Drew Struzan
Encyclopedia
Drew Struzan is an American artist known for his more than 150 movie poster
s, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Wars
film series. He has also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.
. In 1965, at age 18, he enrolled at the Art Center College of Design
, then located in West Los Angeles, California
.
"The first thing the counselor asked me was 'what do you want to major in,' so I asked what the choices were." He was informed that he had two choices: fine art or illustration. The counselor went on to describe the two careers, telling Struzan that as a fine artist he could paint what he wanted, but as an illustrator he could paint for money. It didn't take him too long to choose his course of study. "I'll be an illustrator," he announced. "I need to eat." In his first year, he married and became a father.
Working his way through school by selling his artwork and accepting small commissions, Struzan graduated five years later with honors and a Bachelor of Arts degree. He would also complete two years of graduate studies and eventually return to the school in later years (the campus relocated to Pasadena, California
) to teach for a short time.
After graduating from college, Struzan remained in Los Angeles, and a trip to an employment agency found him a job as a staff artist for Pacific Eye & Ear, a design studio. There he began designing album covers under the direction of Ernie Cefalu
, relishing the creative aspects the 12x12" size the record packaging afforded him. Over the next 5 years, he would create album cover artwork for a long line of musical artists, including Tony Orlando and Dawn
, The Beach Boys
, Bee Gees
, Roy Orbison
, Black Sabbath
, Glenn Miller
, Iron Butterfly
, Bach
, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Liberace
.
Among these, Struzan illustrated the album cover artwork for Alice Cooper
's Welcome to My Nightmare
, which Rolling Stone
would go on to vote one of the Top 100 Album Covers Of All Time. Despite the burgeoning demand for his talents, however, Struzan was still only earning $150 to $250 per album cover.
and Food of the Gods
. While his talent steadily grew in demand, it was his work done for a small science-fiction movie that would establish Struzan and his work in the public eye forever.
In 1977 fellow artist Charles White III, well-known for his own airbrush prowess, had been hired by Lucas to create a poster design for the 1978 re-release of Star Wars
. White, uncomfortable with portraiture, asked Struzan for his help on the project. As such, Struzan painted the human characters in oil paints and White focused on the ships, Darth Vader
, C-3PO
, and all the mechanical details of the poster art.
The unique poster design, popularly called the "Circus" poster, depicts what appears to be a torn posted bill on a plywood construction site wall. "It was necessity that invented that," Struzan explains. "They found out there wasn't enough room for the typography and the billing block they had left in the design. What can we do to make more space on a poster that's already been printed? Let's pretend it's posted, then they can put the type below the actual poster. We painted Obi Wan down the side and stuff across the bottom to make it wider and deeper."
Throughout the '70s and '80s Struzan produced poster work for such films as Blade Runner
, The Cannonball Run, the Police Academy series, Back to the Future
, Coming To America
, First Blood
, Risky Business
, D.C. Cab
, Stroker Ace
, An American Tail
and The Goonies
. By the 1980s, Struzan was producing approximately ten poster designs a year.
During this period, Struzan continued his association with Lucas by designing the original Industrial Light & Magic logo, and creating the associated one-sheet artwork for both the continuing Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones
series of films. In the process, Struzan's work became, in the public mind, the defining visual images representing those series. As such, he was also sought after to create new artwork for re-releases and reissues on video and DVD, book covers, theme-park rides and video game titles for those properties.
In the 1990s, with the advent of computers and digital manipulation of images utilized to create poster art, Struzan was affected by the decline of traditionally illustrated poster art. While continuing to create artwork for such 1990s and 2000s films as Hook, Hellboy
and the American poster for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, he started exploring other outlets for his work, including comic books, limited-edition art, and the collectible market. As such, his work has been featured on such diverse items as Franklin Mint
collectible plates, including a twelve-piece set commemorating the life of Princess Diana, the 1996 cover for Milton Bradley
's board game Clue
, and U.S. postage stamps.
Struzan once lamented on the decline of traditional art in an e-mail exchange: "I love the texture of paint made of colored earth, of oil from the trees and of canvas and paper. I love the expression of paint from a brush or a hand smearing charcoal, the dripping of paint and moisture of water, the smell of the materials. I delight in the changeable nature of a painting with new morning light or in the afternoon when the sun turns a painting orange or by firelight at night. I love to see it, hold it, touch it, smell it, and create it. My gift is to share my life by allowing others to see into my heart and spirit through such tangible, comprehensible and familiar means. The paint is part of the expression."
From 1995 through 1997 Struzan's work was shown throughout Japan
in a series of one-man exhibitions, which offered his one-sheet work of Lucas and Spielberg films in a successful limited-edition program.
In 1999, in an exhibit entitled Drew: Art of the Cinema, Struzan had over 65 pieces of his artwork presented at the Norman Rockwell Museum
in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
.
For the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
, George Lucas
dictated that, contractually, Struzan's poster was the only art the foreign distributors could use, and other than the text, it could not be modified in any way.
After completing the extensive artwork required for the campaign of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Struzan announced his retirement on September 3, 2008.
A February 2009 exhibit entitled Drew Struzan: An Artist's Vision at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California
presented select pieces of the artist's for the first public exhibit in 10 years.
In September 2009 Struzan produced an image for publication in Kurv magazine of Mattel's Barbie
, in celebration of that doll's 50th anniversary year.
The 2010 documentary, Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, directed by Erik Sharkey, examines Struzan's life and work, and features interviews with filmmakers and actors involved with films for which Struzan has done poster work, including Harrison Ford
, George Lucas
, Michael J. Fox
, Frank Darabont
, Guillermo del Toro
, Steven Spielberg
and Thomas Jane
.
In the 2010 TV pilot, Hard to Be Me
, the main character is a huge fan of Struzan, who is mentioned several times during the episode. In a July 2010 interview, series creator, Edward Robert Bach said, "One really incredible thing was that I had the opportunity to communicate with my real-life favorite artist, Drew Struzan. He is pretty well known as the most significant movie-poster artist of the last several decades. He created movie art for Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc. I could go on and on about him for pages and pages. But he liked the idea of the Pilot, and sent me some self-portraits of himself for us to use in the show. He’s been really supportive right from the start. And it’s been a huge honor to get to know one of my personal heroes a little bit." Drew has also been worked in to the show's promotional poster and first trailer.
's 1982 remake of The Thing was created literally overnight.
Movie poster
A movie poster is a poster used to advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s,...
s, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
film series. He has also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.
Early life and education
Drew Struzan was born in Oregon City, OregonOregon City, Oregon
Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...
. In 1965, at age 18, he enrolled at the Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S...
, then located in West Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
"The first thing the counselor asked me was 'what do you want to major in,' so I asked what the choices were." He was informed that he had two choices: fine art or illustration. The counselor went on to describe the two careers, telling Struzan that as a fine artist he could paint what he wanted, but as an illustrator he could paint for money. It didn't take him too long to choose his course of study. "I'll be an illustrator," he announced. "I need to eat." In his first year, he married and became a father.
Working his way through school by selling his artwork and accepting small commissions, Struzan graduated five years later with honors and a Bachelor of Arts degree. He would also complete two years of graduate studies and eventually return to the school in later years (the campus relocated to Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
) to teach for a short time.
Early career
About his career, Struzan has said: "I was poor and hungry, and illustration was the shortest path to a slice of bread, as compared to a gallery showing. I had nothing as a child. I drew on toilet paper with pencils – that was the only paper around. Probably why I love drawing so much today is because it was just all I had at the time."After graduating from college, Struzan remained in Los Angeles, and a trip to an employment agency found him a job as a staff artist for Pacific Eye & Ear, a design studio. There he began designing album covers under the direction of Ernie Cefalu
Ernie Cefalu
Ernie Cefalu is a contemporary Senior Creative Director, currently working out of Los Angeles, CA. Cefalu attended the California College of Arts and Crafts and graduated in 1969 with honors...
, relishing the creative aspects the 12x12" size the record packaging afforded him. Over the next 5 years, he would create album cover artwork for a long line of musical artists, including Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn was a pop music group that was popular in the 1970s. Their signature hits include "Candida", "Knock Three Times", "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", and "He Don't Love You ".-History:...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
, Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
.
Among these, Struzan illustrated the album cover artwork for Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's Welcome to My Nightmare
Welcome to My Nightmare
Welcome to My Nightmare is the eighth album by Alice Cooper, released in 1975. This was Alice Cooper's first solo album . The cover artwork was created by Drew Struzan for Pacific Eye & Ear. Rolling Stone would later rank it as one of the "Top 100 Album Covers Of All Time".Welcome to My Nightmare...
, which Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
would go on to vote one of the Top 100 Album Covers Of All Time. Despite the burgeoning demand for his talents, however, Struzan was still only earning $150 to $250 per album cover.
Airbrushed one-sheets
Along with a friend with a background in the movie industry, Struzan started a small company, Pencil Pushers, in a collaboration that would last eight years. It was during this time that he honed his distinctive one-sheet style and first became proficient in the use of the airbrush, which would later define him as a master of the tool. His first film poster works started appearing in 1975, although in those early days Struzan mainly did artwork for B-movies, such as Empire of the AntsEmpire of the Ants (film)
Empire of the Ants is a 1977 science fiction horror film by Bert I. Gordon. Based very loosely on Empire of the Ants by H.G. Wells, the film involves a group of prospective land buyers led by a land developer, pitted against giant, mutated ants.-Plot:...
and Food of the Gods
The Food of the Gods (film)
The Food of the Gods is a 1976 film released by American International Pictures and was written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon....
. While his talent steadily grew in demand, it was his work done for a small science-fiction movie that would establish Struzan and his work in the public eye forever.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
. White, uncomfortable with portraiture, asked Struzan for his help on the project. As such, Struzan painted the human characters in oil paints and White focused on the ships, Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
, C-3PO
C-3PO
C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...
, and all the mechanical details of the poster art.
The unique poster design, popularly called the "Circus" poster, depicts what appears to be a torn posted bill on a plywood construction site wall. "It was necessity that invented that," Struzan explains. "They found out there wasn't enough room for the typography and the billing block they had left in the design. What can we do to make more space on a poster that's already been printed? Let's pretend it's posted, then they can put the type below the actual poster. We painted Obi Wan down the side and stuff across the bottom to make it wider and deeper."
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
, The Cannonball Run, the Police Academy series, Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
, Coming To America
Coming to America
Coming to America is a 1988 comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was written by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, from a story by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the film. Murphy plays an African prince, who heads to the United States in hopes of finding a woman he can marry...
, First Blood
First Blood
First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...
, Risky Business
Risky Business
Risky Business is a 1983 American teen comedy-drama film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The hit film launched Cruise to stardom.-Plot:...
, D.C. Cab
D.C. Cab
D.C. Cab is a 1983 comedy film, starring Mr. T, Max Gail, Adam Baldwin, Gary Busey and a special appearance by singer Irene Cara. The film was co-written and directed by Joel Schumacher. The R-rated comedy was controversial upon release due to Mr...
, Stroker Ace
Stroker Ace
Stroker Ace is a 1983 action comedy film, filmed in North Carolina and Georgia, about a NASCAR driver, the eponymous Stroker Ace, played by Burt Reynolds....
, An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
and The Goonies
The Goonies
The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...
. By the 1980s, Struzan was producing approximately ten poster designs a year.
During this period, Struzan continued his association with Lucas by designing the original Industrial Light & Magic logo, and creating the associated one-sheet artwork for both the continuing Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
series of films. In the process, Struzan's work became, in the public mind, the defining visual images representing those series. As such, he was also sought after to create new artwork for re-releases and reissues on video and DVD, book covers, theme-park rides and video game titles for those properties.
1990s – 2000s
Hellboy (film)
Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural superhero film, starring Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
and the American poster for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, released in the United States and India as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is a 2001 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. The film is the first instalment in the Harry Potter film series,...
, he started exploring other outlets for his work, including comic books, limited-edition art, and the collectible market. As such, his work has been featured on such diverse items as Franklin Mint
Franklin Mint
The Franklin Mint is a private corporation founded by Joseph Segel in 1964. The private mint operated from Wawa, Pennsylvania but that operation has now closed...
collectible plates, including a twelve-piece set commemorating the life of Princess Diana, the 1996 cover for Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley Company
The Milton Bradley Company is an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States, and in 1987, it purchased Selchow and Righter,...
's board game Clue
Cluedo
Cluedo is a popular murder/mystery-themed deduction board game originally published by Waddingtons in Leeds, England in 1949. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk from Birmingham, England. It is now published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro, which acquired its U.S...
, and U.S. postage stamps.
Struzan once lamented on the decline of traditional art in an e-mail exchange: "I love the texture of paint made of colored earth, of oil from the trees and of canvas and paper. I love the expression of paint from a brush or a hand smearing charcoal, the dripping of paint and moisture of water, the smell of the materials. I delight in the changeable nature of a painting with new morning light or in the afternoon when the sun turns a painting orange or by firelight at night. I love to see it, hold it, touch it, smell it, and create it. My gift is to share my life by allowing others to see into my heart and spirit through such tangible, comprehensible and familiar means. The paint is part of the expression."
From 1995 through 1997 Struzan's work was shown throughout Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in a series of one-man exhibitions, which offered his one-sheet work of Lucas and Spielberg films in a successful limited-edition program.
In 1999, in an exhibit entitled Drew: Art of the Cinema, Struzan had over 65 pieces of his artwork presented at the Norman Rockwell Museum
Norman Rockwell Museum
The Norman Rockwell Museum is home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art.-History:Founded in 1969, the museum is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where Rockwell lived the last 25 years of his life. The museum has been at its current location since 1993. The museum...
in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
.
For the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...
, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
dictated that, contractually, Struzan's poster was the only art the foreign distributors could use, and other than the text, it could not be modified in any way.
After completing the extensive artwork required for the campaign of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Struzan announced his retirement on September 3, 2008.
A February 2009 exhibit entitled Drew Struzan: An Artist's Vision at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California
Alhambra, California
Alhambra is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, which is approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,089, down from 85,804 at the 2000 census. The city's...
presented select pieces of the artist's for the first public exhibit in 10 years.
In September 2009 Struzan produced an image for publication in Kurv magazine of Mattel's Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
, in celebration of that doll's 50th anniversary year.
The 2010 documentary, Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, directed by Erik Sharkey, examines Struzan's life and work, and features interviews with filmmakers and actors involved with films for which Struzan has done poster work, including Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
, Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
, Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
.
In the 2010 TV pilot, Hard to Be Me
Hard to Be Me
Hard to Be Me is an independently produced dramedy series created by and starring Edward Robert Bach. The show follows second year art student Kevin Hamilton and his vlog in which he tells the story of his week more through his art than his words...
, the main character is a huge fan of Struzan, who is mentioned several times during the episode. In a July 2010 interview, series creator, Edward Robert Bach said, "One really incredible thing was that I had the opportunity to communicate with my real-life favorite artist, Drew Struzan. He is pretty well known as the most significant movie-poster artist of the last several decades. He created movie art for Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc. I could go on and on about him for pages and pages. But he liked the idea of the Pilot, and sent me some self-portraits of himself for us to use in the show. He’s been really supportive right from the start. And it’s been a huge honor to get to know one of my personal heroes a little bit." Drew has also been worked in to the show's promotional poster and first trailer.
Creative process
To create his finished work projects Drew starts his work by sketching out underdrawings on gessoed illustration board, then tinting the draftsmanship with airbrushed acrylic paint. finishing up the highlights and other details with colored pencils and more airbrush if needed. The gessoed foundation allows drew the luxury of being able to accommodate any requested changes to the work. Preferring to work on a 1 to 1 scale, Struzan's one-sheet work would be approximately 27 x 40 inches, the size of a printed movie poster. Working from reference photographs and live models, Struzan has been known, at times, to include depictions of himself, family members and friends in his work. He is known for working very quickly; typically it takes him two days to finish a painting. With the theatrical release of the Star Wars special editions, Struzan created the three-panel triptych poster in 3 weeks. The poster artwork for John CarpenterJohn Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
's 1982 remake of The Thing was created literally overnight.
Personal life
Working from a backyard studio, Struzan lives in California with his wife Dylan. He has a son named Christian.Published collections
- Drew Struzan: Oeuvre ISBN 0-9732786-7-6 – Drew's Opus, Oeuvre is a hardbound edition of his works, ranging from movie posters to album and book covers. Due to financial problems with the publisher, Dreamwave, Struzan lost a lot of money on this volume that he had personally invested.
- The Art of Drew Struzan – Star Wars Portfolio ISBN 0-9672928-0-8
- The Movie Posters Of Drew Struzan ISBN 0-7624-2083-9
Awards
- 2002 Saturn AwardSaturn AwardThe Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
"Life Career Award" - 2010 Inkpot AwardInkpot AwardThe Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to some of the professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization's yearly multigenre fan convention, commonly known as...
– "Outstanding achievement in illustration"
External links
Interviews
- Time Magazine: The Last Movie-Poster Artist Photo Essay
- Orange County Register: The brush strokes behind the images of our `Star Wars' world
- The Force.net – Face To Face With The Masters: Drew Struzan
- Sideshow chats with Drew Struzan
- Echostation.com – Interview with Drew Struzan
- Paradigm: April 2007 Interview with Drew Struzan (Under Art)