Author: Drew Struzan & David J. Schow
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: September 14, 2010
Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars
If you are reading this review, you shouldn’t be…simply go out and buy this book. This is one of the best “The Art of” book that I have ever read. He is the artist behind some of the most iconic posters of our time. He is also well known for his classic work with both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Just to name a few of the amazing posters he has done before we go into it more below, “Back to the Future”, “Jurassic Park” and “Indiana Jones” are just a few. We had the privilege of interviewing Drew Struzan in person for this book and he is just such an amazing guy and a legend of his time. You can check out the interview here.
The book starts of with of course one of my favorite “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. What I also have mentioned yet is that this isn’t just poster book. Drew has included personal recollections from each poster and its creation process. There is no empty space on these pages. “John Carpenter’s The Thing” is one of my favorite posters ever and Drew gives some really great background on the poster. “Back to the Future” series gets some serious attention in this book as well provided dozens of variant posters at different stages of completion. Honestly a dream for movie fans to see this work. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” also gets an amazing send off from Drew. One of my recent favorites of his posters though has to be “Hellboy”. It is such an amazing poster that Drew has even done a step-by-step DVD showcasing his work on this poster. Obviously I only scratched the surface on this book and I didn’t cover everything, it will just have to make you go and find out for yourself what other greats are included in here.
I have seen many poster books before but this is definitely something more than that for sure. It takes a look into Struzan’s poster artwork upfront but then goes down in depth into his process. Each poster that is included also with alternate and/or partial finished pieces of the same art. The foreword alone is worth the purchase of the book by Frank Darabont. It is a great send off to Drew Struzan and their collaboration. Drew worked on the following of Darabont’s films including “The Mist”, “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption”. Poster and movie fans a lot this is a MUST purchase. If you own it already go out and buy one for your friends.