So Good, They Could Have Been The Poster...
As we have covered in previous posts, following a couple of decades where the photographic movie poster has reigned unchallenged, the illustrated movie poster is finally on the march.
The Alternative Movie Poster (AMP) movement has played a large part in that. In homage to their favourite movies, talented artist and illustrators from around the world are creating stunning unofficial film posters.
Movie executives, movie studios and advertising agencies have taken note and some familiar names from the AMP world are now producing key art for blockbuster movies.
In this new blog series, we’ll be focusing on the unofficial posters, picking out some of our favourites and highlighting the amazing illustrators behind them.
First up, two posters each from Paul Mann, Tony Stella and friend of the blog, Rich Davies…
Paul Mann
Based around Utah’s Salt Lake City in the western USA, Paul Mann has spent over forty years producing amazing illustrations and artworks. As we have heard from many artists, it was a calling from a very young age.
We first came across his astonishing poster for James Bond's "Dr No". A stunning McGinnis’esque tribute to the original 007 movie.
Image courtesy of Paul Mann
Paul tells us that he was heavily influenced by iconic Bond illustrators Robert McGinnis and Frank McCarthy and that their work helped define his own unique artistic style.
For these commissioned pieces he combined the look of 'a McGinnis woman’, the ruggedness of a McCarthy action man and a 1960’s artistic vibe to create two posters that stand apart from many of the movie posters seen today.
We think he nailed them perfectly.
Image courtesy of Paul Mann
You can find out more about Paul and his work from the links below.
Tony Stella
One of the best official movie posters of the year was Steven Chorney's amazing poster for Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood".
In a parallel Universe, Margot, Brad and Leonardo stare out from a Tony Stella poster in cinemas and movie theatres across the world.
Image courtesy of Tony Stella
Tony is an Italian illustrator working out of Berlin and Milan. He cut his movie poster teeth in the 1990's creating artwork for a friend's cinema club. He has a really unique style (ink wash, water colour and gouache come to mind) that makes his work instantly recognisable.
Both of these pieces were collaborations with graphic designer Midnight Marauder for their company Alphaville. We are going to see a lot of their work across cinemas and movie theatres in the future.
Staying in the present, this year has been a phenomenal year at the movies. Fantastic films just kept coming and this month's release "Ford v Ferrari" (or "Le Mans '66 in the UK) is no exception. The official posters have been exciting us and so has this...
Image courtesy of Tony Stella
You can discover more of Tony's incredible talent at the links below.
Richard Davies
Our first look at the world of unofficial movie posters and their artists would be incomplete without a couple of posters from Richard Davies.
As we've mentioned before, Richard's ability to capture a face and an emotion is remarkable.
In this tribute poster to Marvel's "Captain America" he hits every note with a 1940's, Saturday Morning Matinee style poster. Stunning.
Image courtesy of Richard Davies
Talking of capturing faces, take a look at this privately commissioned poster for Cameron Crowe's Oscar Winning Comedy "Almost Famous". They are flawless.
Image courtesy of Richard Davies
So Good, THEY WERE The Movie Poster...
Given Richard's talent, we were absolutely thrilled to see that his work was chosen by Warner Brothers as part of the official campaign for film-of-the-year, the phenomenal Joker!
The first image was beautifully printed and distributed exclusively to ODEON cinemas here in the UK.
Image courtesy of Richard Davies
The movie uses the stairs between New York Bronx's Shakespeare Avenue and Anderson Avenue to depict the trials and transformation of Arthur Fleck. Richard captures both superbly in this second official artwork.
Image courtesy of Richard Davies
You can study more of Richard's fantastic body of work in the links below.
It's clear that the number of movie studios and agencies recognising the power of an illustrated movie poster is on the up. That's fantastic to see and long may it continue.
There are many more talented artists and illustrators out there waiting to add their magic to the next blockbuster, we'll bring more of them to this blog series in a month or so.
Until then, enjoy finding out more about Paul, Tony and Richard.
Adam and the Art of Movies team.
