My previous post about Art Nouveau posters reminded me that there was another era of poster design with very different intent and aesthetics.

Contemporary California illustrator Michael Koelsch has an affinity for the wonderful pulp illustrations and B-movie posters from the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s.

He affectionately applies his study of those styles to modern editorial, book and advertising illustrations, as well as working in a more contemporary style. He also has a cartoon style variation, with nicely exaggerated lines and more freely applied colors, notably used for the Strange Kid Chronicles book series..

In his homages to the pulp and poster illustrators of the past, he even adds touches to make his “posters” look as though they have been folded and creased and perhaps torn at the edges and crinkled at the corners, as though they had recently been pulled from a dusty trunk in the attic.

Beneath the fun touches is an underlying admiration for the command these artists had of the figure and face, and their use of emotionally charged color and value contrasts.

I was unable to find a dedicated web site for Koelsch, but there is a fairly extensive portfolio of his work on the Shannon Associates site (click on the images for enlarged versions in pop-ups).

You can also selection of books he has illustrated on Amazon.