Panel: Art of the Poster with Tracie Ching & Robert Wilson IV at C2E2 2026

If you are cued (or queued) into the world of entertainment posters, you know how unique and beautiful the work can be. From galleries like Bottleneck Gallery, Mondo, and SpokeArt to direct work with film and TV studios, posters mix the world of creativity and commercial utility. On Friday renown poster artists Tracie Ching and Robert Wilson IV took over S405b for a talk all about the poster industry.

I purposefully noted the panel room for this talk because with 10 mins til start time, the room was nearly at capacity. A few moment later it became a standing room only panel, really showing off how much interest there is in the world of posters. It's no surprise, as exhibitors and Artist Alley booths are more often than not filled with creatives' work blown up to anywhere from 8x10 to 24x36 to show off in all their glory. However Tracie Ching certainly was pleasantly surprised by the turn out and prepped the crowd for the panel, letting them know that Q&A would come at the end and that she was willing to sit around awkwardly for as long as needed for people to come up with questions, something that was absolutely no an issue when it came time for questions later while walking  the packed room through her process of poster creation.

Traci started off focusing on her Andor commercial work for a zine that was a part of the acclaimed TV show's Emmy campaign. This being the most directly commercial work of the panel, it showed just how important creative work like this can be. It also highlighted Ching's tight work process, which is very close to the finished product right from the pitching stage.

Robert Wilson III alternatively spoke about his work on an Ultraman poster which he got the job for after creating an unofficial design. This was a persistent theme of the panel, that fan art often catches the eye of companies positively, occasionally being the spark that causes them to reach out for official work. Wilson shared his love of manga, particularly the detail of Berserk and motion of One Punch Man, and wanted to put that emphasis into his official Ultraman piece. His initial pitches, a serious of profile portraits, lacked that visual representation but his full body Ultraman image brought all that action he truly wanted to the forefront.

Tracie obviously started out personal work like everyone and showed off her print of Kiki's Delivery Service. Tracie self admittedly uses lots of reference and even said that she simply is trying to recreate real world images. For that print she drew bread for weeks upon weeks, started with a specific palette and stuck to it (something she does not recommend), and made necessary changes to make the idea work (like dropping one or two of her lovely bread drawings)

Robert also highlighted his Godzilla 1954 official print, which needed to be screen accurate to the original, of which he was as familiar with compared to the Godzilla of the 70s and 80s. Toho requested 4 rough and distinct sketches of a screen accurate Godzilla followed by tons of notes (Godzilla looks too mean, the eyes just aren't googly enough!). Wilson stated that at the time he was not used to having so many layers of approvals needed and there were more cooks in this kitchen than he expected

Tracie Ching also shared her Kaiju work with a Mothra poster she did for Mondo. This work required Ching to do things differently than she normally would: specifically, working in a larger size of 24x36 (2x as big as she usually draws) and focusing on a landscape image instead of portrait. It was a project that tested her abilities and taught her a little more about trust between client and artists and willingness to change and grow.

Unfortunately the Q&A section was incredibly short. This is truly a case of a panel that need a slightly larger room and a tad bit more time to really dig deep into the process of poster making. There were some fun insights in the short section like both artists wanting to work on projects they never even thought of; creating trust between an artists and client is incredibly important and that a certain wonderful woman is very difficult to get likeness approval from. If there is one thing to take away form the panel it's this: creating the world you like is the best way to attract studios and fans to appreciate your work.