Matt Ferguson is a leading exponent of movie poster illustration, for both new releases and anniversary re-releases. His work has been globally recognised, and his portfolio includes posters for a range of beloved film franchises that capture the spirit of the movies.
See our recent interview with Matt about his career in movie poster art to learn about how he got started and how he sees movie poster design today. For more inspiration, see our pick of the best movie posters.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 40th anniversary poster
“The first thing I did was watch the movie to get a sense of the mood. I then looked at lots of other artwork. I looked at the official poster, at fan art, everything. Then I thought, ‘Right: what can I do that’s different to that?’ And I remember, I just couldn’t think of anything. It’s so iconic. It’s Star Wars and it’s Darth Vader!
“This was one of the first times where I watched the film again and I wrote down a list of key things about it. It’s The Empire Strikes Back so it’s got to be the Empire on the poster.
“Darth Vader is the real big-bad by this point, so he’s got to be imposing in the design, and then the to be imposing in the design, and then the core story is about Luke fighting back against these oppressive forces.
“I kept thinking to myself: ‘I need something that’s different.’ I focused on Darth Vader’s rejuvenation chamber. When we see the chamber in the film, I remember thinking it was this big, black shape that was bright inside and so, for the poster, you could have a graphic contrast. I did a thumbnail and was like, ‘That’s it!’ I was so excited.
“I then did a bit more of a detailed pen and pencil sketch by hand, before going digital. The first port of call is to pull references together from the movie and then do a sort of collage. I illustrated the Empire poster digitally with some 3D modelling to block stuff out because it’s got a lot of perspective.
“I used 3D modelling to block out shapes, such as where ships are and to build out a bit of the chamber. I can get all of the perspective right, and then use that as a base for the final illustration which is all done with a Wacom tablet in Photoshop. It’s then just a matter of time to do it, which was a couple of weeks.”
The Predator Badlands poster
The Predator: Badlands poster was a very different project as it's a new movie rather than a re-release that already has a history of iconic art associated with it.
“It’s very much a new Predator movie and the initial brief on that one was that it’s got to be illustrated,” Matt says. “And, so, I was looking at Drew Struzan’s posters, because he was the master of that. Going from there, it was about doing lots of compositions.
“It was during that process when I thought, ‘This movie is like Conan. It’s an adventure film. I’m going to make him look a bit like Conan.’ The other Predator movies are a lot more horror-coded, but in Badlands, this guy’s the hero on a hostile alien planet and luckily the studio said: ‘This is it!’ and so I got to illustrate it.”
Of the poster’s composition, Matt notes that, “It was all about using harsh V-shapes and leading your eye. I tend to do this thing – and I’ve done it quite a lot – where I like to have something small at the bottom of the image and big at the top.
“It’s like a bullet-shot composition: something central with stuff flying off, and a lot of the time I even have those diagonal lines. I also like to do the type on all my posters and so that adds an extra element of design.
“I designed this poster purposefully to have the tagline on either side of the guy’s head. Most good illustrators will leave a place for type.”
You can see more of Matt's work on his website.
This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.
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