As a seasoned Creative Director, I’ve designed and illustrated key art and packaging campaigns for hundreds of film and television blockbusters, including “Titanic,” “X-Men,” “Moulin Rouge,” “The Sound of Music,” “Planet of the Apes” and “The Star Wars Saga.”
While I continue to enjoy creating illustrative work primarily for the entertainment industry, I equally enjoy my role as a college professor and mentoring artists. It’s a privilege to have helped place 150+ designers, illustrators and motion graphics artists in the entertainment marketing field. Not only have these individuals found their dream jobs and launched thriving careers, they’ve also gone on to earn hundreds of Clios as well as license and publish their work through Fox, Disney, Marvel and more!
I’m proud to stand beside passionate artists and inspiring educators who embrace their creative voice and build rockstar-level careers.
Hannibal – Mirrors in your Mind
Description: This illustration is featured in the 2022 Hannibal Artbook published by Printed in Blood. It features portraits of the two main characters centered around a custom lettered rotational ambigram. It was selected for exhibition in the 2022 Illustration West 61 by the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles. A limited number of hand-foiled posters are available at https://www.artbycherylsavala.com/
Digitally illustrated using Procreate and Adobe Photoshop.
May the force be with you
The strategic typography design placement in this original watercolor painting takes advantage of the two suns of Tatooine. This is a personal piece that honors one of my most beloved film franchises.
Traditional watercolor. Size 14 x 18"
The Battle of Hogwarts
This is a personal painting and labor of love for one of my all-time favorite films – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The custom lettering and framework was initially built as vector art in Adobe Illustrator then combined with the digital portraits and painted in Adobe Photoshop.
Villains A-Z
This collection represents one of my 30 Day Passion Projects where I illustrated one movie villain portrait each day for 30 days. The project also included 4 traditional oil portraits for fan voted favorites.
This collection of 26 villains was digitally painted in Procreate then combined with stylized vector typography of each letter A-Z
Disney’s Jungle Cruise
Originally created as one of 30 movie posters inspired by 1930s film portraits, this piece was recognized by Talenthouse and became part of the marketing promotional campaign for Disney’s Jungle Cruise.
Digital – Adobe Photoshop
Pixar – Read All About It
This collection features 9 covers from my “Read all about it” Pixar film tributes and was featured on Pixar's Instagram digital marketing. Here's a brief description of my illustration process. 1) View the film (again). The “Rockwell-esque” scene usually pops right out to me. 2) Rough out the cover composition in Photoshop. This stage is pretty choppy, but it’s intended only to ensure the layout works. 3) Draw the entire illustration using Procreate, then block out shapes and render. I like to keep the background loose and painterly. 4) Decide on the background and props needed for the final table-top still life. I build all props as individual elements using Nomad Sculpt, Adobe illustrator and Procreate. Sourcing fonts and hand lettering is always fun for me because I want to be as authentic to the film as possible. 5) Finally, it’s all composited together in Photoshop (using a Wacom Cintiq) where I add lighting/shadows/textures, touch up the text details including credits and release date. The price on the magazine changes as it's based on the cost of an average movie ticket during the month/year of the film’s release.
Digital – Procreate, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
Pixar Shorts in 30 Minutes
This collection of 30-minute spot illustrations captures a key scene from each of the Pixar Shorts.
Digital – Procreate
Titanic 20th Anniversary
In celebration of James Cameron's Titanic, this piece features one of the most heart-wrenching scenes re-imagined as a capital “T.”
Digital – Procreate and Adobe Photoshop
Elton John – Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour
This triptych includes three official gig posters from Elton John’s 2022 Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour including Elton's final US performance at the legendary Dodger Stadium. These limited edition posters were commission by CollectionZZ and were available at each each event. A small number of artist proofs are also available in my shop at https://www.artbycherylsavala.com/
These concepts were initially sketched in Procreate then the final art and custom lettering composed in Adobe Illustrator.
