Drew Struzan is an artist much beloved by geeks everywhere.
Even if you aren’t familiar with the name, you’ve seen his incredible artwork for Star Wars, Harry Potter, and hundreds of other movie posters. Remember, back in the day, posters had beautiful, hand drawn art before computers took over, and Struzan has long been a favorite of both Lucas and Spielberg.
Some other posters illustrated by Struzan? How about The Goonies, Rambo First Blood Part II, Back to the Future, The Shawshank Redemption, Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Hellboy, and many, many more.
Struzan retired from the business several years ago, and I felt it was a tremendous loss, because we don’t see the kind of hand made artwork he was a master of anymore. But Struzan is coming back to meet his fans again at Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego, which should be a triumphant return. Having interviewed Struzan several times, I can attest he’s a great guy who’s good to the people who dig his work.
As Deadline tells us, Struzan will be appearing on Sunday July 15, along with World War Z author Max Brooks, who is slated to helm a “Zombie Survival 101” panel. Struzan will be at Comic-Con for a documentary about him, Drew The Man Behind the Poster, which I’m dying to see myself. (Drew is in Room 5AB from 3:45-4:45 P.M., while Brooks can be found in Room 7AB from 2:00 to 3:00 P.M.)
Even though hand drawn illustrations are a rarity these days, a big filmmaker has the clout to get whatever illustrator they want, which is why Struzan kept creating posters for Spielberg and Lucas long after posters went the way of computer graphic designs.
Although I miss his art a lot, it’s cool if Drew wanted to step away, he’s given us so much already, but if he ever wants to illustrate any more movie campaigns in the future, I’m definitely all for it.
