These alternative “Iron Man 3” posters were originally produced for a ShortList Magazine feature around the theatrical release of the film, for which I produced two illustrations. To begin with, as the brief was fairly open, I saw this as an opportunity to try out a more involved, photorealistic artistic style compared to the relatively simple minimalist style that typifies many alternative movie posters.

Probably the two biggest influences on my illustrative poster work, are poster legends Drew Struzan and Bob Peak, and I saw this poster as a homage to their work. After a few attempts at full colour, digital portrait art, I felt ready to bring this style into the alternative poster format. 

The entire poster is illustrated, using a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. As no materials were supplied by the publication, I sourced dozens of images from “Iron Man 3” that best fit my original concept sketch.

For the second option, I also wanted a more tactile, expressive image. As there are thousands of generic images of the character from the comic as well as the previous films floating around, I wanted an image that was clearly ownable and identifiable with this, the third film. I sketched ideas based around visual shorthand’s that best conveyed the title, without the need for copy, which evolved into the "3" image.