Tom Chantrell

Tom Chantrell was a British illustrator and film poster artist. He was noted as the designer of the Style C poster advertising the 1977 release of Star Wars in British cinemas.
Among Chantrell's best known works are the posters for The King And I (1956), Carry On Cleo (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), One Million Years B.C. (1966), The Land That Time Forgot (1975) and At the Earth's Core (1976).
==Biography==
===Star Wars poster===
In 1977 Chantrell was commissioned by 20th Century Fox to produce a poster for the UK theatrical release of Star Wars. The US release had been promoted with a poster designed by Tom Jung, now known as as Style A. In UK cinemas, the film was advertised with a reworked version of Jung's artwork, the Style B poster by the Brothers Hildebrandt, but Fox and Lucasfilm executives were dissatisfied with the poster and decided to replace it with a more realistic depiction of the lead characters, in order to promote the film more effectively. Chantrell worked from a press pack of publicity stills to create the likenesses of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, and got his wife, Shirley Chantrell, to pose as a model for Princess Leia's body.
thumb|right|200px|Chantrell's Star Wars poster adapted for Hong Kong
Chantrell's Style C poster depicts Luke Skywalker looking directly and pointing his gun at the viewer, flanked by Han Solo and Princess Leia brandishing blaster guns, with a large image of Darth Vader looming behind holding a lightsaber, surrounded by smaller characters and a montage of starfighters in combat. Because of Chantrell's long association with Hammer productions, he included Peter Cushing on his poster; this was the only Star Wars theatrical poster that ever featured Cushing's likeness.
In 1978, aside from being used as a cinema poster in the UK, variations of Chantrell's illustration were used as cinema posters and printed on promotional flyers and the cinema tickets themselves in Hong Kong, then a British colony.
===Other work===
Chantrell's Post C artwork was reused as the cover for the 1987 first edition rulebook of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. In the book's credits, the cover illustration is credited as "Cantrell".Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (first edition)
Chantrell's artwork was used as the cover illustration the 1992 video game Super Star Wars.
==Works==
===Filmography===
Year	Title 	Contribution
1977	Star Wars	Theatrical release Style C poster (UK)
===Bibliography===
Year	Title 	Contribution 	Notes
1987	Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (first edition)	Cover illustration	Re-use of the Style C poster
===Gameography===
Year	Title 	Platform 	Contribution 	Notes
1991	Star Wars 	Nintendo Game Boy	Cover illustration	
1992	Super Star Wars	SNES 	Cover illustration	Re-use of the Style C poster
==Sources==
*Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (first edition)
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Poster artists