Have you ever wondered how a festival is organized? How far in advance are artists invited? How is the person who creates the poster chosen? Why are there tents on only one side of the street?
Through a series of articles, we invite you to take a peek behind the scenes of the organization of the next edition of MCAF!
The creation of the annual MCAF poster is serious business!
Choosing the Artist
The process begins over a year before the Festival. The team selects the theme first, for example, Back to the Future. In this case, we also took the time to make a few legal verifications about using a name inspired by a well-known movie.
Once the theme is confirmed, we compile a list of artists who have previously participated in the festival and whose style aligns well with the theme. We aim for diversity in graphic styles from year to year and strive for gender parity among the comic artists who create the poster. We then confirm the selected artist’s interest and availability.
“The Festival poster is our main communication and promotional tool. We want the chosen person to enjoy creating it. They also become one of the Festival’s spokespeople and our first guest of honor.”
Mélanie La Roche
The Creation Process
Inspired by the theme, the artist creates the first drafts in the fall and submits three sketch proposals. Together, we then determine the concept we want to move forward with. Here’s an example of concept by Alex A. that wasn’t chosen this year.
The comic artist then works on a more detailed version of the poster, though it’s often still uncolored at this stage. It’s during this phase that certain issues are raised and adjustments are made. This year, for instance, several comic book characters are represented on the poster, and we made a few suggestions to ensure fair representation of different Quebec publishing houses. Sometimes, the artist chooses to hand-letter certain text blocks like the Festival title themselves—or not. It remains an art form in itself.
The Graphic Designers’ Work
The final version is delivered by early January at the latest. A graphic designer creates the lettering that completes the poster. For this edition, we had several proposals featuring the Festival’s name to choose from. Once the choice is made, the graphic designer adds the remaining text elements and produces the various adaptations we need: banners and visuals for social media, web and print advertisements, t-shirts, and bags that will be sold at the festival, etc. In total, we create over thirty derivatives of the poster!
