Illustration•Preproduction
Its Not Custard
Film Poster & Key Art
Location
London, UK
Brief
Create the look and feel for the film through a series of atmospheric key art paintings and a film poster for Its Not Custard. This dark comedy short, inspired by Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, requires a visual identity that balances storytelling with a distinctively macabre tone. The deliverables need to capture the film's unique narrative voice.
Tools
Hand-rendered, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Ilustrator, Winsor and Newton Watercolours, Steadler Clutch Pencil.
I was asked to produce some concept art for an independent film studio who was producing her first ever short film. Being a independent film the budget was very tight so I had a limited amount of time complete the work from sketch to final artwork. The film will be crowdfunded in order to raise the funds to commence shooting.
I created some key art pieces for Lions Den to help promote and secure financing for the project. This consisted of a digital painting, additional watercolour pieces along with a poster for promotion.
...This magical gift has a bizarre consequence that grants her the most delicious of revenge..
Key Art
I was commissioned by Lion’s Den in London to initially create the key art for the short film It’s Not Custard. Produced as a digital painting in Photoshop, the artwork was designed to capture the distinctive tone of the film and serve as a striking visual reference for both promotion and pre-production.
The project was completed independently with minimal client involvement, giving me the freedom to shape the final composition, colour palette, and mood. By applying detailed digital painting techniques, I created bold and memorable key art that conveyed the film’s atmosphere while providing the production team with a strong piece of art direction.
Initially, I was give the script to the masterpiece production and looked at different pivotal scenes in the film to bring to life with the aim of securing funding through crowd sourcing platforms. Selecting the important scenes I then went on to start sketching these concepts up in my sketchbook
To start with I considered several different positions for the painting, but having a poster feel to it was important especially since the piece would be used as a promotional tool and prints will be produced to be used as rewards to backers, which will be signed by myself.
Film Poster
This digital concept art was created as key art for a short film, using a bold yellow-and-red palette to evoke tension and foreshadow a darker narrative arc. Through Photoshop digital painting techniques, the textures of exaggerated acne-ranging from pustule-like clusters to inflamed, raised blemishes intensifying the unsettling atmosphere and heighten visual storytelling.
Grounded in colour psychology, the balance of sallow yellows and deep reds was carefully tuned for maximum contrast and saturation, enhancing the impact of each frame. The result is a series of high-impact horror illustrations that work as assets for animation pre-production, dark-themed marketing campaigns, and horror illustration portfolios, where every image doubles as a narrative foreshadowing device.