About

Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, I graduated from Auburn University 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.

I lived in Los Angeles, California, working as a film advertising art director and movie poster designer for over a decade. I have 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 graphic 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 an education in graphic design. While this could mean getting a BFA degree in Graphic Design from a university or design school, it is not always a must. As any designer knows, the most important asset is your portfolio. You should know the Apple Macintosh. Being able to work on a Windows PC platform is also a necessary component, since some predict the graphic design profession as a whole will be shifting away from Apple. (Web design is already a PC dominated profession.) Being proficient in programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign is a must.

For movie poster design job listings, a good place to start is the job classifieds of trade magazines, such as THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and ADWEEK. A source for film advertising agency contact info is THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ANNUAL KEY ART AWARDS show catalog. Each year the trade magazine presents awards in film advertising, and that awards show catalog lists all the nominees by name and design agency.

When working on your portfolio, create movie poster concepts on your own, using whatever source materials you can find. Showing film posters in your portfolio, whether you have done work in the film 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.