Paul Olsen Paul Olsen is an artist who has worked as a freelance artist in the roles of photographer , musician , writer , painter , and airbrush artist . His renown as the latter eventually secured him a commission as the lead painter of the refit - " Enterprise " studio model for its appearance in . In 1978 , Paul Olsen was working in Los Angeles as an airbrush artist , having acquired the skills through his friends , Peter Lloyd , Bob Hickson , and Ed Scarisbrick , working for among others magazines . Through a mutual acquaintance of Scarisbrick , Olsen was introduced to Jim Dow of Magicam , who had devised a paint scheme for the " The Motion Picture " " Enterprise " , but who did not have the staff capable enough to apply it . Olsen readily accepted and for the next six or seven months was deeply immersed in applying the paint scheme onto the model . In the process , Olsen got to know the modelers at Magicam quite well , not few of them he befriended , especially Mark Stetson , and among others his close co - worker , responsible for the secondary hull paint application , Ron Gress . Upon completion of his work on the model , Olsen was asked by Douglas Trumbull to stay on to help out with visualizing some of the " V ' Ger " effects . Olsen did so , joining Entertainment Effects Group as a graphics artist ( the function for which he received his credit ) , working alongside Production Illustrator Tom Cranham and Animation and Graphics Artist Alison Yerxa , causing his total involvement to last for sixteen months . Though having received an official credit as " Animation and Graphics " in the end - title credits of the " The Motion Picture " feature , Olsen ' s contribution as the " Enterprise " painter went largely unnoticed for several decades , the only known other period acknowledgment of his name in a period page - long advertisement of Magicam in the February 1980 issue of the magazine " American Cinematographer " ( p . 167 ) . Nevertheless , through the advent of the Internet , his work has become known in the 2000s , as the model kit community became aware of his contributions , with him graciously answering questions on modeling blogs like Hobbytalk . com . Eventually however , his growing repute led to his attendance at , firstly , a small 2004 Hollywood convention at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel on Highland Avenue , that did not make much of an impression on him , and subsequently to his attendance at the October 19 - 21 2012 " Destination " Star Trek " London Convention " , which very much made an impression on Olsen . Though Olsen was aware of the " Star Trek " cultural phenomena , he , by his own admission , had up until then not realized in full the scope of it , and his experiences in London proved to be an overwhelming one for him . So much so in fact , that it inspired him to write the reference book , " " . Career outside " Star Trek " . Olsen was born and raised by a variety of family members in San Francisco ( his father teaching him the art of photography , while his stint at the Foothill Community College , Los Altos , taught him everything he had to know about printing ) . Olsen fully immersed himself in the free - spirited art scene of San Francisco of the late 1960s . During that time , Olsen honed his skills as musician and as painter , being founder and part of the poster company " Funky Features " . Olsen later made a name for himself as the artist who designed and made the album covers of the solo projects of , former member of the rock band . " Star Trek : The Motion Picture " proved to be Olsen ' s very first involvement with the motion picture industry , as he has since then been involved with several other productions , mostly as main title designer , such as " Brainstorm " ( 1983 ) , " The Protector " ( 1985 ) , " Explorers " ( 1985 ) , " Die Hard ( 1988 ) , " " The Abyss " ( 1989 ) , " Back to the Future II & III ( 1989 ) , " " Terminator 2 : Judgment Day " ( 1991 ) , and many others . As author , Olsen wrote books on a varying range of topics such as relationships and the craft of airbrushing . Olsen has changed habitats between the United States and Great Britain on at least three separate occasions , and is currently living in Forest Green , Surrey , UK .