In honor of both the 2017 Oscars and the recent 30th anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death, the design team at Shutterstock created a great series of Oscar movie posters inspired by famous pop artists including Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Idelle Weber and more.
Dubbed Oscar Pop!, the annual series features posters for Best Picture-nominated movies created using images from Shutterstock’s library.
“This year, the nominations mix spectacle and emotion, making them the perfect source material and resulting in a fun, thought-provoking, and unique series that offers a fresh take on the leading films,” says Shutterstock Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Wieser. “There isn’t a single poster that we are more proud of than others, but we are always excited to flex our creative muscle and make something beautiful that not only celebrates the talent of Hollywood but also highlights the work of our 160,000 contributors around the world.”
Check out the series below, as well as insights from each creator, and find the Oscar Pop! posters from last year here.
Arrival (Artist Inspiration: Roy Lichtenstein)
Poster by Alice Lee
“I love Lichtenstein’s comic style and bold colors, and I used it to bring a totally different perspective to Arrival by adding a sense of fun. I made Amy Adams’ character into one of Lichtenstein’s heroines, trying to make sense of her extraordinary situation.”
Fences (Artist Inspiration: Andy Warhol)
Poster by Terrence Morash
Watching Fences, I was struck by the frequent presence of a tethered baseball; it seemed to act as a symbol for unfulfilled dreams and stunted potential. I recreated it in the style of Andy Warhol’s gun series. That series was a commentary on culture and mortality, which seemed like a good fit for this poignant film.
[Related: Andy Warhol’s Magazine Career, from Raggedy to Riches]
Hacksaw Ridge (Artist Inspiration: Richard Hamilton)
Poster by Brandon Lee
Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of Desmond Doss, a combat medic who saved the lives of 75 wounded soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa without firing a single bullet. Inspired by Richard Hamilton’s style, I gave each piece a cutout aesthetic and substituted the real soldiers for toys. The red cross is a nod to both Doss’s role and his strong faith.
Hell or High Water (Artist Inspiration: Robert Rauschenberg)
Poster by Michael Wong
Hell or High Water follows two bank-robbing brothers and the two detectives that are trying to catch them. Like Robert Rauschenberg’s “combines,” the film has a strong undercurrent of political references and often makes unexpected comparisons between the socio-political climate of the past and present.
Hidden Figures (Artist Inspiration: Idelle Weber)
Poster by Alice Li
Hidden Figures shines a light on the untold stories of three black women who were integral to the United States’ space program. It made me think of another woman in the 1960s whose work went unrecognized because of discrimination—the artist Idelle Weber. I used her signature silhouette style to frame the characters in the film.
La La Land (Artist Inspiration: Eduardo Paolozzi)
Poster by Abbey Katz
La La Land is a tribute to old Hollywood musicals and classic jazz but with a modern twist. I felt the colorful collage work of Eduardo Paolozzi matched this feeling of old and new. Just like the film, his work has a feeling of energy and fantasy with serious undertones.
Lion (Artist Inspiration: Bruce Gray)
Poster by Flo Lau
Lion is about Saroo, a 5-year-old boy who got lost and grew up in a foreign country, eventually finding his way home years later using Google Earth and his scattered memories. That sense of chaos and fragmentation reminded me of Bru
ce Gray’s work. I matched the segmented circles from Gray’s paintings with a key element from Lion, the Jalebi, an Indian dessert that triggered memories of home for Saroo.
Manchester by the Sea (Artist Inspiration: Ed Ruscha)
Poster by Eric Sams
The two Ruscha-like drawings represent Manchester by the Sea’s multiple timelines — the top illustrates the foreshadowing of the film’s climax and the lower portion reflects the quiet heartbreak of its aftermath. I split the title in two to symbolize the fractured relationships of the people in the town and used a muted tonal palette to reflect the heavy subject matter.
Moonlight (Artist Inspiration: Peter Blake)
Poster by Kate Crotty
Moonlight focuses on the personal journey of Chiron, a young man trying to find himself and his place in the world. It’s a commentary on social ills like poverty, drug abuse, and homophobia. The film is split into three chapters in Chiron’s life, so I incorporated Peter Blake’s use of grids, as well as simplified imagery, to represent the forces that shaped his life.
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