I've seen the Mona Lisa in the flesh, and have seen truly great works by Van Gogh and Monet and Picasso and a hundred masters, but the first paintings I ever really appreciated for their craft were on a movie poster, under the shining lights of the local cinema.
The late, great Drew Struzan did a lot of these gorgeous artworks for the empire of light, and while he was rightly hailed for his photorealist style - it took me a long time to realise that many of his works weren't actually photos - my absolute favourite will always be this shot of Vader's giant head on speckled red, with the lightsaber battle beneath. Just a strong, arresting image, put out before they even changed the name of the film, and the perfect way to get the first glimpse of the climactic film in the original trilogy.
It was used on a huge amount of merchandise, and I still have a beach towel featuring this design that I was given in 1983. It's barely holding together after all these years, but I think I'll have it until the end of my days.
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