This year’s San Diego ComicCon is now underway, offering a number of streaming events over the next few days. Among them is the return of a monumental panel for all you movie poster lovers out there – MASTERS OF THE ILLUSTRATED FILM POSTER, which streams Sunday, July 26th, at 3pm PST.

Artists on the panel include titans of talent spanning decades of the art of entertainment, including GREG HILDEBRANDT (Star Wars), WILLIAM STOUT (Wizards), STEVE CHORNEY (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), ROBERT RODRIGUEZ (The Two Jakes), RORY KURTZ (Baby Driver), JAMES GOODRIDGE (Deadpool 2), and AKIKO STEHRENBERGER (Funny Games).

There’s also a guy named DREW STRUZAN. (If you haven’t heard of him, shame on you.) But more on him in a moment…

The moderator is PAUL SHIPPER, who has become one of the most prominen...

OK, time for me to share a little more personal news. It’s been on the forecast for some time, but now I can finally divulge it.

After nearly twelve years at Warner Bros., I’ll be leaving the company come mid-August.

While it might sound like the stuff that warrants tears, particularly in light of everything going on in the world, I’m happy to say it’s also the most dignified departure I could have hoped for. I’ve been longing for the opportunity to free up time for my own creative projects – so in many ways, the planets have aligned.

People have been prodding me for updates on the status of my documentary, so now I’ll no longer have an excuse to brush them off. I’m looking to have the first trailer near completion sometime in the 4th quarter of this year. There’s well over 100 hours of mat...

It’s been hard for me to think of a proper update in light of current world events. Things have escalated so far, so fast, and I doubt I could bring any insight or perspective that hasn’t already been expressed before, or do it with any greater eloquence.

COVID-19 has devastated so many lives, including a number people I know. My heart goes out to all of them. I wish I could find the words to offer their families and friends some degree of comfort.

For the rest of us, I wish for your health and safety. It goes without saying that these are incredibly dangerous times. That such a global health crisis should also be exacerbated by an incompetent, indifferent, and corrupt political establishment makes me lose faith in the human race.

I’m scared for my country, particularly in light of the curre...

This only came to my knowledge tonight, but it put a smile on my face and I felt it was worth sharing...

My friends Mitch Hallock and Ed Dolista, who host a new videoblog about all things pop culture, Mitch & Ed's Excellent Adventure, recently dedicated an episode to their personal favorite movie posters. And what made the top of their lists? Richard Amsel's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Mitch and Ed also made a kind mention of my documentary. You can watch it below:

I wanted to pay tribute to the late KENNY ROGERS, who passed away Friday. Richard Amsel did a portrait of Rogers for the singer's 1982 album, LOVE WILL TURN YOU AROUND.

I had tried within the last two years to reach out to Rogers' team to see if he could be available to interview for the film, but I wasn't aware of his health issues. My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and generations of admirers.

In researching the album art, which is very evocative of Amsel's first poster of Harrison Ford in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, I found that the artist completed not one but two different portraits of Rogers. The first, textless image here was from a professional photographic transparency taken many years ago of the original artwork; the second image is the final album cover. All this time I jus...

I bought another one of Amsel's original works about six months ago, and had been meaning to write about it ever since: Amsel's unused artwork for the film RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970).

I'd seen this artwork online for a number of years, and it's an interesting composition. My only real reservations are 1.) The awkward tree branch and leaves that form Sarah Miles' left eye, and 2.) The dominance of the color pink...especially when green should be more prominent!  The movie is set in Ireland, after all...

But why carp? Every piece I acquire is a treasure to me, and runs circles around anything I could ever hope to do.

For those unfamiliar with the film -- a loose reinterpretation of MADAME BOVARY, set in Ireland in 1916 -- it was David Lean's follow up the massively successful DOCTOR ZHIVA...

I'm only a month overdue on this...so, yeah, my bad. Sorry. 

Announcing the winner of the giveaway prize! (Sorry for the ridiculous screengrab.)

I did this video to prove that the selection was completely impartial. As a number of donations came from dear friends of mine, I had to take steps to avoid favoritism...though admittedly, I love YOU ALL!  :)

 Pictured: Carly the cat supervises the name drawing.

Congrats to JASON NAGEL for winning the RAIDERS print giveaway -- part of the "perks" for those who contributed to our documentary through our Fractured Atlas donation page. Fractured Atlas is an arts service organization that is our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor; contributions are tax deductible where allowed by law. 

These art reprints were made directly from photographic transparencies...

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the RAIDERS print. I've been recuperating from a hospital stay, and bedridden this past week. I plan to announce the winner on Saturday Jan. 18th. I'll be making a video where I draw the winning name from a bowl, just to ensure there's no bias on my part. Everyone who donated $30 will get one entry; $60 two entries; $75 three entries, and so on...

(Winner is not responsible for any shipping fees. Those who have previously donated since the initial November 3rd announcement are already entered to win.)

These art reprints were made directly from photographic transparencies taken of Amsel's original artwork, and were professionally scanned and color-corrected. None of these reproductions are intended for commercial sale.