Originally from Huntsville,
Alabama,
I graduated from Auburn
University in 1994 with a Bachelors
Degree in Visual
Communications with minors in Photography and Psychology.
For my
Senior Thesis project, I designed a movie poster
campaign for a fictitious film, called THE
SPECIALIST. [See images to the left.]
I've lived in Los
Angeles, California
working as a film advertising art director and designer for over 10 years. I've been fortunate enough to work on all aspects of film and entertainment advertising, including theatrical, print and web design. This portfolio web site offers a small sample of my design work.
People often email asking for advice or info on getting
a job designing movie posters. Here is a bit of information on working in film advertising:
You should have a strong education in graphic design.
While this usually means getting a BFA degree from a
college or design school, it is not a must. As any artist knows, the most important asset is your portfolio. You must know the Apple
Macintosh. Windows may
be the default for the rest of the world, but the
graphic design profession
is completely
dominated by Apple.
Being proficient in programs like Adobe
Photoshop, Adobe
Illustrator, and QuarkXpress
is a must.
For job listings, a good place to start is the classifieds of trade magazines,
such as THE
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and the Southern California
edition of ADWEEK. Another source
for contact info is THE HOLLYWOOD
REPORTER's annual KEY
ART AWARDS. Each
year the magazine presents awards in all
categories of film advertising. Create poster concepts on your own, using whatever
source materials you can find. Showing film posters
in your portfolio, whether you've done work in the industry
or not, will make a good impression. A rule
about portfolios: Show what you WANT to be doing,
not necessarily what you have been doing.
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