This article details the creation of the poster image for article “Idris Elba in ‘007: Heir Apparent”’.

The “Heir Apparent” Poster: I was aiming for a balance between the amazing action collages of Drew Struzan (think Star Wars and Indiana Jones posters) and the current Bond poster aesthetic (very subdued).

• I started with a bunch of reference photos for the faces, arranged them in Photoshop, and then sketched over them on a new layer to alter facial expressions, lighting, and freehand the bodies as needed.

• Once I was satisfied with the sketch in Photoshop I printed it out and used a light-table to trace it onto an 11x17 piece of bristol board.

• I then penciled it like a comic book artist, but keeping my line-weights uniform, aiming for realism over style.
• The finished pencil lines were then scanned into Photoshop where I digitally colored the piece.

• The tractor and fight scene were drawn from scratch. The gunbarrel iris was created as a vector image and then manipulated in Photoshop.

• Keen-eyed observers may notice that Cynthia Rothrock and Idris Elba were re-sized again after the final line-work was drawn. This was to correct a positioning issue with Rothrock’s body and enlarge Elba to emphasize that he is the star of the film.
• I’ll do a free ink sketch, and mail the physical original, for the first person to name the actor I used for Leopold.

I considered adding explosions or fire but it was straying too far from the clean design of the current Bond film posters (SPECTRE).

The “Heir Apparent” logo is meant to reflect the clean and simple style of the current Bond film logos (Casino Royale thru SPECTRE) while invoking the look of a crown/royal jewels.