Montage Movie Poster « Illustration Time

Legend (Unofficial Fan Art), by Brandon A. Miltgen, 2013

This one’s for my sweetheart, Bethany. Her favorite movie is the Tom Cruise epic, Legend. As my wife and I discussed what the concept to encapsulate the movie should be, she suggested that gorgeous moment of transition when Blix, the foul-hearted goblin, destroys one of the unicorns. I like that Blix and the unicorn are the metaphorical “hands” of the forces they represent—Blix is the hand of Darkness, while the unicorn is the hand of all that’s good and pure. One of the most impressive elements of the film for me is the crazy amount of leaves, wisps, and what-not you can see floating around so many of the frames of the film. For my fellow geeks, below is the Unicorn Theme by Tangerine Dream that was part of the soundtrack I listened to while creating this artwork (if you want to play something while taking in the image). Happy Thursday! More posters for the challenge are in development, so stay tuned 😉

We’re giving ourselves a little bit more time to complete this one, since it’s an ambitious challenge: a montage movie poster (so expect to see the entrant efforts to start coming in a few weeks from now). The only requirements are 1) that each piece somehow display more than one character, and 2) the poster should incorporate the logotype for the title of the movie. It can be fan art for a favorite film, or the movie can be something completely original by the artist.

The reason I’m choosing this for our new challenge is a) to challenge us creatively, and b) because my favorite place to dwell illustratively is on the line between illustration and design. This type of project fuses the two disciplines in a way that will force careful compositional planning while inviting engaging figure work. Here are some stunning examples of movie posters that I like to grab your attention about this cool type of art:

Aliens (Poster Art) by Ken Taylor for Mondo

The Little Mermaid (Poster Art) by Tom Whalen for Mondo

Iron Man 3 (Poster Art) by Martin Ansin for Mondo

Conan the Barbarian (Poster Art) by Jason Edmiston for Mondo

As you can see, I’m a huge fan of Mondo and the work their artists produce. If you check out their site archive you’ll find countless ways that those artists have created gorgeous designs and illustrations to celebrate some cool movies. Some are iconic in simplicity, others are near baffling in complexity. Challenge on!