The first poster made me think of a black and white movie poster. The first black and white movie that pops into my head is always Dracula. The figures in this poster are also handled similarly to the figures in the poster above with the exception of one has color. I see it mainly in how the artist of each poster treats the faces of his/her characters.

  Dracula lead kept my mind in a horror streak and brought this Goya painting, Saturn devouring his children, back into my mind. When it comes to creepy paintings this gets one of the top ranks from what I've seen. Stylistically this is very different from the 2 previous works. Although the more I look the more I think the Dracula poster and this have similar color pallets, mostly black and neutrals.

Next my mind went to a game I've been wanting to try, Dante's Inferno. It's based on the classic novel that's all about the different circles of hell. Where better to find a monster like the one Goya depicted than in hell was my train of thought. Again this is another very dark image pallet wise though it does through in more more red and yellow than the others do (not that makes it any more cheery when it's the fires of hell).

Saying "the fire's of hell" brings my mind right here to Mokoto Shisho. He's the best villain in my all time favorite anime, Rourouni Kenshin. He was burned alive but he didn't die and in one episode he says how the fires of hell are burning inside him (so you can see how I got here). This image however is much different from the previous ones because it's not a dark image at all.

Arts poster

This poster uses a very neutral pallet. They give the poster an earthy feel though the goldish color detracts from and gives the pallet something a bit warmer.

The artist takes a very simplified approach with everything in this poster. The conductor is nothing more than a silhouette and the curtain has enough folds so the viewer can tell what it is but no more than that. I'm not sure what's in the middle area between the curtains (it looks like fire to me but I doubt that's what it's suppose to be) but whatever it is it is very simple just like the rest of this poster. This is a good example of using just as much as you need to and not anything more.

The purpose of this poster is to get people to visit the theater. Often times in a theater the viewers are too far away to make out anything more than the basic shape of the conductor which I think is why the artist chose to simply make the conductor a silhouette. The curtain is kept simple to not get the viewer too caught up in that aspect of the poster so they can focus more on the text as well as the figure.

WW2 poster

This poster uses mostly the official US navy colors. It helps the user to identify this as a militaristic poster, specifically for the navy without even having to look at the images.

The smoke in this poster is very cartoonish. The artist has given the smoke a solid form instead of it's typical ethereal quality. The sub is also very simplified, having only 1 color and no depth to it so it looks rather flat. The artist also gave the sub a shark face to help with the idea of the unseen predator of the deep coming to attack. The battleship/destroyer on the horizon is also very simplified and flat just like the sub.

The purpose of this poster is to warn against ships using smock stacks (I'm assuming steam power) as it's a good way to get attacked. The exaggerated huge area of smoke is one way the artist does this. The shark face on the sub also helps with the idea of the unseen predator of the deep which is basically what a sub is.

Ram Poster

This poster uses neutral colors which gives it a very earthy feel. With these colors there's a kind of outside and in the dirt feel.

For the mountain part of the poster the artist made them look very flat. There isn't really a bumpy and rocky feel, it has more of a flat floor (though he does put it on an angle to help it look mountainous) that just happens to be outside. The artist gives much more detail in the rams though they're still not drawn "realistically". The rams are simplified but the artist uses a lot of shading to give them depth as well as using that to give them their fur in some spots.

This poster is trying to get people to come visit national parks. It's using the angle that in the national parks there are still wild animals that are hard to find most places because of humans kicking them out. The artist uses a sunset/sunrise as the background for this image to help with the romantic idea of things being natural in the parks. Romanticism might also be the reason for 2 rams (one male and one female). The 2 rams standing on the edge of a cliff, sorta like they're at the edge of the world, is just another way the artist romanticizes this poster.