Sure it’s February, but that’s not going to stop me from posting my favorite posters of 2011.   While most of the big studios were putting out their “business as usual” style posters, a few of them took some pretty cool chances and the results are amazing.  Sure, a lot of these are from Indie studios, but even a few of the big boys decided to get in the game. Of course some of these posters wound up being teasers and by the time the official one sheets were released all the creative energy was drained (Check out the entire WE BOUGHT A ZOO marketing campaign and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about) but at least they’re trying, right?All of these posters were pulled from Impawards.com, so thanks to those guys for continuing to put together the most extensive Poster database on the web.  Disagree with any of these?  Did I miss one of your favorites? Feel free to post it in the comments section below. 

	1. Hesher Designed By: Jeremy Saunders Artwork By: ?? By far my favorite poster of 2011.  I believe this poster was designed for Sundance, and don’t think it made it all the way to the finish line, but damn!  That’s a kickass poster. According to Saunders’ website, he doesn’t know who did the original illustration, so while I’m giving him credit for the design, it’s not his artwork.
	2. The Other Woman Designed By: Mojo Gorgeous official one sheet by the team over at Mojo.  Great use of use of water colors to create an amazing color pallet.
	3. Shame Designed By: Mark Carroll As far as I’m concerned, 2011 was the year of Mark Carroll.  His designs for Shame, Tree of Life (below) and Martha Marcy May Marlene are turning a lot of heads.
	4. Tree of Life Designed by: Mark Carroll A great example of how the perfect still can be more than enough to create a striking poster.
	5. We Bought A Zoo Designed By: ARSONAL A brilliant teaser poster that may have been overshadowed by the film’s obnoxious and uncreative marketing campaign around the holidays.  They really should have stuck with this one.
	6. Burning Palms Designed By: Gravillis Inc. Honestly, I don’t know the first thing about this film, but thought the poster was extremely well crafted.  In fact, this poster is so cool, I added the film to my Netflix Instant-Play queue and isn’t that the point of  poster?
	7. The Innkeepers Artwork & Design by: Tom Hodge Posters for director Ti West’s films are quickly becoming my gold standard for creative inspiration thanks to the multiple designs for The Innkeepers as well as the poster for West’s 2009 film THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (Designed by Neil Kellerhouse)
	8. Contagion Designed By: Canyon Design Group A simple and effective poster that breaks away from the annoying habit of Studio’s throwing together a  head shot collage of their A-List ensemble.  Of course, they did that version as well, but lets not focus on it.
	9. Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune Designed By: Greenlight Creative A cracked record forming a peace sign…come on, that’s just awesome.
	10. 50/50 Designed By: Ignition Print Another great example of a poster getting to the core of  what the film’s about.  Combine that with a wonderful tagline and Seth Rogen’s hilarious expression and you’ve got yourself a great one sheet.
	11. Captain America: The First Avenger Designed By: BLT & Associates While this teaser poster doesn’t even come close to some of the amazing alternate marketing designs Paramount & Marvel put out prior to the film’s release, I still find it incredibly simple & well-crafted.

Honorable mentions:

A few more posters that didn’t break into the top 11, but are still worth pointing out.

Whipped up this fun little poster after reading this Buzzfeed blog post, which included a “Dogman” holding an ax, among a list of 60 stock images said to be completely unusable. I respectively disagreed and this poster concept was born.

Thanks to my partners @ Doomed to Be Awesome for creating the tagline and the D2BA Facebook fans for voting.

Check out Phantom City Creative ‘s collection of five limited edition posters, marking the 5th year of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The posters include Let the Right One In, Dead Snow, Repo: The Genetic Opera, Mulberry St., and Behind the Mask.  You can buy hand-signed/numbered 11 x 17 versions of these posters over at their Etsy store, but as of today, the Let the Right One In is sold out!

This months Poster showcase is for a film I was lucky enough to be involved with.  THE ART OF THE STEAL is the latest documentary by Don Argott &  9.14 Pictures (Rock School, Two Days in April) that tells the story of Dr. Albert C. Barnes and struggle over his mult-billion dollar art collection housed at the Barnes Foundation in Philly.   Back when I was on-staff at 9.14, I helped out on the production side of this project, and I’m so pleased at the way it turned out, as well as all the buzz it’s been getting over the last few months.  I had a chance to check it out at last years NYFF and it blew me away.  It’s being release in theaters on February 26th, so if you get the chance, go check it out.  You can look up where it’s playing near you over at the Sundance Selects website.

Now, onto the poster.  The one-sheet was designed by Neil Kellerhouse and Kellerhouse, Inc.(who’s probably best known for designing Criterion Collection art) and uses newspaper clippings to create a terrific film noir/caper style figure.  Design has a very old-fashion, art deco quality to it, reminding me of the great master, Saul Bass. A great poster, for flick.  (I may be a little biased)

THE ART OF THE STEAL one sheet by Kellerhouse, Inc.