NORIYOSHI OHRAI

Japanese artist and illustrator

NORIYOSHI OHRAI

Noriyoshi Ohrai was a Japanese illustrator born on November 17, 1935, in Akashi, Hyogo prefecture, Japan. He studied at the Art department of Tokyo University of the Arts but did not graduate. He began working as an illustrator in 1962 and moved to Miyazaki-city, Miyazaki prefecture, in 1973 where his wife came from. Ohrai was known to be an immensely meticulous worker who immersed himself in an incredible amount of research. He was a prolific illustrator whose work has been used as promotional art for movies, video games, novels, resin kits, and album covers. Ohrai is famous for illustrating the posters for many kaiju and science fiction films, including several Godzilla film posters during the political Heisei period. He also made several posters for the Japanese versions of the first three Star Wars films. In 1980, his image illustration of Star Wars caught the eye of George Lucas, and at Lucas' request, Ohrai illustrated the poster that was used internationally for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Ohrai passed away on October 27, 2015, at the age of 79.

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