The Art of Drew Struzan

This is a must-have for movie poster lovers, or people that love movies in general and the magic in the production and promotion of the biggest blockbusters of our time. Beyond the beautiful visuals in a nice large book format, there’s some great content giving some background and history to the movies and the gorgeous posters commissioned to represent them. Highly recommended!

The media could not be loaded.  Drew Struzan must be considered one of the best movie poster artists in history. His posters capture the spirit and excitement of some of the most memorable films ever made. In the 70s and 80s he was most prolific, creating posters for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future. But he's done some remarkable work more recently as well, such as Hellboy and the first two Harry Potter movies.As you'd expect, the book is full of artwork - some of it printed full-page in high quality. One of the interesting things about the book is that you don't see just the finished posters, but you see them in various stages of completion. There is often also alternate artwork for many of the movies - posters that Mr. Struzan completed but were not used by the studio.But this isn't just an art book, it contains text as well. The book starts off with a great foreword by Frank Darabont (director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist), who frequently uses Struzan and writes about why his posters are the best in the business. And then as you flip through the book, Struzan becomes the author and writes about each project. Struzan's anecdotes are interesting to read, and he discusses what he was hoping to achieve with each poster and working with directors over the years. Another idea he puts forth is that he's not very happy with the way movie posters are heading these days. And I agree with him. I always preferred the more artistic painted movie posters over the typical mash-up photoshop jobs you see today.There is also another book out if you are interested in Struzan's work:  Drew Struzan: Oeuvre

The Art Of Drew Struzan is a wonderful book featuring several examples of Drew's illustration mastery in a form rarely seen. He offers commentary on each piece along with prelimary drawings accompanying each of the finished illustrations presented. For illustrators of any level and/or fans of Drew's movie poster work, this is a highly recommended book.The layout and design of the book is very nice; clearly presented with taste and class. However, the actual quality of the book itself is less than exemplary. I've examined numerous copies of the book virtually every one contained some sort of printing flaw, either on the cover or within the book. Appears to be a cheaper quality overseas job. Less expensive to keep costs down, but less control over the finished product.I appreciated Amazon's communication, customer service and pricing. However, I ultimatatly had to return three copies of this book to Amazon because each one arrived with some sort of damage incurred in shipping. To their credit the company honored their return policy and tried to please me. I admit, I am meticulous about the condition of my books; probably more than the average customer. However I don't believe I should accept merchandise that received damage due to insufficient packaging. Why Amazon continues to ship valuable items in cheap, thin, flimsy cartons just boggles my mind. Ends arrived crushed; spines will be buckled from having been dropped on them. Bubble wrap, immobilizing the book upon a larger board so the edges and spine can't be touched should the book drop and packing the carton with stiffer material to cushion mishandling would do the trick...but I guess that would cost too much money and it is worth it to the company to simply return or write off damaged copies, or hope that less fussy customers will just accept the dinged ones, than to go to the trouble. A shame, because I appreciate the deep discounting but I do not appreciate lazy, flimsy packing.

A fantastic book about the very best. A must for any fan or collector.

I love the art, I'm studying it to become a better artist myself.

The media could not be loaded.  It's really great to see Drew Struzan's art in one wonderful volume. All those that I've seen before were in different making-of and art-of books, particularly the Star Wars books. This book has much more than that.There are works dating back to the from the first Indiana Jones movie (1981), Star Wars (he drew for all of them), Back to the Future, Shawshank Redemption, Police Academy, Hellboy and a few movies which I didn't know existed. Going through this book made me feel like watching all those movies again. A very nostalgic collection.The paintings are gorgeous, nicely reproduced, and many printed full page. Also included are many variations of the movie posters, both in sketches and colours, and all almost as detailed as the final piece.There's some sort of magical quality in his paintings that evoke a sense of fantasy and adventure. Together with his traditional approach to art, he has created a style that's easily recognisable. Every page is a marvel to look at, to admire.Besides the art, Drew Struzan himself provided some commentary on the background stories and working with people. It's all very interesting to read.This is definitely one of the top art books for 2010.You probably do not want to miss this fantastic book.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Bought as a gift but I had a look through. Big, heavy book, full of Struzan's ubiquitous work. I'd seen a documentary, which inspired the purchase, but it's amazing how many films this man did the art work for. All the pictures in the book are crisp and the book positively shines with Hollywood magic. A must for any film or film art fan!

Beautiful artwork, Drew Struzan created so many iconic movie posters, so many memories, such a shame that his work is pretty much confined to history in this all digital world

You buy this because you love art,movies,and especially movie art.A great behind the scenes insight into great movie posters.I especially liked the story behind the "The Thing" poster.

I love the book, full of beautiful movie poster illustrations and information about them.

I bought this book as a gift for a friend, she loves it.