The Art of Drew Struzan Author: Drew Struzan | Language: English | ISBN:
1848566190 | Format: PDF
The Art of Drew Struzan Description
Review
"If you love movie posters you’ll want to have this on your bookshelf, or coffee table." -- Leonard Maltin
"
The Art of Drew Struzan is required reading for any fan of the artist, any fan of the films he did art for, and any fan of movie posters in general." -- comingsoon.net
"...visual chocolate for every lover of movie posters..." -- Tor.com
"Page after gorgeous page of draft compositions and alternate posters that, until now, went unseen by the public at large." -- Cinematical
"Drew’s work evokes the magic of cinema and his raw passion for it is right there on every single page." -- Film Junk
"The art alone would make this a worthwhile book to pick up — but it's the context and history you get along the way that seals the deal.
The Art of Drew Struzan should be on the reading list of any movie buff." -- Blog Critics
"
The Art of Drew Struzan immortalizes a man who contributed much more than film advertisements. He gave America icons and the magic to remember them by." -- One Metal
About the Author
Drew Struzan has painted album covers, advertising, collectibles, and book covers, but he is best known for his extensive movie poster work.
A particular favorite artist of film directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Struzan created distinct and indelible images for many of their film releases, with Spielberg decreeing that Struzan be the only artist allowed to render the space-creature character
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Titan Books; First Edition edition (September 14, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1848566190
- ISBN-13: 978-1848566194
- Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Curb Appeal:
At first glance, the book actually reminds me of one of Drew's paintings. It's got a very bold and classic look to the cover. It is a hard cover book, but it's not too heavy and I was able to sit in a chair and read it cover to cover during one sitting in about two hours. I think the weight is an important factor that's worth mentioning as some books are too heavy to hold in your hands and read in one sitting. This one has the perfect balance of size and weight.
Content:
The Forward, which is written by Frank Darabont, really speaks volumes about the current state of movie poster art. He goes into extreme detail about how the "suits" (studio executives) are responsible for the downfall of real art in the movie poster business and feels that the new digital computer art doesn't hold a candle to the old stuff, which I tend to agree with. This is not a complete life's work of Drew Struzan by any means. The story starts in the early 80's and leads right up to 2008 when he retired. There's a brief section for most of the big films he worked on that explain the sometimes short, but always difficult process of creating the perfect piece that everyone is happy with. He speaks of great success seeing pieces of his work used in some of the most beloved films of our time as well as heartbreak when other works of art were thrown by the wayside. I found it particularly interesting to learn how many comps he had to do for studio executives before they finally agreed on an idea. He mentions that at times, he had nothing to go on and was asked to simply make something up which often turned out to be exactly what the studio wanted and other times, not so much.
Conclusions:
Once again, this is not a record of the complete work of Mr.
Movie buffs are likely familiar with the works of Drew Struzan, as are many casual fans of cinema even if they don't know his name. With an incredible knack for producing detailed, dead-on portraits of a film's actors and capturing the sense of excitement and grandiosity of cinema, he has illustrated and painted some of Hollywood's most famous movie posters. A frequent collaborator of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, he was the official illustrator of posters for the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future film series.
The Art of Drew Struzan chronicles much of his work, beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 to his retirement in 2008 and the final, unused image he produced for Hellboy II: The Golden Army at the request of his friend Guillermo del Toro. In between are selected works from an extensive portfolio of images now part of the canon of some of America's most celebrated films. Struzan shares the illustrations produced for Blade Runner: The Final Cut and the anniversary release of The Shawshank Redemption, and offers up interesting glimpses of comp work that was never fully developed into a final form, like his work for the 1992 theatrical version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Writing with David J. Schow, Struzan provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at designing movie posters by assembling collections of comp artwork (basically the rough drafts) that would eventually lead to the final images. It's a great chance to see the ideas Struzan worked with as he built towards many of his now famous works. It's also intriguing to see the images that could, or should, have been, but for various reasons never quite congealed.
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