Classic Stars as Superheroes
Joe Phillips is a modern-day artist, illustrator, animator, designer, and sculptor working out of San Diego who has a love of classic Hollywood. In the past, he has produced two series of Silver Screen Heroes posters, which imagined actors and actresses from Hollywood’s golden age starring in the type of comic book superhero movies that are in vogue today. I proudly display an autographed copy of his “Joker’s Wild” print with Danny Kaye as the Joker and Shirley MacLaine as Harley Quinn (how’s that for casting) in my home office.
Joe is once again revisiting the world of Silver Screen Heroes, but this time he is reimagining them in the style of the late, great Al Hirschfeld (“hidden NINAs” and all).
Sets are now available for purchase in two formats:
- A set of 24 9×12 prints for $100
- Or a set of 24 postcards for $40
The 24 images are posted below. And, ya ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Joe is already hard at work on Volume 2 in this series!
To order, send Joe a personal message through his Facebook page or his @joephillipsart Twitter account.
If you don’t use either of those social media platforms, you can use the “Contact” form on joephillips.com.
Below are the 24 images included in the set:
Most are good. Really terrible and awful: Gregory Peck & Tyrone Power (not even close, try again); Lauren Bacall (change name to “Veronika Lake” & your good); Joan Crawford (change name to “Lucille Ball”) ; Bette Davis; Passable/meh: Taylor; Brando, Sinatra, Kelly.
Personally, I think they’re all quite good. Mr. Phillips was trying to match Hirschfeld’s style as much as capturing the celebrity’s likeness; and in that, he certainly succeeded. The “Joker’s Wild” illustration should alleviate any doubt that Mr. Phillips can produce a genuine likeness.
Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder.
Yeah, they’re soooooo bad I recognized every star without reading the description. /sarcasm
Christ save us from the edgelords who have to try to impress everyone by informing us how unimpressed they are. With everything. Always.
(Yeah, I know I’m a couple of years late. Just found the article right now.)