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THE ART OF DREW STRUZAN (BOOK REVIEW)

post #1 of 18
9/17/10 at 5:40am
Thread Starter 
I reviewed The Art of Drew Struzan. So we've got two articles about it! The more talk, the better.


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post #2 of 18
9/17/10 at 6:55am
Yeah, definitely getting this at some point. Sounds great, and sad, unfortunately.
I assume it's a coffee table book, size-wise?
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post #3 of 18
9/17/10 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexus-7 View Post
Yeah, definitely getting this at some point. Sounds great, and sad, unfortunately.
I assume it's a coffee table book, size-wise?

I was about to say yes -- but you know, it's not a huge book (like the Clint Eastwood ICON one Titan did). It's about 8x12? Almost 11x17.

I wish it was bigger, but once you're actually inside, the posters feel enormous. It's deceiving.
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post #4 of 18
9/17/10 at 6:17pm
Great review, and I have to say it's gratifying to know there is a site out there fighting the good fight against floating heads. Your review speaks to the passion I (and many of us) feel for Struzan's creations, and I think the review was worth while even after Mr Miller's story. I am glad that CHUD has taken the time to review this book and celebrate Struzan's career

PS What is the conventional wisdom on his retirement? He came back for IJATKOTCS and THE MIST, could he be lured back for other projects? Surely an artist of his caliber has ideas that he can't not put to paper.. right?
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post #5 of 18
9/17/10 at 6:35pm
On the subject of Struzan art unfortunately discarded: I found an image I'd never seen before of a Struzan alternate RAIDERS poster. IMHO it's one of the best pieces of IJ art I've ever seen. Has anyone seen this one before?


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post #6 of 18
9/17/10 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elisabeth Rappe View Post
I was about to say yes -- but you know, it's not a huge book (like the Clint Eastwood ICON one Titan did). It's about 8x12? Almost 11x17.

I wish it was bigger, but once you're actually inside, the posters feel enormous. It's deceiving.
Awesome good to hear. I was just curious if it was around the size of the ILM anniversary book and the Art of the Matrix, and now I know. Thanks!
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post #7 of 18
9/17/10 at 8:07pm
The largely unused promotional art he created for Pan's Labyrinth was one of my favorites. I don't hate what they finally went with, but it's still a damned shame.

Bought. Thanks for the notice.

EDIT: Actually, is there any extra info on that movie in the book? It's on the way regardless, but that'd be a great bonus. I always got the impression that was a tremendously disappointing experience for him, and as depressing as I'm sure it is I'd love to hear what he has to say.
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post #8 of 18
9/20/10 at 7:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by audioofbeing View Post
The largely unused promotional art he created for Pan's Labyrinth was one of my favorites. I don't hate what they finally went with, but it's still a damned shame.

Bought. Thanks for the notice.

EDIT: Actually, is there any extra info on that movie in the book? It's on the way regardless, but that'd be a great bonus. I always got the impression that was a tremendously disappointing experience for him, and as depressing as I'm sure it is I'd love to hear what he has to say.
There is, actually. He goes into great detail about his collaborations with Del Toro -- the Pan's Labyrinth story is great for its Del Toro trivia but really heartbreaking too. So sad.

The last pages of the book are all about Darabont, Favreau, and Del Toro and what drives him to quit. So sad.
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post #9 of 18
9/20/10 at 8:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
On the subject of Struzan art unfortunately discarded: I found an image I'd never seen before of a Struzan alternate RAIDERS poster. IMHO it's one of the best pieces of IJ art I've ever seen. Has anyone seen this one before?
That's fantastic, Kate. I'd love to get a high res version of that, I wonder if it's in the book.

I've preordered it on Amazon UK. I didn't know about his work on Pan's Labyrinth, can't wait to see the stuff.

Quint has a nice interview with the man up at AICN, you might want to check it out.
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post #10 of 18
9/20/10 at 9:12am
Can't wait for my shipment to arrive! I certainly don't mind multiple mentions of Struzan! And I feel bad for saying this, but I'm even more excited by the fact that your review talks about the bittersweet tone of Struzan's stories. It sounds like it'll make for fantastic reading, as sad as it was for the man.
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post #11 of 18
9/22/10 at 3:13am
Oh god... this book needs to be longer. Beautiful work and a fantastically bitter foreword by Darabont. It's really hard to read Struzan's stories and not get pissed.
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post #12 of 18
10/3/10 at 12:23am
Now I really want to see that documentary about Struzan. The book refers to it several times. It talks about how excited Steve Guttenberg was to talk about Struzan and probably went on about him for 2 hours. Another story is about how excited Michael J. Fox was when he finally got to meet Struzan in person.
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post #13 of 18
10/4/10 at 4:32pm
Does anyone know why Struzan left the Harry Potter franchise after producing the American poster art for Sorcerer's Stone? WB must have originally intended for him to return in some capacity, because he did an unfinished sketch for Chamber of Secrets that had a pretty set layout, but that's about it.
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post #14 of 18
10/4/10 at 4:44pm
According to the book, WB just decided to go with Photoshopped photos for the rest of the film. Struzan decided to finish his Chamber of Secrets poster just to satisfy himself. He also said people attribute the current Chamber of Secrets poster to him, but it's not -- it's just a computerized imitation of his first HP poster.
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post #15 of 18
10/4/10 at 4:46pm
What a shame. Thanks, Elisabeth.
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post #16 of 18
10/4/10 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elisabeth Rappe View Post
According to the book, WB just decided to go with Photoshopped photos for the rest of the film.
Specifically, he said there was a regime change somewhere at WB, and that the new people in charge tossed out the advertising plans (including Struzen painting all seven posters) of the old people in charge.
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post #17 of 18
10/4/10 at 8:48pm
The book actually made me think of Lucas in a positive light for a short moment.
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post #18 of 18
1/13/11 at 9:37pm

Another reason Struzan wasn't asked to return was because in the middle of doing the comps for the sequel, the person who's idea it was to do the series as a group of illustrations left the company. According to the book, the new head of marketing at WB scrapped all the decisions made by the last guy, thinking he could do a better job!  I'd like to track that idiot down.  I'd love to know what George Lucas' secret was and how is able to control everything, right down to the advertising material. Even Steven Spielberg didn't have that luxury for a long, long time after.

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