What We Do
Restoring Classic Posters
A Labor of Love
We restore damaged and time-worn classic movie posters, bringing back the color, detail and character that made the original artwork extraordinary.
Every restoration begins with respect for the original. Our goal is not to create something new, but to recover what time, storage and damage have taken away.
How We Restore the Artwork
Repair
We repair the scars of time and storage — tears, creases, stains, fading, scratches and other damage — while preserving as much of the original artwork as possible.
Rebuild
When artwork is too damaged or missing altogether, we carefully rebuild it — from faces and figures to lettering, borders and fine details — always guided by the original.
Restore
Finally, we restore color, contrast, sharpness and consistency, bringing the entire poster back together while preserving the character of the original artwork.
Oh, the Damage We See!
Time is rarely kind to old movie posters. We find them faded by sunlight, stained by water, damaged by poor storage, folded, torn, scratched, taped and sometimes missing entire pieces. Some arrive looking almost beyond rescue.
And that's where the restoration really begins.
Repairing the Damage
The Restoration Begins
Rebuilding What Is Lost
Bringing It All Together
More Than Repair
Restoring a classic movie poster is more than removing scratches, repairing tears or restoring faded color. Sometimes important parts of the original artwork are damaged beyond recovery — or missing altogether.
That is where restoration becomes reconstruction. Faces, hands, clothing, backgrounds, lettering and other details may need to be carefully rebuilt, always using the surviving artwork as the guide.
The goal is simple: when the work is finished, the restoration should disappear. What remains should look like the poster the original artist intended us to see.
Meet the Artist A Fifty-Year Passion for Classic Film
I’m Ren Kessler, a poster restoration artist. I digitally restore old, worn and damaged movie posters, bringing back the vibrance, detail and color of the original artwork.
I work from a little cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills, just above the Gold Rush town of Murphys in California’s historic Mother Lode.
My road here was hardly direct. After film school, I spent several years thinking I would work in the movie industry. I eventually discovered that I wasn't particularly suited to the Hollywood life — and, truth be told, IÂ
wasn't very good at it. So I changed direction, built a career in computer consulting, and never looked back.
But my love of classic movies never went away. Over the years, as I learned more about computers, website building and Photoshop, something unexpected happened: the technology caught up with a passion I'd had most of my life. I realized I could combine the two.
So now, some forty+ years after film school, I sit in my easy chair in the mountains, looking at my 37-inch monitor and happily bringing these wonderful old posters back to life.
And now I get to share them with you.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
I’d Love to Hear From You
Please browse the site and let me know what you think. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.