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The Undiscovered Country poster

Star Trek VI poster designed by Alvin

John Alvin (24 November 19486 February 2008; age 59) was an award-winning movie poster artist. He designed and illustrated the posters for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Hailing from Massachusetts, Alvin graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. He became a freelance artist and began illustrating film posters, beginning with the poster for Blazing Saddles. Alvin went on to design many more posters for Brooks, including those for Young Frankenstein (1974) and Spaceballs (1987).

Alvin has designed posters for many Joe Dante films (including Gremlins and InnerSpace) and has worked frequently with director Blake Edwards (10 (1979), Victor/Victoria (1982). He also designed posters for such movies as Blade Runner (1982), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cocoon (1985), The Color Purple (for which he drew a silhouette of star Whoopi Goldberg), The Princess Bride, The Goonies, Rain Man, Willow, City Slickers, Hook, Batman Returns, and Batman Forever.

His work for Disney includes posters for the animated films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Mulan. His more recent collaborations with Disney include campaign advertisement designs for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the 2007 film Enchanted. Alvin has also designed and illustrated special advertisement projects for the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter film franchises.

Alvin was asked to design the Star Trek VI poster in the style of Bob Peak, who did the posters for the earlier Star Trek films. Alvin found the opportunity to be an honor, citing Peak as one of his greatest influences. [1]

In the cited interview, Alvin states that artist Richard Amsel, another influence of his, was the artist on the Star Trek posters. This is incorrect; Bob Peak worked on all the Star Trek posters up through Star Trek VI. It is possible that Alvin simply mixed up their names.

Alvin died of a heart attack in Rhinebeck, New York, on 6 February 2008. He was 59 years old. [2]

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