Poster Per Diem: Dan Mumford's "Studies III" Art Prints

If you visit this site with any regularity, you already know I tend to write reviews for film and television inspired prints that are either currently on sale or are about to go on sale. And while I'll still be pouring the majority of my efforts into those sorts of posts, my daily "Poster Per Diem" feature will focus on awesome prints that have since sold out, never existed in the first place (AKA concept posters) or just bear mentioning. In other words: this is my chance to say, "I never got a chance, for whatever reason, to write about you on this here website, but I think you're really purty and I want to let the world know." Or something like that. Oh, and Per diem is latin for "per day" or "each day."

"Studies III" Art Prints (Set of 4 Prints)
Dan Mumford
16.5" x 11.7" (Giclée) - Signed and Numbered
£50 (around $79.30) - Limited to 25

"Studies III X" Art Prints (Set of 4 Prints)
Dan Mumford
16.5" x 11.7" (Giclée) - Signed and Numbered
£50 (around $79.30) - Limited to 25

"Amensalism (Studies III X)" Art Print
Dan Mumford
A2 - 23.4" x 16.5" (Giclée) - Signed and Numbered
£40 (around $63.40) - Limited to 20

"Parasitism (Studies III X)" Art Print
Dan Mumford
A2 - 23.4" x 16.5" (Giclée) - Signed and Numbered
£40 (around $63.40) - Limited to 20

I've been a big fan of Dan Mumford's ever since I first laid eyes on his grotesque The Thing poster. Since then, he's created a slew of stellar horror inspired art and some fantastic non-movie related prints. I'm happy to report that his work (film-centric or not) still retains that horrifically beautiful aesthetic that originally hooked me. Lucky for us, Mr. Mumford just released a bunch of prints as part of his "Studies III" series, and they're downright terrifying (the good sort of terrifying, that is). Head over to dan-mumford.com and follow @danmumforddraws on Twitter for more info on the artist. I think somebody needs to arrange a meeting between Mumford and Videodrome era Cronenberg. Me thinks that would be rad

Dan Mumford's "Friday the 13th" Art Prints

Ki ki ki ch ch ch ki ki ki ch ch ch. Apologies if that made no sense, that was my attempt at textually recreating the well-known musical cue that often signaled the death of a curvy coed or Kevin Bacon at the hands of a murderous murderer. However, if that first sentence did make sense to you, congrats, you're as strange as I am or you just really know your Friday the 13th. Either way, tonight's post is dedicated to some killer artwork (I know, I know, I'm awful) from Dan Mumford!

Friday the 13th Art Print (Regular)
Dan Mumford
23.25" x 31" - Signed and Numbered
£35 (around $54) - Limited to 150

Friday the 13th Art Print (Variant)
Dan Mumford
23.25" x 31" - Signed and Numbered
£50 (around $77) - Limited to 75

If you read my "Top Twenty Posters of 2011" feature, you may have noticed Mr. Mumford made the cut with his grotesquely spliced and mutated Fly print. Dan, not willing to rest on his laurels, is at again, this time with some new prints featuring the much-loved slaughterers of libidinous lads and lusty ladys - the Vorhees. I say "slaughterers" (plural) because, as many of you already know, there's more than just one serial killer in the Vorhees family. Dan's posters seem to acknowledge that point by playfully including a knife-wielding silhouette and a rather iconic looking hockey mask beneath the Camp Crystal Lake sign. These Friday the 13th inspired prints are great because, in addition to featuring the artist's now trademark use of fibrous tendrils to shape a lot of the background and foreground, Mumford makes a very recognizable, and I'm assuming loving, nod to the film's beautiful original one sheet painted by Alex Ebel (included below). It's something that immediately occurred to me, as I'm sure it did to many people, when I first saw the announcement, and I think it really does a great job of capturing the film's sense of mystery and foreboding without having to go for the jugular. Literally. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the ultra violence and gore as much as the next guy, but I really appreciate a little artistic restraint now and again. I can't wait to see what movie he targets next! I'm thinking Texas Chainsaw Massacre. What say you?

Original Friday the 13th (1980) One Sheet
Alex Ebel

Dan Mumford's Friday the 13th artwork will be available tomorrow (1/13) through Dark City Gallery at noon GMT (4 AM PST for us West Coast people). It's kind of awesome that they planned a Friday the 13th release on Friday the 13th, isn't it? Both prints measure 23.25" x 31" and are signed and numbered. The regular version is limited to an edition 150 and costs £35, while the variant is limited to 75 and will cost £50. To learn more about artist Dan Mumford, you can visit his website at dan-mumford.com and follow him on Twitter @danmumforddraws. If you'd like to keep up to date with all things Dark City Gallery, and I highly recommend you do, you should of course visit their website, and follow them @darkcitygallery, but definitely sign up for the mailing list.

Dan Mumford's "The Night He Came Home" Art Prints

UPDATED (10/27): Updated the post with pricing and availability. In other words: it's available right now!

My heart pounds with excitement whenever I find out that Dark City Gallery is releasing another Dan Mumford horror movie print, so you'll have to excuse me if I suffer a heart attack mid post. Mumford has conquered The Thing, Evil Dead, The Fly and now he's moved on to John Carpenter's 1978 All Hallow's Eve classic, Halloween.

"The Night He Came Home" Art Print (Regular)
Dan Mumford
23.25" x 31" - Signed and numbered
£35 - Limited to 150
Inspired By: Halloween

"The Night He Came Home" Art Print (Metallic / Glow in the Dark Variant)
Dan Mumford
23.25" x 31" - Signed and numbered
£50 - Limited to 75
Inspired By: Halloween

The first thing that struck me when I saw these, besides their oh-so-obvious beauty, was how different they were when compared to the previous three prints in Dan's horror movie poster series. Gone are the grotesquely mutated limbs and the turning-in-on-itself genetic monstrosities that made up Brundlefly's spliced physique, the Thing's human / canine mimicry gone wrong, and the inappropriate touching of Evil Dead's demonic timber. Instead, we're treated to a moment that's quiet and still, yet clearly full of dread. The artwork is 100% Dan Mumford, but it's a slightly different Dan Mumford than we've seen in posters past. I love both of these prints, and I'll definitely be getting the regular edition, if for no other reason than that it matches the color scheme of his previous three, but it seems the variant will feature plenty of unique extras to make it worth your while. And by that I mean an alternate colorway and metallic / glow in the dark inks. Finally, one of the things I enjoy most about these prints is something that doesn't necessarily jump out at you at first glance, and while I won't explicitly tell you what it is, I'll give you a hint: it's not made of cheese in this case. Too abstract? Alright. It's the moon. Look at the moon. What a nice touch!

Dan Mumford's "The Night He Came Home" prints is currently available through the Dark City Gallery website. Both prints will measure 23.25” x 31”, meaning they'll be much larger this his other horror movie posters, and will be signed and numbered by the artist. The regular version costs £35 (around $56) and is to be limited to 150, the glow in the dark variant will cost £50 (approximately $80) and be limited to 75. While you're deciding which one to purchase, I recommend checking out Dan Mumford's portfolio at dan-mumford.com and following him on Twitter @danmumforddraws. And you should probably visit Dark City Gallery at darkcitygallery.com, where you can still purchase all of Dan's cinematically inspired prints (though very few The Thing prints are left)! Oh yeah, and you should DEFINITELY watch Halloween. G'night!

Dan Mumford's "The Fly" Art Print

I've written about Mumford's Horror Movies series before, and if you've read my reviews for either his Evil Dead or The Thing print, then you'll know exactly what to expect. With that said, Mumford's monstrosities continue to delight with their sinewy organic aesthetic and The Fly poster may be his best yet!

The Fly Art Print
Dan Mumford
18" x 24"
£30 - Limited to 100

Honestly, I can't think of a better match than David Cronenberg and Dan Mumford. As I stated above, Dan's creations seem to embody the body horror themes that Cronenberg touched on in just about every film he made prior to 2000. By the way, does anyone miss that Cronenberg? Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed Spider, History of Violence and Eastern Promises, and there may have been a little bit of the old gore in those films, but where did the "Baron of Blood" go? I miss him. Sorry about that, back to the artwork. Dan Mumford's Fly print is downright horrifying. Brundlefly's body seems to be made of acidic strands of mucus that almost look nuclear in nature, and the inclusion of the telepod is at once a must-have as well as a great use of background. Finally, I've already touched on this in my review, but I really love the neon green color used to represent the creature's astringent bodily fluids. To me, the glowing chemical-green fluids mean one thing: science run amok.

The Fly print by Dan Mumford is currently available through the Dark City Gallery store for £30 (approximately $47). The print measures 18" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 100. By the by, Mumford's Evil Dead and The Thing prints are still available! To see more of Dan's work be sure to visit dan-mumford.com and follow @Danmumforddraws.

"You're afraid to dive into the plasma pool, aren't you? You're afraid to be destroyed and recreated, aren't you? I'll bet you think that you woke me up about the flesh, don't you? But you only know society's straight line about the flesh. You can't penetrate beyond society's sick, gray, fear of the flesh. Drink deep, or taste not, the plasma spring! Y'see what I'm saying? And I'm not just talking about sex and penetration. I'm talking about penetration beyond the veil of the flesh! A deep penetrating dive into the plasma pool!" - Seth Brundle

Now that's how you end a blog post!

Dan Mumford's "Evil Dead" Art Prints

I'm a huge fan of Dan Mumford's print work, so I was insanely excited when I found out he was doing an Evil Dead art print featuring cult icon Bruce Campbell. If you're not familiar with Mr. Mumford (what a cool name), I wrote a post about his beautiful The Thing print not too long ago (which, by the way is somehow still available for purchase) and have been following him closely ever since.

Evil Dead - Regular Dusk Edition

Evil Dead - Variant Dawn Edition

You can immediately pick up on the similarities between Mumford's The Thing print and his Evil Dead artwork with its familiar sinewy architecture and organic character construction. Much like his Thing print Mumford's trademark style fits in perfectly with the world Sam Raimi created. The tree roots that seem to make up everyone and everything in this picture are downright creepy and perfectly capture the stop-motion practical effects that helped Evil Dead become so beloved. Dan's Evil Dead prints (that's right, plural) come in a dusk version and a dawn variant. I'm partial to the dawn variant myself, but they're both pretty amazing.

These posters aren't available quite yet, but you can reserve yours by emailing orders@darkcitygallery.com with your full name and the poster(s) you'll be buying. I've written about Dark City Gallery before, but I'll say it again, I'm a huge fan of this site and am continually impressed with the work they commission. When the Evil Dead prints are officially released later this month the dusk edition will cost £30 (roughly $49) and will come in an edition of 100, while the dawn variant will cost £50 (comes close to $81) and will be limited to a run of 50. Both posters will measure 18" x 24". To get the scoop on any and all release info I'd highly recommend signing up for the Dark City Gallery mailing list. Interested in more Dan Mumford goodness? Well then I'd also recommend checking out his blog and portfolio at dan-mumford.com. I can't wait to see what Dan does next in his horror movie series!

Dan Mumford's "The Thing" Art Print

I knew following yesterday's post about Tim Doyle's newest art print inspired by the 1981 horror classic An American Werewolf in London was going to be no easy task. So what did I do today? I decided to write about a print inspired by the 1982 science fiction horror classic The Thing. Duh. I don't know too much about the artist Dan Mumford, but if this is any indication of the quality of his work - I'm in, I'm completely in.

The Thing

My God, this poster is amazing. Dan Mumford's "The Thing" art print is unlike anything I've ever seen before. He's found a very clever and creative way to convey just how versatile the alien in question really is - the creature can literally become anything. By using tendril-like cords of flesh to represent the Thing in its most primitive state, Dan has crafted a creepy, but beautiful, body horror masterpiece (just like the film). There's also something slightly crazy (in a good way) about the artwork. The amount of detail here vaguely reminds me of Charles Crumb's sketches (thanks Criterion). Charles, Robert Crumb's troubled brother, started using dense concentric lines to create characters and shapes, evidently a common trait among psychologically troubled individuals, though let me be clear, I don't think this applies in any way to the incredibly talented Mr. Mumford - just a random observation.

Dark City Gallery is selling "The Thing" print through their online store. The print measures 18" x 24", is signed and numbered and costs £30 (roughly $48). You can also visit Dan Mumford's website and store to see some pretty insane artwork. The man definitely has an eye for detail. White Duck Screen Print, the folks who screenprinted this beauty, also have some great process shots in their blog.