technology to do such art digitally has really come along. In the mid to late 90s people
were seduced by the ease of doing things digitally, but the tools weren’t really fully
formed to actually make the posters better than traditional art.”
Forsman thinks he sees too many minimalistic movie posters. “There are a few
designers who do an incredible job, and the rest are really mediocre,” he says. But
he’s more irritated by people who sell their work without obtaining the rights to use
the movie’s name, so he hopes “the future is one where everyone tries to create
something new.”
But whether a poster is celebrating a favourite film, promoting a new one,
selling a product or shouting a slogan, there’s one thing it certainly needs, and
that’s confidence. It’s artwork that has to grab the viewer – their eyes won’t alight
on the wallflower poster – and once it’s grabbed the attention, it needs to reel the
viewer in. For Nyffeler, “A good poster is a merger of composition and content.
Regardless of whether a poster contains photography, illustration, and/or/only
typography, it will make an immediate first impression yet continue to reveal depth
and content upon further scrutiny.”MATT FERGUSON EXPLAINS HOW HE ADAPTS HIS STYLE
TO THE MOVIE PROJECT AT HANDTEENAGE MUTANT
NINJA PAINTING01
DIFFERENT STROKES
“I don’t really have a
style,” says Matt Ferguson. “I try
to just do what feels right for
each individual poster. So you
will see fully illustrated posters
or minimalist stuff from me
depending on my own thoughts
about the poster in question.”
Either way, the first step is to
sketch out a rough comp to get
a feel for placement.02
WATCH FILE SIZE
“Second I will block out
shapes and colour to get a feel
for how it will end up,” says
Ferguson. “When you are
making a poster that is 24 x 36
and it needs to be at least
300dpi, the file is automatically
already huge. Then factor in
upwards of 1,000 layers for a
really complicated design and I
find I often crash my computer.”03
PAINT AND POLISH
Finally it’s a question of painting everything in proper
detail and setting it up for screen print. “I exclusively use
Photoshop and a tablet,” says Ferguson. “I really just treat it like
painting and do it pretty much all freehand.”Mogwai: is a balancing act, where the “Composition as whole
slightest disproportion could throw the entire piece out of
whack,” says Eric NyffelerFuel: “Start by sketching,” advises Mark
Forsman, “digitally or on paper, but start with a place for your mind to play, not a blank
Photoshop canvas. You can solve a lot of the issues you’ll run into with that simple first
step of thinking everything through.”© Mark Forsman© Eric Nyffeler© Matt FergusonDESIGN ARRESTING POSTERS