John Berkey: Difference between revisions

Berkey was commissioned by [[Lucasfilm]] and [[20th Century Fox]] in 1976 to provide some of the first poster art for ''Star Wars''. Among this work was a painting which depicted the character [[Luke Skywalker]] brandishing a [[lightsaber]], flanked by [[Princess Leia Organa]] the robots [[C-3PO]] and [[R2-D2]], and a number of [[Imperial stormtrooper]]s; in the background is a large figure of [[Darth Vader]] looming behind them, a similar composition to the theatrical poster artwork for ''Star Wars'' by [[Tom Jung]] and the [[Brothers Hildebrandt]]. When the [[novelization]] of the film was published, ''[[Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker]]'', the United Kingdom edition published by [[Sphere Books]] featured [[cover art]] by Berkey ([[Ballantine Books]]' US edition originally featured a cover by [[Ralph McQuarrie]]).<ref name="heilemann" /><ref name="remembered">{{cite web|title=John Berkey Remembered|url=http://www.starwars.com/community/news/family/news20080513.html|website=StarWars.com|accessdate=16 June 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517124534/http://www.starwars.com/community/news/family/news20080513.html|archivedate=17 May 2008|date=13 May 2008}}</ref><ref name="macquarrie">{{cite web|title=Ralph McQuarrie's Del Rey Star Wars Covers {{!}} StarWars.com|url=http://www.starwars.com/news/the-del-rey-star-wars-covers-of-ralph-mcquarrie-part-1|website=StarWars.com|accessdate=16 June 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616144341/http://www.starwars.com/news/the-del-rey-star-wars-covers-of-ralph-mcquarrie-part-1|archivedate=16 June 2017|date=7 December 2015|deadurl=no}}</ref>

Another of Berkey's original paintings for ''Star Wars'', was a poster depicting the final battle over the [[Death Star]] from the final scenes of the film. Berkey reportedly never saw ''Star Wars'', and this is evidenced in the fact that he illustrated multiple [[Millennium Falcon]] spaceships (in the film there is only one). Berkey said of the poster in an interview, "It was the first time that I was asked to paint fictional space crafts not of my own design". The painting was issued as a souvenir poster that was included in the first release of the [[Star Wars (soundtrack)|''Star Wars'' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]] by [[20th Century Records]].<ref name="remembered"/><ref name="sw-art">{{cite web|title=Star Wars Art – John Berkey Art|url=https://johnberkeyart.com/star-wars-art/|website=johnberkeyart.com|accessdate=19 June 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619123346/https://johnberkeyart.com/star-wars-art/|archivedate=19 June 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref Berkeyname="sciencefictionarchives">{{cite revistedweb|title=Original the ''Star Wars'' universeposter inpainting 1983by when he was commissioned to provide the cover artwork for the [[Atari]] [[videoJohn game]], ''[[Return of the JediBerkey|url=http: Death Star Battle]]''//www.<refsciencefictionarchives.com/en/collections/311/original-star-wars-poster-painting-by-john-berkey|website=www.sciencefictionarchives.com|accessdate=15 nameSeptember 2017|archiveurl="swhttps://web.archive.org/web/20170915233736/http://www.sciencefictionarchives.com/en/collections/311/original-art"star-wars-poster-painting-by-john-berkey|archivedate=15 September 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref>