DREW STRUZAN
(18 March 1947 – 13 October 2025)
Photo by Dominic "Count3D" Dobrzensky, Courtesy of Wiki Commons
The revered illustrator Drew Struzan was an undisputed master of the one sheet. His indelible images and dynamic compositions across some 150 movie posters are as memorable as the movies themselves. Born Howard Drew Struzansky, in Oregon City, Oregon, Struzan studied at the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles, paying his way through school by taking commissions and album art jobs. His early covers for artists like the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees and Black Sabbath revealed a bold sense of colour and configuration that would later become his hallmark. His 1975 cover for Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare has been hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest album covers of all time.
In the mid-1970s, Struzan transitioned from music to movies, developing his signature airbrushed glow and splatter texture, which seemed to breathe life into still images. His early posters for B-movies led to studio commissions, beginning with the 1978 re-release of Star Wars. Over the next three decades, Struzan became the trusted visual voice of filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. His style became synonymous with film franchises such as Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, The Muppets, Police Academy, and Star Wars. Among his iconic artworks are the posters for Adventures in Babysitting, Angels in the Outfield, Big Trouble in Little China, Coming to America, Cutthroat Island, First Blood, The Flintstones, The Goonies, The Green Mile, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Hellboy, Hocus Pocus, Hook, Masters of the Universe, Pan’s Labyrinth, Risky Business, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Thing — to name but a few.
Each distilled the spirit and emotional current of the story into a single image. What Struzan rendered in acrylic paints and coloured pencils helped to define the cinema of the 80s, 90s, and beyond, capturing the feeling of seeing a movie for the first time and shaping how a generation remembered them. As digital design overtook traditional illustration, Struzan remained a touchstone of authenticity that directors like Guillermo del Toro continued to gravitate toward. Struzan received numerous honours over his career, including an induction into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. He officially retired in 2008, occasionally returning for projects like Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Struzan’s life and art were chronicled in the 2013 documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, which illuminated his humility and artistic mastery. Struzan didn’t sell movies; he painted dreams.
CHAD KENNERK
