Welcome to My Nightmare

No, no. Don't let the title of this post mislead you. My computer is still working. I'm pushing it really hard so that if it fails again, it might derail during the slightly extended warrantee on the recent repairs.

I love any art that Drew Struzan creates, and here he channels JC Leyendecker who also never failed to deliver enjoyment for the eyes.

Drew Struzan _ record album cover

High Road to Adventure

Way back in 1982 there was a tv show, Tales of the Gold Monkey, that shared the same high road to adventure that Indiana Jones had just recently taken. The show had actually been conceived a lot earlier than anyone had even heard of Indy, but was a hard sell to the networks because it was 'adventure in the 1930s'. But along came the blockbuster film and THEN the network execs sat up and took notice.

Of course just the words 'adventure in the 1930s' sets my tail to wagging and I remember enjoying the show when it first aired. Stephen Collins as Jake Cutter and a Jack Russell terrier as Jack were fun to watch.

Of course then the choice of having Drew Struzan create the promotional art for the teevee show helped to connect it to the Indiana Jones movie's success. I LOVE Struzan's graphic talents and would love to see him illustrate ANYthing, and he certainly caught the essence of Jake and Jack on their high road to adventure!

Drew Struzan — Tales of the Gold Monkey — 1982

Drew Struzan — Tales of the Gold Monkey — 1982

Drew Covers

I've told you that I stopped buying and reading new comics for the last few years. I don't even make it a weekly or monthly ritual to check out the new shipments at the comic shop. I still go there now and then to pick up some archives or art books, and MAYbe I'll go look at the DC reboot.

When I did buy any comics for a decade before I gave em up, it was usually for the cover, which I know is a pathetic thing to do, but I AM a person who loves images (who isn't?).

I know there must be some great cover art done these days by some great artists, but I just can't make myself go looking. Well, anyway, some years ago, I was delighted to see these covers (specially that first one) by Drew Struzan, the classic movie poster illustrator.

Yay Drew!

Drawn by Drew

Just one more Struzan post for now.

To have Drew Struzan create the cover art for a George Lucas retrospective book is not only appropriate, but would have been inexcusable if it had not been drawn by Drew. I'm sure Lucas' later films would have done 'ok' at the box office without Struzan's art promoting it, but those posters and book covers guaranteed an epic and eternally iconic image for Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the history books and viewer's minds.

Below, the beautiful art, sans messy type (although I must admit that the main title gives it the Lucas touch):

And as always, I'm fascinated by comparing the original reference material and what the artist has done with it. This photo of Lucas was pretty strong to begin with:

Variant Covers

I'm not one to normally fall for the 'variant cover' scam perpetrated by devious yankee publishers (really, I'm not . . . stop looking at me like that . . . really . . . I'm . . . not), but when it's an artist I really like . . . and . . . and . . . let me catch my breath here . . . and when you put them all side by side and it's, like, one big image, y'know . . . y'know it's almost like a poster kinda thing . . . well then, I'm hooked. I hadda go two or 3 stores to get all four variants. I mean, me buying TV Guide, I never even watch TV (really . . . I don't). I wasn't big on the Phantom Menace movie (really). I mean it was sorta fun, but really, so many flaws. But this art by Drew Struzan, OMG, flawless:

So when ya put em all together ya get this big image . . . but all that type and that bar code thingy sorta ruins it, ya know?

So it's nice to see it all, sans type . . .

Gosh I like Drew Struzan's art. I'm just an old fanboy after all.

You Cheat Dr Jones, You Cheat!

A funny scene from the Temple of Doom movie is where Short Round (Ke Huy Kwan) accuses Indy of cheating in their card game, "You cheat Dr. Jones, you cheat!"

I realized I've been cheating too. In the last post I made the bold claim that Warwick Goble is in the top five of my favorite classic illustrators. Geez, I have so many favorite artists, how can I figure that?

I cheat, because I have so many categories that I can land just about anybody in a top 5 favorite somewhere. Favorite Renaissance artists. Favorite 19th century allegorical artists. Favorite jazz age photographers. Favorite comic book artists working in 1948. Favorite artists who work in pastel. Favorite sculptors born on a Wednesday.

I'll find some way of making them fit in the top five of something, cuz otherwise why would I collect their work in the first place. So ignore me when I talk about favorites (I'm sure you do anyway). We ALL got favorites.

Here's a really bold claim: My favorite #1 movie poster artist (and probably yours too): Drew Struzan.

I love looking deep into Struzan's rendering details & textures.

More Struzan

This is a scan of the cover from a comics adaptation of the Disney movie. I bought it just for the art by Drew Struzan, but of course. 

Astounding Oeuvre

Drew Struzan occupied the commercial illustrator niche formerly held by Richard Amsel. Mr. Struzan is now retired from the commercial art rat race, but his oeuvre of work is astounding. Just take a long admiring gander at his amazing official website here.

Going through my albums (remember when lp albums were like mini posters?) the other day I was glad to see I hadn't yet passed this one on, one of Drew's early fine illustrations: