Clive Barker’s Nightbreed – 25th Anniversary Poster –

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02.27.2016

by Tim Bradstreet

Did this one for some pals of mine over at Printed In Blood.

The truly fun part of doing these film poster re-designs is the freedom to take the concept in almost any direction. Are you kidding? Doing poster art with zero interference from film marketing’s tired, ‘lowest common denominator’-style art direction? But do I smell a rat? A varmint in the varnish? A yin in the yang? Is studio marketing this diabolical? I say NAY. You can also blame the mindless distributor element; “Just slap sumthin on the cover there. Y’know, some giant re-touched photoshop heads. Whatever, as long as it’s cheap!!”

Lemme get off the soapbox before I derail my own post (I do that sometimes).

I’ve been doing movie poster-style illustrations since I can remember. Been in love with the art-form since before I knew what to call it. To me though, when you break it down it’s simply single-frame storytelling . . . But more on that later . . .

My favorite Nightbreed character was always Narcisse. He’s a complete mess until he becomes Nightbreed. Then he’s just like – Elvis is your tour guide through Purgatory. I really wanted to make a Narcisse quote the tagline here, “I love a coward!”, but felt that to be a touch too cheeky and obscure . . . No. It felt right to ace a tagline entirely. Anyway, I hope fans of the film appreciate it. Little touches like the illustrated prophecy depicting Boone’s ascension reflected in the sunglasses. Also, superimposed on the thumb-hook (and repeated in the shadows of Narcisse’s stetson) is a rudimentary overhead map element depicting the Necropolis called Midian.

Nightbreed limited edition poster art prints are available only at Printed In Blood.com –> Store!