W h a t   i s   K e y   A r t

Key art is the main image of a campaign that conveys the story and gets you to want to see the film in 3 seconds or less. Usually, there are several final images of key art used for a campaign, depending on the size of the film and marketing budget. Key art is used for many things – ads, billboards, guerilla postings, DVD covers, displays – you name it. Once final key art is created and approved, that artwork is then passed along from agency to agency so that they can fulfill their project obligations for the studio (e.g., newspaper ads, trade ads, outdoor, other key art, marketing collateral, etc.). In other words, if you are an artist who gets to create the key art for a large campaign, you are at the head of the pack. For a graphic designer/illustrator, creating key art for the studios is a major accomplishment, in its own right.