Richard Amsel & Muppet Movie Art

[frogboy4]

Richard Amsel's work ranges from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Superman" to "The Dark Crystal" and "The Muppet Movie" film posters. He had a distinct beautiful drawing style that lends credibility to the projects and made me want to go see them as a kid. Too often this artwork is replaced with crummy Photoshopped art from mediocre graphic designers with little or no fine art or drawing abilities. It is said that Jim Henson always liked how Amsel drew the Muppets.

Here's the Wiki page on the artist.

Here is a blurb I found about him.

And here is a desktop pattern I cleaned up and made from his beautiful drawing. (Feel free to use it, of course.)

I miss this sort of work in theater art.

 

[Kermieuk]

I found that exact same image only two days ago on the web. Its a great picture, I also love the style of Amsel's art.

Here is the web site I found about his rare poster work, The Muppet Movie is included and you can click on it to enlarge. Its a great picture.

http://www.adammcdaniel.com/RichardAmsel2.htm

Another picture I really like which I also believe is Amsel is from The Great Muppet Caper and has all the Muppets drawn around the bus, its not used very much, if anyone has the image please send a link for it!

Chris

 

[frogboy4]

Thanks for that link! He did even more work than I had thought! Why Henson and Disney keep releasing unattractive cut and paste cover art when they likely have the rights to use Amsel's imagery is beyond me. It may not be considered cutting edge for a younger demographic, but there are ways to include this art in the packaging. I'm still holding out for Disney to release a difinitive version of The Muppet Movie full of extras. Maybe one day on Blu-Ray. For now it's just cool to see this beautiful artwork around the internet.

 

[dwayne1115]

Yea I mean why keep useing the same old photshop pics of the Muppets? Can't we at least have some new pics of them.

 

[Kermieuk]

Also what is interesting with Amsels work of the Muppets is that the drawings are copied from still photos of the puppets. I seen for sale on ebay once a very interesting photo. It was two black and white photos of the puppets displayed exactly as they appear in the classic Muppet Movie Artwork, where they are all in the car, one photo was the back two rows, the other was the front characters, Piggy, Kermit, Fozzie, etc. When they were drawn, the two images were joined.

It appears that this image was also drawn from the puppets, Miss Piggy is in the exact same pose as when she is tied up sat on the bail of straw, Fozzie is ordering his Ice Creams, Gonzo, well that needs no explanation, Bunsen and Beaker are peering around the Salon style doors as Kermit discovers there musical water fountain! I still love Amsels style, the characters almost look human, look at Scooters hands!

Chris

 

[Reevz1977]

I came across this image recently too. I was very familiar with the work of Richard Amsel, yet never new that he had done any Muppet pieces. I was under the impression that Jim Henson solely used the fantastic Drew Struzan for all the Muppet posters. Amsel really has captured the Muppets in this piece but I feel that Struzan makes the Muppets actually come alive in his interpretations. I would love to see any other pieces if anyone has them.

 

[frogboy4]

I suppose I have been confusing the two a little bit. Both have very similar styles. It was Drew Struzan's work for The Muppet Movie, Caper, Carol and Island and I think it was he that Jim complimented. Struzan also worked on the Colorforms set as well as other items. http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Drew_Struzan

I just love this new image because I hadn't seen it before!

 

[Super Scooter]

I love Drew Struzan's work. It's really fantastic (he also did numerous Star Wars posters and book covers, as well as some Indiana Jones stuff, including the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull poster).

But this desktop pattern is sensational! I like it alot.

 

[Reevz1977]

I found that exact same image only two days ago on the web. Its a great picture, I also love the style of Amsel's art.

Here is the web site I found about his rare poster work, The Muppet Movie is included and you can click on it to enlarge. Its a great picture.

http://www.adammcdaniel.com/RichardAmsel2.htm

Another picture I really like which I also believe is Amsel is from The Great Muppet Caper and has all the Muppets drawn around the bus, its not used very much, if anyone has the image please send a link for it!

Chris

Is this the one you mean?

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Gmcnightlife.jpg

 

[frogboy4]

Here's a little mock up I'm thinking of sticking on a tshirt for myself. It's slightly altered with Gonzo and the background has been removed. I think with a few of these sorts of minor touches that these classic images could be used for DVD art. Of course - no floating Piggy heads!

It's just such a striking image. Might be too small res for print work. Wish this were available as a poster!