Stranger Things is one positive summer surprise from Netflix, and its surging success is tied to the capabilities of the iPad Pro.
This is because the series' iconic poster pays glorious tribute to classic movie posters from the '80s and was designed by Kyle Lambert, who used an Apple Pencil in tandem with the iPad Pro to create the poster for the sci-fi series.
The Netflix original production is set in 1983 Indiana and revolves around multiple plot points such as mysterious government experiments, telekinesis, mirror worlds and the now forgotten tensions of the Cold War. A coming-of-age friendship is also an important element in the series, and all the ingredients come to honor sci-fi horror legends such as Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King.
This mélange of elements made the poster design a tall order for Lambert, but he rose up to the challenge. And being a generous artist as he is, he explained in great detail what steps he took to see his creative process come to life.
First off, the studio provided him with only a few rough cuts from a few episodes, a number of photographs and a vague concept. The task was to craft one single image to deliver the diverse content and still manage to keep it in unity.
Lambert reminisces that after completing the sketch, he applied some tonal blocking in Procreate. This was followed by exporting the artwork to Photoshop, where he ramped up the poster's resolution. This back and forth was necessary so he could paint small elements at the highest resolution, in case Netflix decided to enlarge the poster at a later date.
Those familiar with Lambert's attention to detail were not surprised to see the amount of effort he put into Stranger Things' poster.
A few years ago, the artist delivered an outstanding iPad art video where he showcased his skills in illustrating a photorealistic Morgan Freeman portrait using an iPad Air tablet. Seeing how adept he was at tapping into the iPad Air's potential, it is little wonder that the iPad Pro gave Lambert all the tools to come up with a great poster for Stranger Things.
He notes that as soon as the poster started shaping up, he exported a flat version of the file to the iPad, fiddled with Procreate once more to put some more detail to previously neglected areas, and obtain "a more fluid sketch style."
"I did several layer adjustments like this between the two devices and applications to give the poster a finished look," Lambert notes.
Professionals were already aware of the iPad Pro's tremendous potential to create awe-inducing art and Lambert's story backs this up completely. Also, it reminds the less talented of us that there is a lot of work and a detailed process behind every eye-catching poster or illustration.
We expect to see more visual experts using the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, which Lambert says makes digital sketching feel incredibly natural.
