New 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' Poster From Matt Ferguson Celebrates The Film's 40th Anniversary

Artist Matt Ferguson has been paying tribute to several beloved franchises this year, following up his Batman Begins poster with a gorgeous new poster for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in honor of the landmark sci-fi sequel's 40th anniversary. Ferguson's poster, which debuted in May to mark the anniversary of Empire Strikes Back's theatrical debut, is available for sale now.

Ferguson revealed the process by which he created his Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 40th anniversary poster in an interview with StarWars.com, which posted some of his sketches and thumbnails that he drew while brainstorming ideas for his poster. The beautiful one-sheet, in cool blue tones with splashes of red, shows some of the film's most famous iconography, including the AT-ATs, the carbon freezing chamber, and a looming Darth Vader at the center of it.

"It was daunting at first because the film is an important one for me," Ferguson said in the interview. "I did have a few things going in that I knew I wanted to achieve. I wanted it to feel as if it could have been art released in 1980, I knew it had to have Darth Vader on it, and evoke the Tom Jung poster from 1980, which was the poster used a lot in the UK and one I personally associate with the film."

He added that he went through a "fast and loose" process while brainstorming ideas for the poster, watching The Empire Strikes Back Again while scribbling thumbnails in his notebook, before mocking up three "digi-bashes" in Photoshop and submitting them to Lucasfilm for approval:

"I decided to watch the film again and have my Star Wars notebook on hand to thumbnail in while I watched it. When the first scene with the meditation chamber played, I thought it was a wonderfully graphic shape and the contrast between the black outside and brightly lit inside could look nice on a poster. I quickly scribbled a thumbnail and I knew right away that was the way to go."

Ferguson originally debuted the poster on May 21, the anniversary of Empire's theatrical debut, to raves from the Star Wars community, who praised his striking poster on Twitter.

Ferguson was pleased at the reception, telling StarWars.com, "It's so amazing, the sheer amount of love for Star Wars from the online community was something to behold. To be a part of that is an amazing feeling. I was actually working on another project when the poster went live and my phone was next to me charging. It just started lighting up with notifications and hasn't stopped since. Incredible."

You can buy Ferguson's Empire Strikes Back poster here. However, a screen print edition courtesy of Bottleneck Gallery will arrive next week. Either way, you will have a chance to own this great poster.