Director Liliana Chomsky asked me to make a poster for her short thesis film Sewed Figs, a period comedy-drama that manages to be both campy and heartfelt.

With the 50s setting playing such a major role in the style of the film, I wanted the poster to evoke the era. The protagonist is a door-to-door salesman, so I thought classic 50s advertising campaigns a la Mad Men would be a good place to look for inspiration.

The overall composition was based on a old Tupperware ad the director found. We liked the idea of putting key props and characters in all the ‘product’ boxes, and I wrote product descriptions comedically selling the audience on each of them.

My biggest contribution to the design was the central compact / ‘eye in the mirror’. The director felt a standard character portrait would work fine, but I was really called to this frame of the protagonist. Showing less of her makes her more intriguing. Who is she, and what miracles will she deliver?

We wanted the colors faded like an old magazine / newspaper ad. I used a mix of photoshop filters and texture brushes to make everything feel a bit more handmade. It took a lot of play, but I’m happy at how we made it look vintage yet still new and exciting.