Artist Drew Struzan passed away Monday at age 78, notable as the movie poster artist that defined the medium for the last quarter of the 20th century for many. For fans of the blockbusters of the 1970s like Star Wars to the first Harry Potter movie posters in the first days of this century, nobody’s body of worked was more memorable. Struzan was well known for unique designs and more than 150 movie posters that previewed movies for audiences before they stepped into the theaters, creating his last movie poster before retiring in 2008 for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, only to return from retirement a few times to create posters for films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. What you might not know is the variety of artwork he produced before and after his decades of poster work. Struzan’s success story is one of a struggling and very amiable artist who found his audience. He also foretold the downfall of original art that may be ahead because of digital technologies.
In my discussion of Struzan back in 2012, I mentioned the advent of “the digital creation of “art” created via Mac utilities and the likes of Adobe Photoshop, where productions can design a cover or poster work far cheaper by having anyone on staff easily combine photos of actors and scenes into an image, without including any input from a trained artist. It’s pseudo-art, images made to think we’re looking at a creative work, without considering the artistic thought that used to go behind such works.” Here we are a decade later with A.I. threatening to infiltrate every corner and take the jobs of artists, writers, and other creators in every industry.
A documentary of Struzan’s life and work, Drew–The Man Behind the Poster (reviewed here) discusses these concerns, and several books, including The Art of Drew Struzan (reviewed here) showcase the personal challenges and tolls he faced, providing a great look back at his impressive body of work.
If you didn’t live through the heyday of Struzan’s posters in the window at your local theater under the marquee, you should check out Drew—The Man Behind the Poster (available on various streaming platforms). It’s worth watching for the explanations behind his creative process for his most well-known posters, including the Muppet movies and the quickly-designed yet successful poster for John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Rightly so, the documentary spends extra time talking about the creation of the famous 1978 re-release style D “circus” poster for the original Star Wars movie, explaining the reason behind its poster-within-a-poster image.
More interesting is the time spent on Struzan’s early work, such as his album cover art, including the against-type design for Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare album in 1975. At the end of the documentary we get to see Struzan flip through some very elaborate and amazing studio works of fine art—not tied to any production or corporate project.
A key look at the posters themselves can be found in The Art of Drew Struzan book, written by the artist and reviewed here at borg. The book is a celebration of painted art over digitally rendered art, a review of a bygone era and view of the “progress” and impact of changing art media over time, and a review of some of the best work from a creator with his own unique style of painted popular art. Struzan used in-progress artwork never before made public to illustrate his creative process for each movie featured in the book, artwork called “comps.” As you read through the book you understand how a lot of his early comps were never retained–the cost was too high for a struggling artist to pay for copies, or studios kept the comps. It explains not just the work of the artist, but the decline of the profession of making movie posters, which today includes more photo covers and digital mock-ups than the mastery used in his era. Struzan uses highlights of his projects from the beginning of public recognition of his work on the international poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 to that then-final poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008.
Drew—The Man Behind the Poster is available on streaming platforms, and the books The Art of Drew Struzan available here at Amazon, plus Drew Struzan: Oeuvre
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
