Not too much to say for this poster. The whole episode is defined by the mystery of what ZFT wants with Olivia, so I wanted that atmosphere to be the real focus of the poster. I was also excited by the idea of creating shadows behind transparent plastic. I’m happy enough with the end product. That’s really what I love about this project. I get to try something new every day, and if I’m having trouble with a concept it’s ok, because I can apply what I have learned another day.

I chose to focus on the Negative Matter ring for this poster. That and the good old blue lens flares that seem to show up less and less. This marks a departure from the more 2-dimensional style I’ve been working in. And the scene has so many colors that I couldn’t pick a primary one to work with. I’ve been much more monochromatic until now. It’s exciting to see that I’m being forced to do something different. 

*EDIT* More dedicated fans may notice that a new poster has replaced the original. That’s because the original was a total failure. If you’d like you can view it here.

This might be the most fun I’ve had with one of these posters. I knew from the beginning that the image of the butterfly swarm would allow me to do something interesting. I try to give each poster a main color, which usually makes them monochromatic. For this poster I wanted the yellow of the butterflies to be what stood out, which led me to create a pattern out of them above poor Mark Young. I think it also highlights the distinction between reality and his hallucinations, and your eye shifts back and forth between the two. I really wish I could get rid of the quote at the top, because it just gets lost, but I’ve already set a precedent for this format.

All right, this is my first poster since recovering. I’m officially starting up my poster-a-day project again.

The Equation gave me some trouble, possibly more than any of the others. The episode has lots of possible motifs and images to use as inspiration, but I kept coming back to the lights. The Green-Green-Green-Red sequence seemed important because it’s the aspect of the episode with the most lasting impact. The colors continue to show up into season 4. Like the Observer, they’ve been planted since the first episode, but The Equation was the first time the audience is made aware of them. It also gave me an excuse to make a really minimalist design with a lot of negative space.