Paul Baack (1957-2017) was a co-founder of the Her Majesty's Secret Servant website. He designed the graphics for the site. I have previously posted these samples of his art on social media.
Paul was seriously injured in a 2003 accident that left him unable to walk. But he kept on doing art using software computer software which he utilized via a headset. He would sometimes use a photographic still and manipulate it. I thought readers of the blog might appreciate some of these samples.
Bond and Holly
This is my personal favorite and I can't really explain why. Maybe it's the simplicity of the design. Moonraker was a huge, sprawling film that divides Bond fandom more than 40 years after its release. Somehow, for me, this image simply looks right.
Howard Hawks' Casino Royale
Before Paul's accident, in the late 1990s, I read a lengthy biography by Todd McCarthy about director Howard Hawks. It included a brief mention of how producer Charles K. Feldman approached Hawks about directing a movie based on Casino Royale, Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.
Feldman and Hawks contacted Leigh Brackett, Hawks' go-to writer on his later movies, to discuss an adaptation. But Hawks' enthusiasm waned after Dr. No, the first Eon Productions Bond film, came out
I submitted an article to the Her Majesty's Secret Servant website speculating what a Hawks-directed Casino Royale might have been like. Paul sent back a poster for this never-made project. He "cast" the movie. I suggested some credits based on the Hawks biography. That's why Leigh Brackett is listed as the screenwriter. Dimitri Tiomkin had scored some Hawks films, though the likes of Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle and Jerry Goldsmith also composed music for later Hawks projects.
Alfred Hitchcock's The Hildebrand Rarity
Paul did another make-believe movie poster. Some Bond fans always wondered what a 007 movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock would be like. The second Eon movie, From Russia With Love, reflects a Hitchcock influence.
As a result, Paul came up with this. One slight error: Hitchcock didn't take a producer credit on his movies. Even when he was the producer, his credit was simply, "Directed by Alfred Hitchcock."
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