EpiQuest
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Project Overview
The Goal
Use figurative literalism and compositing to create a photorealistic version of a common phrase in Photoshop for a game shop's poster advertisement. Create a logo in Illustrator for the game shop.
The Product
EpiQuest is a local game shop creating a new poster advertisement for their brand. The poster features the quote “Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder” and a depiction of a “Beholder” monster from Dungeons & Dragons.
My Role
Research, brainstorming, creating the brand and logo, sketches, Photoshop & Illustrator work.
Project Duration
September - October 2025
Research & Brainstorming
Competitor Research
The assignment was to create a photorealistic composited image for a poster advertisement using a common phrase or expression. I started by researching common phrases and their meaning, as well as brainstorming ad ideas for them.
Starting the Design
Paper Sketches
After identifying a few ideas I liked, I drew a paper sketch for each one.
I got some feedback from peers and my instructor and went with the Beholder idea because it fit the assignment really well and had a strong connection to the product, a game shop.
Creating The Ad
Photoshop
After I finalized the direction for the project, I found some reference images for Beholders and started gathering source images to make the poster out of. These included many human and frog eyes as well as crocodile and alligator teeth (and a cat's mouth).
Once I got the images I started masking them out and piecing them together in trompe l'oeil style. I found the lip part particularly challenging to blend into the rest of the creature's skin.
I added an eye reflection of a screaming terrified woman to bring the quote “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” to life. What is beauty - the woman? The terror from the perspective of the Beholder? Is it not beautiful at all, but horrifying? It is up to the viewer's interpretation.
Illustrator
Once I was mostly done with the trompe l'oeil, I started laying out the text, picking the right font, and creating the logo in Illustrator. Being a game shop, I chose a font similar to Dungeons & Dragons that fit the fantasy adventuring theme.
For the logo, I turned the E and Q from EpiQuest into monster mouths reminiscent of a Mimic monster from popular fantasy.
Final Poster Ad
Going Forward
Takeaways
Impact:
The feedback from peers was very positive, noting that it looked like a real-life version of a fictional D&D Beholder monster. They also appreciated the eye reflection, as well as how well the phrase fit with the ad and game shop. Some said they thought that some of the teeth looked like they didn't fit into the gum naturally, although in actuality that was one of the few un-doctored features from an alligator.
What I learned:
I gained a lot of skill in compositing and blending images together in a realistic way in photoshop by doing this project. I learned a lot of new techniques to get it done, especially with the eye reflection. I also learned that in a project like this some altered features can fool a viewer easily while other features can seem off to a viewer even though they're actually completely natural.
Next Steps
I got some feedback that some of the teeth seemed to not fit into their socket naturally, even though they were unaltered alligator teeth. Going forward, I might mess with the teeth some more to get them to appear more “right” to the viewer.