Motion picture poster maker

Artist to meet public, display work Saturday

Those who have ever seen the movie poster for "Aliens" may not be able to forget the image of a Rambo-style Sigourney Weaver wielding a big gun in one hand while clutching a small, terrified golden-haired girl in her left.

"I really like that image. It was one of the first posters with a woman hero action figure," said Terry Lamb, who designed the poster for the 1986 movie.

Lamb, who said he worked on posters and logos for 1,000 different movies with Mike Salisbury, will be the subject of a meet-and-greet event from 3 to 7 p.m. on Saturday at Moviebrat, 7380 S. Eastern Ave.

The show not only will feature several of Lamb's movie posters, but also will show off Lamb's fine art and other commercial works.

Lamb's works range from Melanie Griffith staring thoughtfully from the deck of a ferry on a poster for "Working Girl" to Kathleen Turner clutching Michael Douglas for "Romancing the Stone" to a Secret Service agent masked half in shadow and half in light for "To Live and Die in L.A."

"There's a diagonal line going through it as if to symbolize that he would break the law to catch the criminal," Lamb said of the idea behind his poster for "To Live and Die in L.A."

Lamb said he got the idea from photographer Ansel Adams' photograph "Moon & Half Dome."

Lamb said he started out as a surfer in Encinitas, Calif., when he received a call from Warner Brothers to work as a storyboard artist on the movie "Big Wednesday." After that, he began working on movies in Burbank, Calif.

"That was my first taste of movies," he said. "I found myself much more attracted to posters."

Lamb moved to Los Angeles and teamed up with Salisbury, who had worked with Rolling Stone magazine. The two became unofficial partners.

In addition to movie posters and logos, Lamb said he and Salisbury were responsible for creating the Joe Camel associated with Camel cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds stopped using the character after the Federal Trade Commission ruled that the advertising campaign violated federal law by appealing to minors.

Lamb spent some time away from the movie poster business, working for the company Crazy Shirts in Hawaii.

A year and a half ago, Lamb moved to Las Vegas to be with his family, he said.

Now, he said, the movie poster business has changed. Artwork is now done in-house, and poster designs are made in Photoshop. Lamb said that when he worked on posters, he painted them and worked on tight deadlines.

"In my day, you had to airbrush all this stuff so it all looked like one picture," Lamb said.

Lamb said he was given very little time to come up with movie poster designs.

"They had to be done yesterday," he said. "Sometimes a messenger would be there and the paint wouldn't even be dry."

Although he said today's posters have great visual effects, Lamb said he feels nostalgia for the painted look of classic posters. He said he knows he has to learn to use Photoshop in today's technological age.

"I had this exciting career. Now everyone does stuff on a computer, and I feel like a dinosaur. But I'm not dead yet," he said.

Lamb said he wants to focus more on his fine art. Currently, he runs a business in which he offers his artistic services in various ways.

He said he is really into the environment and lost and ancient civilizations.

His favorite paintings of his own include "The Lost World," which reflects his interest in ancient civilizations, and "Koi Pond (The Floating World)."

In "Koi Pond," the fish swim through the water, not noticing a statue of Buddha reflected in the pond.

"I try to think of something that would be inspiring for people to buy and uplift people," Lamb said.

Miko Montgomery, the owner of Moviebrat, said he met Lamb while working at a movie store.

The two struck up a conversation about their mutual passion for film, and Lamb revealed who he was.

Montgomery said good movie posters have energy. He said "Aliens" is one of the best examples of a good movie poster.

"I love his art. To me, the thing is, he represents the best in terms of what movie poster art can be because it's so imaginative and so vibrant," Montgomery said.

Montgomery said he hoped to feature artists in Moviebrat, a store that specializes in posters, movies and books. Lamb will be Montgomery's first guest artist and will be signing posters he designed. Montgomery said he has ordered Lamb's posters for the event on Saturday.

Lamb said he is happy to be doing something he loves. He said he enjoyed working with movies.

"That was the most fun in the world -- getting to read the script before anyone else," Lamb said.

More information on Lamb can be found at www.terrylambart.com. For more information on the meet and greet, call Moviebrat at 837-4962.