When I started this poster, I was familiar with Wes Anderson’s films, just not this one. So, the first step was watching the movie and figuring out what style would serve it best. I also researched existing movie posters and found a wide range of compelling compositions. I needed to match their energy without simply riffing on what was already out there.

Early on, I decided the best way to capture Wes Anderson’s visual styling was a handmade, arts-and-crafts look. I settled on papercraft, which delivered eye-popping color and texture while keeping things from looking too polished. I explored several compositions, including cross-sections of the ship and a recreation of the beach-storming scene, but ultimately landed on a deconstruction of Bill Murray’s face. The film itself is a deconstruction of his character, and I wanted the poster to mirror that energy.

For the deconstruction, I drew on the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who built portraits out of produce. For a movie that spends so much time on and in the ocean, it only made sense to use sea life instead. Assembly was the hardest part: finding balance, where detail would become distracting and where more was needed. I worked through several iterations in Illustrator and in sketches before ever cutting paper. Once I blocked out the basic shapes of the face and matched each area to a sea creature, I cut the paper, scanned it, and assembled the final composition in Photoshop.