John Henry Alvin

John Alvin was born November 24, 1948 in Massachusetts. Alvin and his family finally settled in California after his dad retired from the military. Alvin was an American cinematic artist and painter. Alvin is recognizable by his movie posters. Some of his movie posters include ET, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid and The Lion King to name a few.






Alvins first movie poster he ever did was in 1974 for a movie called Blazing Saddles, directed by Mel Brooks. Alvins work for Blazzing Saddles was liked by Books and many other in the industry. Alvin went on to work on a number of Book's later film. Alvin has created artwork for more than 135 film campaigns over 36 years or three decades. One of his most recent works was for the Trilogy of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Alvins most iconic poster is probably ET.



The design shows E.T's finger touching the finger of his human friend, Elliot, finger tip to finger tip. The fingers create a glow where they touch. The idea for the poster was suggest by the director, Spielberg, and was inspired by Michelangelo's painting, The creation of Adam. Supposedly Alvin used his own daughter Farah Alvin, as the human hand model for the poster.

Alvin also created several masterpieces in Disney Fine Art, which are highly collected and considered extremely valuable. Alvin passed away Feb. 6, 2008.