Drew Struzan

Drew Struzan is a prolific and very famous American artist known for painting more than 150 movie posters, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Rambo and Star Wars film series, as well album covers, collectibles, and book covers.

Born in Oregon in 1965, at age 18, he went to the Art center College of Design in Los Angeles where he studies illustration and had a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating from college, Struzan remained in Los Angeles, and found a job as a staff artist for the design studio Pacific Eye & Ear. He began designing album covers of musical artists, including Tony Orlando and Dawn, The Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Roy Orbison, Black Sabbath, Glenn Miller, Iron Butterfly, Back, Earth Wind & Fire, Liberace and Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare.

Then Struzan started with a friend the 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, and did artwork for Empire of the Ants, and Food of the Gods, but 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 George Lucas to create a poster design for the 1978 re-release of Star Wars. The unique poster design, popularly called the "Circus" poster, depicts what appears to be a torn posted bill on a plywood construction site wall.

Throughout 30 years Struzan produced poster work for such films as Blade Runner, The Cannonball Run, Police Academy series, Back to the Future trilogy, The Muppet Movie, Coming to America, First Blood, Risky Business, D.C. Cab, Strocker Ace, *batteries not included, An American Tail, and The Goonies, Masters of the Universe, Hook, Hellboy, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. By the 1980s, Struzan was producing approximately ten poster designs a year. During this period, Struzan continued his association with George 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. 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.

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For more information on Drew Struzan and his latest news, please go to his website: http://www.drewstruzan.com.