tony swinney

What tony swinney does

Mustard Post is a UK-based boutique studio founded by Tony Swinney approximately 18 years ago that provides high-end photographic retouching, color grading, and creative automotive CGI production primarily for luxury automotive manufacturers and premium advertising clients. The studio's core technical capabilities span expert retouching of still photography — with particular emphasis on making metal, paint, and automotive surfaces look exceptional under varied lighting conditions — photorealistic CGI rendering from CAD-derived vehicle assets, color grading for still photography, stop-frame animation, and on-location retouching delivered by a team that travels to client production sites. Clients work directly with the studio's creative experts via a one-to-one collaborative model; there are no account managers and no self-serve platform.

The business operates as a purely project-based professional services studio with quote-based pricing and no publicly disclosed rate cards or recurring contracts. Revenue is generated from two core streams — high-end retouching services for still photography and creative automotive CGI production/animation — both delivered on a bespoke per-project basis. Commercial activity is overwhelmingly direct: photographers, creative directors, agencies, and brand teams engage the studio through repeat relationships, professional referrals, and the firm's portfolio website, with marketing limited to a website, an Instagram showcase (@mustardpost), and Tony Swinney's personal LinkedIn presence.

The customer base is heavily skewed toward luxury automotive OEMs and motorsport — Bentley Motors, McLaren, Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin, Range Rover, Nio, Ford, Formula E, and Sky F1 — with selected portfolio work extending into aviation (Virgin Atlantic A350), beverage (Coca-Cola Royal Bliss), retail/streaming (Amazon Music UK), pet care (Whiskas), banking (Santander), watches (Vertex Watches), energy (E.ON), and telecom (Three Mobile). The company is privately held and founder-operated with no institutional investors, no parent entity, no disclosed headcount, no subsidiaries, and a single UK-based studio supporting what is described as a global client roster.

Name

tony swinney

Website

https://mustardpost.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Mustard Post is a UK-based boutique studio founded by Tony Swinney that delivers high-end photographic retouching, color grading, and photorealistic automotive CGI production from CAD data for luxury automotive OEMs and premium advertising brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Automotive CGI and Retouching Services

NAICS

Photographic Services (54192), Teleproduction and Other Postproduction Services (512191)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Post-Production (Editorial, Color, Online Finishing) (MPAAAMAB)

Keywords

• Automotive CGI production
• High-end photo retouching
• Colour grading services
• Automotive advertising imagery
• Photorealistic CGI imagery

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. High-End Retouching Services: Project-based retouching and colour grading services for still photography, serving advertising agencies, photographers, and brands directly.
2. Creative Automotive CGI Production: Photorealistic CGI production and animation services, transforming CAD data into stunning visuals for automotive marketing campaigns, product catalogs, and visual prototypes.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mustard Post is a UK-based boutique studio that provides high-end retouching, colour grading, and creative automotive CGI production for advertising imagery. It transforms both photographic and CAD-derived assets into photorealistic visuals for luxury automotive manufacturers, advertising agencies, and premium consumer brands, with direct one-to-one collaboration with creative experts throughout each project.

Product overview

Mustard Post is a premier high-end retouching studio and creative automotive CGI production company, offering photorealistic CGI image creation, high-end retouching, and color grading for still photography. Founded by former photographer and automotive retoucher Tony Swinney, the studio specializes in transforming both photographic and CGI-derived assets into stunning visuals that captivate and inspire. The studio delivers services across all product categories with specialized expertise in creative automotive CGI and retouching, working with prestigious brands including Bentley Motors, McLaren, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Porsche. Services include studio-based retouching, on-location work, and full CGI production from CAD data, with a collaborative workflow offering direct one-to-one contact with creative experts throughout every project.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• High-End Retouching Studio

Named customers19 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Motorvated CreativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Motorvated Creative on Bentley Azure campaign. Art Director Iain Ross from Motorvated Creative worked with Mustard Post and Mint CGI to create serene location images using CGI cars and sourced backplates.
• Mint CGIcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint collaboration with Mint CGI on Bentley Azure range imagery. Combined Mustard's retouching expertise with Mint's CGI capabilities for complete visual production.
• Motorvated and MintminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThree-way collaboration (Mustard, Motorvated Creative, and Mint CGI) on CGI projects requiring combined retouching and CGI expertise.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Pixel Lab: UK-based boutique CGI studio specializing in photorealistic automotive imagery, working directly with car manufacturers and agencies. Direct competitor in the same niche of CAD-to-photoreal automotive CGI production that Mustard Post targets.
• The Boundary: Premium CGI and visualisation studio producing high-end automotive and luxury brand imagery for OEMs and agencies. Directly comparable in serving luxury automotive clients with photoreal CGI work and operating in the same premium visual production category.
• Recom Group: London-based automotive CGI and visualisation company producing imagery for car launches and marketing. Operates in the same luxury and premium automotive CGI niche as Mustard Post, often competing for the same OEM briefs.
• Real CGI: Specialist CGI studio focused on automotive imagery for advertising and marketing. Direct competitor delivering photoreal CGI vehicle visuals to OEMs and creative agencies in the same premium tier as Mustard Post.
• Unit Image: High-end CGI and animation studio serving luxury and automotive brands with photoreal imagery and motion content. Comparable in the premium automotive CGI category with overlapping enterprise luxury clientele.

Broad incumbents

• The Mill: Global large-scale post-production, VFX, and content creation studio with automotive advertising expertise. Overlaps with Mustard Post on automotive post and CGI but operates as a much broader incumbent serving many categories at scale.
• Framestore: Major VFX and post-production house with a strong automotive advertising practice and CGI capabilities. A large incumbent whose automotive work overlaps with Mustard Post but competes from a much wider service portfolio.
• MPC (Moving Picture Company): Global post-production and VFX studio with extensive automotive and luxury brand advertising work. Large incumbent offering comparable retouching, color, and CGI services as part of a much broader production stack.
• Hogarth Worldwide: Global production services and content production network with automotive OEM clients. Overlaps with Mustard Post on automotive advertising production but operates at much larger scale as a WPP-owned production partner.

Emerging players

• Tangent Vector: Boutique CGI studio focused on automotive and product visualisation for marketing and OEMs. Niche player with meaningful overlap to Mustard Post's CAD-to-photoreal automotive CGI workflow, competing for similar premium briefs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/tony-swinney-0668393
• Instagraminstagram.com/mustardpost

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about tony swinney