Hagman illustrates striking imagery from these films with a high degree of accuracy; even small pins are instantly recognizable as a particular character, and yet her balance of keen portraiture, exquisite composition and intense color palettes frees her style from rote realism. Many of the designs use the faces of film protagonists as their most prominent aspect, something that she says comes naturally:"I think I've always kind of preferred drawing faces and people.
, which was a great first movie because it's about a kid, so I could relate to the character," she recalls."I used to stay up with my sister at night, when the grown-up movies came on, the horror movies. It's like this weird addiction; it's comforting in a way. When you're a kid, it very much scares you, and sometimes you can feel like you don't want to do that again — but the next week, you're watching it again.
Her husband, local designer and musician Tram Nelson, was also crazy for movies."When [Tram and I] met, I always just talked about movies," Hagman recalls."So he's like, 'You need to meet my friend.'" That friend was local programmer Theresa Mercado, now well known for her popular horror-movie screening series."We of course hit it off immediately, and we have this thing very much in common," Hagman says.