Looking Back: James Chapman’s Illustrations of the Best Films of 2023

Looking Back: James Chapman’s Illustrations of the Best Films of 2023

by Alex Billington
December 29, 2023
Source: Instagram

“You’ve got to take back control of your home!” Another year has come to an end, which means it’s time to look back at the best films released over the last 12 months. Artist James Chapman, based in Manchester, UK, has just published his Top 25 (!!) Films of 2023 list on Twitter – by drawing a cute little illustration for each & every favorite film. I’ve been an avid follower of Chapman for a few years already (we also posted his illustrations for 2022 as well) and I am a big fan of his artistic style. He draws and colors images in a little notepad and includes the pens & markers in the shot every time. I just think it’s so delightful to always see these unique illustration for all of these films. They make me smile every time. Many of these are my faves, too (Oppenheimer and Past Lives are in my Top 10). He created 25 drawings in total, and I’ve included the Top 12 films below to peruse. Click back over to his full Twitter post to view his collection of all 25 images.

His Top 25 includes SO many great films, including ones that don’t get mentioned as much (Scrapper, Polite Society, Talk to Me, BlackBerry, etc). One of the reasons we keep posting Best of the Year lists like this is to encourage watching any of these films that you haven’t seen yet. James’ intro: “Counting down the best of the best 🎬 I watched about 67 new films this year, painted 33 of them, and this list is my top 25. I’m also putting my silly Letterboxd reviews in.” You can follow him on there or see more on his IG @chapmangamo. For the full list of James Chapman’s favorites and to view all of his 2023 illustrations – visit his Twitter. He also sells many of his illustrations in his shop on Etsy, and you can find more of his work on his official website or support his Patreon. As always, if there are any films you haven’t seen from these annual end-of-the-year recaps, add them to your Watch List/Queue and make time for them. Which drawings do you like?

Find more posts: Feat, Lists, Looking Back