - comic (is it just me, or does Dracula here look like George Hamilton?)

1984 - paperback

1986 - UK quad poster

1988 - paperback

2015 - trading card

c.1970s - The Universal Monsters

Bob Larkin was on July 10th 1949 and attended High School with the son of Bantam Art Director Len Leone, from 1964 to 1967.  Larkin showed Leone some of his artwork and was told, “Down the road, if you get really good at it, I will hire you.”

Bob Larkin with his son Ken in 1979

Bob was a big fan of the Doc Savage series as he grew up and Leone was instrumental in Bantam reprinting the books and making it a success.  The original cover artwork was created by James Bama and when he decided to move on, he handpicked Bob as his successor.  This began a long and fruitful collaboration between artist and publisher, starting in 1977 and continuing for many years.

Although he worked for DC Comics, Peter Pan Records, National Lampoon and Warren Publishing, he is chiefly known for his painted covers of Marvel magazines during the 1970s and 1980s.  His many credits include Crazy Magazine, Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu, The Hulk, Planet of the Apes, Savage Sword of Conan, The Tomb of Dracula, Spider Man, The Punisher, Vampirella, Creepy, Eerie and more.

As well as his Doc Savage work, he produced other covers for Bantam Books as well as Ace Books, Simon & Schuster, Random House and Penguin.  He also created film posters for the likes of Columbia Pictures, Universal, New Line Cinema and Troma.

He continues to paint.

A partial list of Bob Larkin's artwork can be found here

sources:
Camera Viscera
Bob Larkin: The Illustrated Man

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The Art Of Tom Chantrell

Whilst working on a Star Wars At 40 post, I discovered that my favourite poster was created by a British artist.  As I researched him, I found he'd worked on a lot of other cool films too and so here's a celebration of Tom Chantrell and his artwork.

1977
The one that started it for me, the UK quad poster.  Perhaps because of his Hammer associations, Chantrell was the only artist to include Peter Cushing in a poster.

1966

1967

1969

1971

1972

1975

1976

1976

1977

1978

1978

1978

1980

1981

1981

1982 - based on the illustration by Berni Wrightson

And away from movie posters, Chantrell also created the cover art for this book, beloved of so many horror fans (of a certain age)

1973

Thomas “Chan” William Chantrell was born in Manchester on 20th December 1916.  The son of a trapeze artist, he was the youngest of nine children (the first son) and showed an early aptitude for art, winning a prestigious national competition aged thirteen by designing a disarmament poster for the League Of Nations.  He briefly attended Manchester Art College but left to work at a local advertising agency, moving to London in 1933 to work as a silkscreen printer before joining Bateman Artists.  One of their main clients was Allardyce Palmer Ltd who created posters for Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox and in 1938 he produced his first, for The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse.  After active service in the Second World War as part of the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Unit, he joined Allardyce Palmer and worked solidly, designing posters for hundreds of films, from East Of Eden and Bus Stop, Brighton Rock, The King And I, five Carry Ons (Cabby, Jack, Spying, Cleo, Cowboy and Screaming), One Million Years BC, Far From The Madding Crowd, Bullit, The French Connection, A Clockwork Orange and most Hammer productions from 1965 onwards.

Tom Chantrell with his in-progress Star Wars artwork, 1977

Rarely seeing the film he drew for (he apparently considered it a waste of time), he worked from a synopsis and a handful of stills - if he couldn’t find the right image, he’d have friends and family pose for reference shots. 

Leaving Allardyce Palmer in 1972, he went freelance with his reputation as England’s most successful and experienced poster artist serving him well.  A decline in cinema audiences (theatres were being adapted to have several screens in one venue) at the time meant more exploitation films reached the screen (sometimes British, sometimes Continental), which in turn required lots of poster art.  Working for the likes of Eagle, Tigon, Hemdale, ITC, Brent-Walker, Alpha and Cannon Entertainment (and what a nostalgic rush those names induce), sexploitation was most popular but closely followed by horror, kung-fu, cheaply produced war and sci-fi flicks, French arthouse, American Grindhouse and teen sex comedies, it was said that if you needed ‘an appropriately gratuitous poster to pull in the punters, Tom Chantrell was your man.’  In addition, he picked up contracts for blockbusters, such as Star Wars as well as illustrating movie soundtrack sleeves and novelisation covers for Hamlyn.

Into the 80s, he produced VHS and Betamax cover art but rising production costs and the arrival of affordable digital art meant traditional painted posters were soon out of fashion.  He suffered a heart attack and, after being admitted to hospital, passed away on 15th July 2001.

He was married twice and was survived by his second wife Shirley and their twin daughters, plus a son and daughter from his first marriage.


sources:
Chantrell Posters
Guardian obituary, by Sim Branaghan
Brit Posters
The Art Of Poster Maker Extrardinaire Tom Chantrell

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