This is how you sell classic novels to a new generation

Not feeling drawn to that classic novel with a minimalist design on the cover? Well, the eye-catching book covers from Pulp! The Classics just might grab your attention. I saw copies of The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights in a bookstore a few days ago and I just had to pick up the paperbacks for a closer look.

In a competitive book market, Pulp! The Classics is a great idea. They take some of the most famous works of literature and redesign the covers so that they look like vintage pulp novels – complete with clever strap lines, cheap-looking colored edges and fake scruff marks. Some of them even feature faces of movie stars.

The cover of their Tess of the D'Urbervilles gives us a barmaid-ish Marilyn Monroe. There's also a Colin Firth version of Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice) with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and the tagline, "Lock up your daughters…Darcy's in town!" How about a glaring, ruffed-up Mr. T as Othello? Or Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as Romeo & Juliet?

Check out Pulp! The Classics' website for more. I really like the hippie Alice.

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Hand-Painted Movie Posters by Tony Stella

In the 70s and 80s movie theaters in Manila were usually standalone buildings with nice seats and red curtains. To sell tickets, cinemas needed to advertise their offerings. But they did not have the original posters, or the means to print alternatives. So they made their own, commissioning local artists to hand-paint them. I really miss those hand-painted posters and billboards, which conveyed an artistry that was a form of visual hyperbole. But hand-made objects always have a way of returning. In this digital age, people will always look for things made by hand. I recently stumbled across the work of Tony Stella, whose genuinely cool movie posters have caught the eye of film enthusiasts and art lovers worldwide. He likes to work in watercolor and ink wash but sometimes he will make an oil painting, depending on the film. Tony's very active on social media, and his Tumblr blog contains a massive collection of illustrated movie posters that are often better than the original. ...

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