Initially the most important part of this poster for me was making a convincingly crappy 80s VHS label.
I also scanned an actual American Psycho VHS tape for texture, and digitally colorized it to create a kind of Warholian screen-print effect that I think works nicely.
Once I'd done that I moved on to drawing Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman.
I bought an ax from the local hardware store and took some photos of me posing with it. This is the kind of thing that willingly gets me out of my studio or away from my drawing table every once in awhile.
I drew the raincoat separately so that it could be layered, semi-opaquely, on top of the pin-striped suit.
The screaming Christie (actress Cara Seymour) was drawn from some screen captures of the film. The poses of Patrick with the chainsaw and the dead hooker were mostly made up.
I am only interested in doing movie posters for which I have a clear visual idea, one that does not repeat the original marketing campaign for the movie, but shows something new. In this case it's that Patrick Bateman is hiding behind a mask of pop culture detachment. He's not a real person at all, and is only capable of interacting with the world through the lens of 1980s movies and brand identity.