Wonderful ... and bitter, bitter, bitter

After several Artbooks already been published, showing the finalized, none iconic Posters Drew Struzans, a book comes with "The Art of Drew Struzan" on the market that chooses a slightly different approach: It tells the stories of these posters. Page after page, it presents compositional sketches ("comprehensives"), sometimes only loosely ideas for movie posters, sometimes almost completely elaborated color studies. The final work includes the book of course - but often also sketches series are shown, of which no idea ever became an official movie poster (eg "Sahara" from 2004, "Mad Max III" of 1985). The focus is on Drew's ingenuity, his creativity and his work process.

A huge, impressive view "behind the scenes" so that can be visually really murky only by the finding that in Drew Struzans website already a long time a lot of printed works are available. The printing of the book seems quite fabulous succeeded against me; this color brilliance and sharp contrast I have in any case found on any of my acquired movie poster. My fear, with four studies on one side is just not enough detail visible, has absolutely not been confirmed. Minus the pressure technique, however, is that all fingerprints are immediately visible on the ugly black layouted preferred pages. Care, here can break collectors' hearts!

The scope of 160 pages can of course not even for all known works Drews Place. The early "Star Wars" poster, for example, completely missing, only with Episode II (!) Occurs George Lucas' Star Saga on the plan. In the actually very Indy-intensive book about missing and the "Temple of Doom". So you have to put up well.

It would have been a factory of dreams, the texts were reading not as a farewell to the art in the cinema posters par excellence. Frank Darabont's preface is already an angry blow, a rage against the actual decision makers ("suits" - "men in suits"), who decided over the heads of directors like del Toro away from flimsy grounds on which today's cinema posters, all of which, I quote in Original, "shit" are ("crap"). Below Drew Struzan tells about his pictures even of wonderful positive experiences of people like Michael J. Fox, Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, and like him the "Last Crusade" by the generosity of the studio saved his existence - it predominate but at far the most negative experiences in the stories of the images. His art undergoes continually rejection and lack of understanding, and already from 1994 Drew Struzan has practically telling only extremely bitter anecdotes that speak of insult, disparagement, even destruction of his art. The pictures so beautiful, the stories so sad, it must describe "The Art of Drew Struzan" one.

Prior to the show, there were interviews with Drew, who describe him as a cheerful, happy man whose experiences have not made him bitter. I believe with all my heart, but in all honesty, you would have had to do this in "The Art of Drew Struzan" really even clearer. After considering the texts in this book as a whole, you have to win a different impression: that of a broken artist, to the hard business of the dream factory has easily sorted out and a return in this profession (quote page 156) "physically ill would make. "