The Drew Review
I stumbled on a poster called Back to the future 2 in 1989 and I was blown away when I realised it was painted rather than a photographic image. I saw a small signature on the poster. I couldn’t make out the name but I think it said Drew.
Back in the early 90's I would try to pick up movie posters from the video shops and lookout for the same signature. I would spend hours in the Athena and Odyssey 7 shops looking for more posters by the same artist.
It was only until the internet was available that I found out who this artist was and his full name Drew Struzan.
Drew Struzan is an American artist, and was born in1947. Struzan has painted album covers, advertising, collectibles, and book covers, but he is best known for his extensive movie poster work. Struzan is one of the industry's most recognized talents, having provided artwork for over 150 movie posters, including many of the best-known films of all time.
I stumbled on a poster called Back to the future 2 in 1989 and I was blown away when I realised it was painted rather than a photographic image. I saw a small signature on the poster. I couldn’t make out the name but I think it said Drew.
Back in the early 90's I would try to pick up movie posters from the video shops and lookout for the same signature. I would spend hours in the Athena and Odyssey 7 shops looking for more posters by the same artist.
It was only until the internet was available that I found out who this artist was and his full name Drew Struzan.
Drew Struzan is an American artist, and was born in1947. Struzan has painted album covers, advertising, collectibles, and book covers, but he is best known for his extensive movie poster work. Struzan is one of the industry's most recognized talents, having provided artwork for over 150 movie posters, including many of the best-known films of all time.
The following extracts are from the Drew Struzan website
It was in 1977 Struzan and a friend Charles White, was commissioned by George 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 poster went on to become a fan favorite as well as the director's, as the original art hangs in Lucas' home. Thus began Struzan's long association with the Star Wars series.
As other directors and studios became aware of Struzan's work, they beat a steady pathway to his door. Throughout the '70s and '80s Struzan produced a constant stream of work for such diverse films as Blade Runner, Cannonball Run, the Police Academy series, Coming To America, First Blood, Risky Business, An American Tail and The Goonies, among many, many others.
During this period, Struzan continued his association with Lucas by creating the associated one-sheet artwork for both the continuing Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones series of films
Struzan's primary work medium is airbrushed acrylics on board with finishing details in colored pencil, which allow him the easy flexibility in having 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.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984
It was in 1977 Struzan and a friend Charles White, was commissioned by George 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 poster went on to become a fan favorite as well as the director's, as the original art hangs in Lucas' home. Thus began Struzan's long association with the Star Wars series.
As other directors and studios became aware of Struzan's work, they beat a steady pathway to his door. Throughout the '70s and '80s Struzan produced a constant stream of work for such diverse films as Blade Runner, Cannonball Run, the Police Academy series, Coming To America, First Blood, Risky Business, An American Tail and The Goonies, among many, many others.
During this period, Struzan continued his association with Lucas by creating the associated one-sheet artwork for both the continuing Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones series of films
Struzan's primary work medium is airbrushed acrylics on board with finishing details in colored pencil, which allow him the easy flexibility in having 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.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984
This is the poster that Drew tied up the reputation of being "The" Indiana Jones artist. Drew did three quick drawings and then one colour sketch.They loved it and gave him the go ahead. It proved so wonderful that they never looked back. Ever since then, just as Harrison Ford 'is' Indiana Jones, it is only authentic if Drew paints him.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Advance February1989
This job was a blessing to Drew and his family in more ways than can be told. It was his utter delight to have gotten this job and to have painted this picture. He did dozens of beautiful black and whites in preparation for this, a number of full color full size paintings, he did two versions of this finished painting for the advance poster and then did the wonderful one sheet for the release of the film. He also did numerous paintings that were used for newspaper ads. It cannot be discerned from these paintings but this was the beginning of the worst time in the life of the artist and his family. Along with severe emotional distress they were also suffering their worst financial disaster. What an unprecedented blessing when Paramount Studios decided to purchase the entire body of original work for their archives that Drew had done for this film. Paramount does not know it but they most surely saved the life and career of this artist and his family.
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