Fred Gambino – Leopard Fist Ninja VHS & DVD Cover Original Art, c. 1982

Year: c. 1982

Movie: Leopard Fist Ninja

Artist: Fred Gambino

Medium: Acrylic on illustration board

Size: 13.5 × 20 inches (34.3 × 50.8 cm)

Signed: By the artist

Original painted cover artwork by Fred Gambino for the martial arts movie Leopard Fist Ninja, starring Jack Lam, Willie Freeman and Chung Wok. The artwork was used for the movie's home-video packaging, including VHS and later DVD releases, giving Gambino's original image a publication life spanning successive generations of home video.

Gambino creates a particularly dynamic martial-arts composition, with Jack Lam delivering a powerful flying kick while a sword-wielding opponent attacks from behind. The burning building, dramatic sky and explosive movement are characteristic of the colorful, action-driven artwork commissioned to market martial-arts movies during the early home-video era.

Released internationally as Leopard Fist Ninja, the movie was produced by Filmark International and IFD Film and Arts and dates from 1982. Its international distribution and later reissues are typical of the wave of Asian martial-arts movies that found substantial new audiences through VHS during the 1980s and subsequently DVD.

The original painting survives without the typography and packaging graphics applied during reproduction, allowing Gambino's complete composition to be viewed as originally painted. At 20 inches high, it is a substantial example of the hand-painted commercial artwork created specifically to give martial-arts movies maximum visual impact on video-store shelves.

Artist: Fred Gambino

Fred Gambino is a British illustrator and concept artist whose career spans movie advertising, science fiction, fantasy, publishing and video games. His commercial work includes original artwork for Jackie Chan's Armour of God, Doctor Who publishing and numerous science-fiction and fantasy titles.