New Gold Mountain
Role Graphic Designer
Production Designer Paddy Reardon
RELEASED SBS, 2022
Scope Graphic props, illustration, environmental signage, poster design, photo editing, photo compositing.
Set during the 1850s Victorian gold rush, New Gold Mountain is a period drama exploring the tense intersection of Chinese miners, European settlers, and First Nations people. My work on the series focused on creating an immersive, historically accurate visual world across four episodes.
The graphic scope required deep research into 19th-century typography, Chinese goldfields ephemera, and traditional manufacturing techniques. I designed and fabricated period-correct hero props, forged legal and personal documents, designed mock-ups of environmental signage for the painting department, and created custom hand-drawn illustrations that grounded the narrative in real-world history.
NOT Wanted
The hero reward poster featured a pair of outlaw brothers. I illustrated their portraits in pencil over their costume fitting photos, but they didn't look mean enough. Because we were filming under strict COVID protocols, face-to-face interaction with the cast was restricted, leaving me to imagine my own facial expressions for them.
After all the approvals and delivering the final prints to set, an onset cast change on the day of shooting meant one brother was cut. I had to instantly pivot, re-compose the artwork, and execute a fast turnaround redesign for a single-character poster before the camera rolled.
