Legendary comic artist Alex Ross will design the commemorative poster for the 74th Academy Awards Presentation, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Executive Director Bruce Davis announced today.
“I’m excited about this year’s poster,” Davis said. “We’re going in a very different direction than in the past, but I think it’s a look for Oscar that people are going to enjoy. We wanted the poster to incorporate our move back into Hollywood, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be fun to ask a graphic novel illustrator to do it. It wasn’t far from there to Alex Ross.”
Ross studied art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. His work first came to public attention through the 1993 series “Marvels,” a graphic novel that took a realistic look at superheroes by presenting them from the point of view of an ordinary man. With “Marvels” and subsequent titles like “Kingdom Come,” “Uncle Sam” and the recent “Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth,” Ross has changed the look of graphic literature by employing a photo-realistic painted style, rather than the traditional pen-and-ink illustrations usually associated with comic books.
“I’ve always wanted to make these heroic figures look real,” Ross explained. “I think if people can believe such heroes are possible, they might think that the good qualities they stand for are also possible.
“Throughout my career, I’ve gotten to paint some larger-than-life iconic figures – and you can’t do much better than the Oscar statuette as far as icons are concerned. Oscar is a hero to a lot of people in Hollywood and I’m looking forward to bringing out that heroic quality in this poster.”
Ross will be present when the 74th Awards poster is unveiled at a special event which will take place in early January at Hollywood & Highland. Some 50,000 copies of the poster will be distributed to movie theaters, video retailers and sponsors of the Academy Awards telecast. For the third year, the commemorative poster also will be available for purchase through the Academy’s website.
Get a look at more of Alex Ross’ spectacular artwork at his official web site.
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