Greg & Tim Hildebrandt — Clash of the Titans Final Movie Poster Preliminary - Final Sketch (1981)

Artists: Greg Hildebrandt and Tim Hildebrandt

Title: Clash of the Titans — Final Movie Poster Preliminary

Year: 1981

Medium: Pencil on paper

Framed Size: 39 × 35.5 inches (99 × 90.2 cm)

Signed

The final hand-drawn preliminary artwork by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt for their theatrical poster for Clash of the Titans (1981), directed by Desmond Davis and featuring the celebrated stop-motion effects of Ray Harryhausen.

This is the finished compositional drawing from which the Hildebrandts developed their final painted poster. The design is already substantially resolved, with the enormous head of Medusa dominating the upper composition above Perseus, Andromeda and Pegasus, surrounded by the rocky landscape and mythological imagery that would appear in the finished campaign artwork.

Greg Hildebrandt (1939–2024) and Tim Hildebrandt (1939–2006), collectively known as the Brothers Hildebrandt, rank among the most recognizable American fantasy illustrators of the twentieth century. Their richly detailed paintings of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings established their reputation during the 1970s, while their famous Star Wars poster brought their work to an enormous international audience. Their characteristic combination of heroic figures, theatrical lighting and highly finished fantasy realism proved particularly suited to the mythological world of Clash of the Titans.

The movie itself holds an important position in fantasy cinema as Ray Harryhausen's final feature, bringing together such iconic creations as Medusa, Pegasus and the Kraken in the culmination of his pioneering stop-motion career.

An exceptionally important piece of original movie-poster development art, representing the final stage in the Hildebrandt brothers' design process immediately before execution of the finished Clash of the Titans poster painting.