Stuart Little Final Poster

Posted on by Thor

For the final poster image of Stuart Little I had to reduce the size of Snowbell and move him into the background. Stuart remained standing right where he was and I made Snowbell’s head as large as I could in the negative space to the left of Stuart.

The title looks much better against a bright blue field so it can be read from a distance. I kept the chalky typeface for the credits.

Staurt Little is running right now at the Shakes. It involves some puppetry and a brightly colored set.

The vertical poster was adopted for a horizontal format in the promotional video. Since I am always rushing to finish the posters on time, I don’t paint behind foreground layer. In this poster Stuart is the foreground layer, that meant I didn’t paint the parts of Snowbell that could not be seen. When Stuart is removed, a Stuart shaped unpainted negative space appears on Snowbell’s fur.

This year I am re configuring every poster as a horizontal image as well so that such strange unpainted areas don’t happen when the poster is dissected and pulled apart for various uses.

The jealous gaze of Snowbell now is softened to curiosity or concern. Since he is reduced in size the threat is also softened.

Stuart Little runs through April 27, 2025. Tickets are $20.

Third Pass with Snowbell

Posted on by Thor

For this pass at the poster I wanted to play up how big Snowbell was in relation to Stuart Little. Stuart is a true gentleman with his ivy league causal jacket and vest. I wanted jealousy to radiate from Snowbell’s eyes.

I felt a bit uncomfortable that the title might not read well enough against Snowbell’s brilliant white fur. The chalky typeface I liked from the second pass at the poster I kept for the credits.

The note from the approvals meeting was that Stuart Little needed to dominate the poster instead of Snowbell’s huge face and jealous gaze.

I needed to make Stuart big and the cat in the distance smaller. This would reinforce the basic rule of perspective in that what is close to the viewer is usually bigger that what is in the distance.

I decided to keep Stuart the size he was and Snowbell underwent a major size reduction. I am thankful I was working digital because I only had to make adjustments to the one layer while leaving everything else alone. If this was an oil painting, or watercolor, then every aspect of the painting would have to be changes or redone.

I am slowly learning to appreciate the advantages of living in a digital world. Stella has been showing me how to share images using Google photos. Images shared are a full resolution. Whereas if I were to share the same images in a text, message of email, the resolution would drop to 72 DPI.

I shared folder full of images from Stella Arbeláez Tascón‘s Fresh Squeezed opening at the Morean Arts Center (719 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL ) and I was so impressed with how she used them when promoting the show on social media. Panoramic shots I took, showed up as interactive pans on my iPhone. The show is up through June 26, 2025. If you find yourself in Saint Petersburg you should check it out, it is an impressive show. It was a simple drive to the opening reception. I am super happy I went. I sketched at the Morean one time before when performance artist Brian Feldman squeezed orange juice for visitor to the gallery.

Second Pass at Stuart Little Poster

Posted on by Thor

This was the second pass at the Stuart Little poster for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. The show is being performed through April 27, 2025. Tickets are $20.

For this poster I focused on the scene where Stuart captains a tiny radio controlled sail boat in Central Park in NYC. I used to live in NYC and this lake was a welcome get away from the hustle and bustle of surviving in the city.

The scene takes place in early morning as the sun rises in the east. I know that because I am familiar with the warm light.

It should be noted that this is a quick color sketch which I assumed might get rejected. Because of that I don’t refine the brush work very much. Working fast like this, I often prefer to leave some of those panicked brush stokes rather than refining and polishing every aspect of the piece.

I am thinking this because I am working on the final stages of the posters for next season. Part of me wants to refine everything, but I resist and only work on areas that have changes or adjustments. I always want to have the poster look like it was made by hand. The best way to do that is to leave hints of the human touch.

I like the look of Stuart in this sketch but once again he is the sole focus of the poster. I wanted to include at lead one other character as well.

My research turned to Snowbell who is jealous  of how well Stuart fit into the family where he was once the sole prince.

Stuart Little First Concept Thumbnail

Posted on by Thor

This is the first Stuart Little Concept I did for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster. I did similar thumbnails for all the posters for the season. The idea was to see if it made sense to have all the posters use the same limited palette.

This concept was built around a scene in which Stuart gets caught in a washing machine. To save time I used a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. If I wanted to finalize the idea of course I would sketch and paint everything.

The idea didn’t fly. I needed to incorporate more characters for the final poster. the idea of having all the posters with the same color palette also didn’t fly. There was no enthusiasm for the limited palette when I showed the concepts at the first approval meeting.

I kind of liked the chalkboard title but I later abandoned that for a much bigger and bolder look to the lettering. The one good thing about this fast approach is that I could get ideas out fast and with more ideas on the table I could pick and choose what was working best.

Doing these children’s show posters are always a fun departure from all the other shows of the season which are usually more serious. With the kids shows I could fall back on a more cartoony look. This sketch is a rare case where I didn’t even bother to add shadows to the character. Of course if the idea had legs I would have refined it much further.

I am right now in the throws of doing posters for the next season at the Shakes and it is amazing how many changes and adjustments each poster goes through. At the last approvals meeting three of the poser ideas were approved and I have about 4 posters to change and adjust. A sloppy sketch like this is like me throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

First Ad seen of Stuart Little Poster Art

Posted on by Thor

This is the first ad I found featuring the art I created for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater production of Stuart Little. The show runs through April 27, 2025. I need to arrange to get to the theater and sketch the actual show.

I watched the Stuart Little movie on YouTube for inspiration and found so many illustrated renditions of Stuart. Designs started with thumbnail sketched and then I did multiple versions of the poster before this one was ultimately picked.

I remember that Snowball the white cat at first was immense, with his cat face filling up most of the poster while Stuart was small and diminutive. When I reversed that size dynamic the poster started to fall into place.

I find it fascinating how many steps it takes to reach a final look for the poster art. On rare occasions I hit it out of the park on the first try but that is rare. Being flexible and rolling with the punches is what makes illustration challenging, and so much fun.

By working digitally, changes could involve just turning off a layer to eliminate a character and then start over while the rest of the poster remains intact.

I am in the heat of the moment making changes to the posters to next season. Three posters were approved in the last meeting but four have more adjustments that need to be made. The goal is to know that every change can and will make the poster even better.

One play was dropped to be replaced by another and I had one day to come up with a new concept. That is when things get really fun and exciting!