The Last of Us Part II Poster

With the poster I really wanted to focus primarily on the dichotomy between Ellie and Abby – how they’re ultimately so similar but completely opposing forces. I wanted the poster to highlight their narrative symmetry to one another whilst highlighting some of their unique relationships and experiences along the way.

Visually I wanted to include some subtle motifs to the imagery prevalent in the game, such as the moths flying around Ellie’s side of the poster and the Fireflies on Abby’s. Or the cordyceps fungus creeping in over the foliage in the corners which themselves are a nod to the fern on Ellie’s tattoo but also those that are seen throughout Seattle in the game. The arrangement of the characters as a whole is also intended to evoke the subtle silhouette of a moth in itself.

This game is one of my favourite games of all time – I’ve never experienced a game quite like it. It’s one of those rare instances in any form of media when you’re experiencing something that is the product of a collection of incredibly talented people operating at the top of their game. There isn’t a single aspect of the game that isn’t best in class, and so I had to do the best I could to create a worthy tribute.

Alongside the main version of poster I created separate versions focusing on Ellie and Abby respectively, which can be viewed separately or as a pair.

Ellie and Dina.

Joel.

Abby.

Lev, Yara and Alice.

Farmhouse

The scenic elements, such as the farmhouse above the images below, were all painted straight to colour as opposed to the usual greyscale first approach of the character artworks.

All elements painted in Procreate on iPad Pro.

Seraphite Camp.

Seattle.

The areas to the sides were to be covered by characters (Ellie and Abby, in particular) and so I didn't want to spend unnecessary time painting those areas. Hence the fade to white, presented here.

Upon sharing the piece online, it was great to see it reacted to warmly by some of the people involved in the game.

Pictured here you can see it was shared by Naughty Dog's officialy Twitter page, shared by Neil Druckmann (the game's writer and director) and Laura Bailey who plays Abby, one of the games protagonists.

As well as this I also had a number of the core cast reach out to me personally to share their congratulations on the work.