Movie poster designs sometimes feature some amazing art. And despite globalisation they can still vary very wildly around the world. Sometimes poster designs are done locally to ensure maximum local appeal, and sometimes they're needed for not entirely official releases.
A particularly exuberant take can be seen in movie posters from Ghana, where artists have produced some strikingly vibrant and sometimes quite hilarious hand-painted film posters, and some of them are truly a joy to behold (they should really be in our pick of the best poster designs).
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Highlights of Ghana's movie poster tradition(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
From Predator and The Godfather to ET and Mrs Doubtfire, there's a treasure trove of hand-drawn Ghanaian movie posters out there. Sometimes they take a few liberties with the content of the film (see the complaints about misleading movie posters), and sometimes they apply an impressionistic approach to depicting the movie's main actors and a lot of artistic freedom when it comes to proportion and perspective (we love Marlon Brando's enormous cat in the Godfather poster). But they're a genre of all of their own.
In an age when many movie posters feel like carbon copies of each other, with floating head photographs of the lead actors arranged in pecking order, it's refreshing to see this more visceral and artistic approach. Some have compared the style to that of Joe Coleman others to MAD magazine art.
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(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
(Image credit: Deadly Prey Gallery)
Movie poster designs from Ghanaian video clubs can be found in the Collection of Karun Thakar and the late Mark Shivas and at Deadly Prey Gallery, a Chicago-based travelling art gallery that works with 10 artists in and around Ghana's capital of Accra and boasts an archive of thousands of posters dating back over three decades.
The publishing house Perfectly Acceptable has published a book compiling some of Deadly Prey's collection, including work by artists Heavy J, Salvation, Stoger, Mr. Nana Aguq, and Leonardo and essays by Terry Zwigoff, Kofi Ghartey, and Brian Chankin. For more inspiration see our pick of the best movie posters of 2023 (so far).
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
