Tom Jung (born February 13, 1942) is an American art director, graphic designer, and illustrator. He is noted as the designer of the Style A poster advertising the theatrical release of Star Wars in US cinemas.[1]
Jung is credited with designing a number of film posters, including Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Gone With The Wind (1967 re-release), The Omen (1976) and The Lord of the Rings (1978).[1]
Biography
In 1976, 20th Century Fox commissioned Smolen, Smith and Connolly to produce posters to promote the forthcoming film Star Wars, and Jung was chosen to produce the artwork. He was given the brief of "good over evil," and provided with a wealth of photos taken by unit photographers in color and black & white, as well as 2.25-inch stills on contact sheets taken from the original 35mm print of the film. Jung's work was used as the one-sheet Style A theatrical poster for the film's advertising campaign. According to Jung, the unlikely "cross" formed by Luke Skywalker's saber sword set against the ghosted background image of Darth Vader seemed to him like a good solution to the "good" versus "evil" theme.[2][3][1]
A reworked version of Jung's design, the Style B poster, was produced by the Brothers Hildebrandt for the UK release of Star Wars, followed by the Style C poster designed by Tom Chantrell.[2]
In 1980, Lucasfilm commissioned him to design a theater poster for The Empire Strikes Back, depicting a standing Darth Vader with a billowing cape. Jung also created an unused poster concept for Return of the Jedi, which featured an image of the second Death Star exploding.[2][4]
Jung drew the covers for several books: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. He also drew the back cover for the Star Wars original soundtrack.
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Tom Jung Biography on Poster Collector: The Man Behind the Posters (backup link archived on May 4, 2019)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The History of Star Wars Posters by Dass, William on Film School Rejects (December 14, 2016) (backup link archived on August 7, 2020)
- ↑ A short history of the first British Star Wars posters on www.sci-fimovieposters.co.uk (backup link archived on August 7, 2020)
- ↑ Return of the Jedi 1985 Rerelease One-Sheet Poster Original Painting by Tom Jung on Science fiction Archives (content obsolete and backup link not available)
