Thunderball 1965

This movie poster is by Robert McGinnis, though there's no date, it looks very much of its time, I’d guess from the sixties. McGinnis uses gouache, possibly with casein, or maybe acrylics to make this image. The divisions into three zones, “look up,” “look down,” and “look out,” divide the action and the gaze, constructing anticipation. The characters seem to have been painted in a state of… I want to say extreme calm! Each figure is carefully articulated, with smoothly blended colors and a certain kind of cool. I imagine McGinnis feeling the pressure of the assignment, thinking about how to capture the essence of James Bond in a single image. I see him working, laying down the initial sketches, building up the layers of color, refining each detail. I think of the many artists who worked in related genres to him, some working on the inside of comics, others on the outside, but all communicating a message of action and intrigue. The poster is so cool, it's almost icy.