When Drew Struzan got into the movie poster business, Hollywood loved him because he could create art in multiple styles. Someone wanted a poster that looked like Norman Rockwell had painted it, and Drew Struzan could get the job done. He was already a master artist from years of working in the music industry, but had yet to develop his own signature style. While you may not be familiar with Drew Struzan’s name, if you’re a fan of films from the 1970s-2000s, his signature style painted your imagination.
Before landing a steady job making album covers, most famously Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare, Drew Struzan was literally a starving artist.
When I hear the term “starving artist,” I think of commercials for art shows that I used to hear on local radio and TV. “Thousands of pieces of art at STARVING ARTIST PRICES, this weekend at the Hilton in Livonia!” It never struck me how absolutely inhumane that term was. Hey, your art’s great! We should be paying you more money, but you’re broke and need to eat this week, so we can get away with paying you less! If they told me THAT in the catchy announcer voice, I might have realized how commonplace it is for society to devalue art and artists.
When Hollywood discovered Drew’s art and came calling, they sold him on the fact that he was undervalued at the record company. The starving artist didn’t even realize he was underpaid. He was just happy to have a steady paycheck to support his wife and son. Drew could make his annual salary at the record company with one movie poster gig. It was a no-brainer; he answered the call from Hollywood and became the most iconic movie poster artist of all time.
Van Gogh famously never saw any success from his artwork. Had Drew Struzan squandered away in obscurity, his could have been a similar tragedy. Hollywood allowed Drew to provide his family with a happy life. The type of environment that would allow an artist to thrive and find their own signature style. The starving artist who chose paint over food could now afford to eat, but would still prefer to spend his time creating. “It’s how I fulfill my reason for being.”
Drew Struzan’s career spanned five decades. He was forced into early retirement because the incessant notes from studio execs became too much of a pain in the ass for him to deal with. Drew was not a digital artist. If alterations needed to be made after the painting was complete, it wasn’t done with the ease of Photoshop. It was done with more ink and paint. Photoshop was cheap and fast. Drew was no longer their valuable asset; he was an inefficient tool in need of replacement.
Time and money are something the studios use to calculate returns on investment. If there’s a cheaper, quicker alternative, chances are, that’s the one they go with. Guillermo Del Toro recognized this and commissioned Drew out of his own pocket when the studio refused to hire him for the Pan’s Labyrinth poster. Artists recognize the value of other artists because they know how it feels to have their art devalued by someone else. A recurring theme today as artificial intelligence continues to work its way into more creative spaces.
Going to the movies used to be a magical experience. That magic started with a Drew Struzan poster. Drew had a way of breathing life into an image. Live Photos were developed by Apple in 2015, but I swear to God, when I think of any Drew Struzan poster, they’ve always been alive. No AI filter required. Look at any of his Muppets posters and tell me that’s not the character you’re looking at. His style may have been photorealistic, but even the best photos of the Muppets struggle to show you something other than an inanimate object. For Drew, it was effortless to trick your mind into believing those were Kermit’s eyes and not just ping pong balls on a puppet.
Drew’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom poster is the image I most associate with Indiana Jones, burned into my mind as my mother dragged me out of the theatre the moment Mola Ram reached his hand into a man’s chest to rip out his heart. Harrison Ford complimented Drew’s ability to capture the nobility of Indiana Jones in his artwork. Something the actor admitted to struggling to convey in his own performance of the character. If Harrison Ford says you do a better job of portraying Indiana Jones than he does, is there a higher compliment that a creative person can receive?
I don’t miss a lot of the theatre-going experience, but I miss the way a huge movie poster would whet your palate for the adventure ahead. Seeing a digital image on an LCD screen or a small tile just doesn’t pack the same punch. It takes away some of the magic that standing in the presence of a physical image blesses you with.
The legendary composer John Williams captured the magic of what was happening onscreen. When you hear his music, you’re instantly transported to the scene that it accompanies. When you see a Drew Struzan poster, you can hear John Williams’ music. You can see your favourite scenes come to life. They aren’t still images arranged in an artistic way. They’re video clips living on a poster that come to life with the power of Drew’s art and your imagination. Look at them long enough, and they might just blink.
A lot of people struggle to articulate the lack of heart and emotion in AI-generated art. The Turing Test is designed to measure a machine’s intelligence. The Struzan Test should be: Can a machine evoke the same emotional response as a human artist?
Today, you can prompt an artificial intelligence to generate artwork for anything you ask for in Drew Struzan’s style. Show me the greatest AI image technology can generate and put it next to your favourite Drew Struzan poster. You’ll immediately see the flaws in the AI image. The lack of depth and humanity becomes apparent. The eyes don’t convey life because the thing that generated them has never known life itself.
Drew Struzan spent years making mistakes and learning from them, but he also took those mistakes and leaned into them. He found inspiration in some of those mistakes and developed new techniques based on what he learned. That’s not something AI will ever be capable of. If it’s not programmed into the LLM to scrape, it’s not going to show up in the final product. If we as humans struggle to put into words what art means to us, how do you think they’re supposed to code an artificial intelligence that delivers that type of magic?
Drew delivered what AI will never be capable of. He came into Hollywood doing his own stylistic interpretation of famous artists, but his work stands on its own. Drew Struzan in the style of Norman Rockwell, but there’s life in that new image. Life that can only be provided by someone who’s LIVED. Drew lived pain. Drew lived suffering. Drew lived happiness. Drew lived love. When Drew couldn’t find words to convey his emotions, he put them on canvas or whatever scraps he could afford. That’s how he was able to capture those things about movies you love in ways that words alone can not.
Arguably one of the most recognizable artists in modern pop culture, Drew Struzan was no stranger to having his artwork stolen. As noted in the 2013 documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, Drew had to sue a former business partner in order to get 100 of his original paintings back. It won’t be surprising when studios start putting out posters that look eerily reminiscent of Drew’s work.
Maybe that’s the slap in the face that society needs? We’re nostalgic by nature. We reject things we’re not comfortable with. When people start seeing bastardized images of art that’s sacred to them, something in their brains starts pushing back. For better or for worse, pop culture IS most people’s culture. I’d guess more people could recognize movies by their posters than they’d be able to name Italian Renaissance paintings. I personally think I have more images of Drew’s burned in my mind than family photos, and I regret nothing.
I fear that Drew Struzan was the last great artist we’ll ever know. Not because there won’t be great artists, but because great artists won’t be allowed to flourish like Drew Struzan was. If society continues to look at “starving artists” as an opportunity for people to take advantage of others, art will die.
If we allow ourselves to be seduced by the accessibility that generative AI affords us, we’ll never evolve beyond the program. We’re literally tethering ourselves to the point in time that the last update was pushed. Happy accidents will be replaced by AI hallucinations that need to be corrected, not opportunities to explore the creative process further. Remove yourself from the device, and without your own imagination and skillset, you’re just someone with the ability to write a good prompt.
Drew Struzan passed from Alzheimer’s on October 13, 2025. His work is cemented in people’s memories. His own memories being taken from him seem like a cruel joke. His official Instagram account shared, “I feel it is important that you all know how many times he expressed to me the joy he felt knowing how much you appreciated his art.”
Drew Struzan didn’t just make me appreciate his art. He made me understand what art is. His work was the first that evoked emotion in me all those years ago. Without Drew, my life would not have been as magical. Do we really want to live in a world where we don’t provide those creative people around us with an opportunity to flourish? Can we put a monetary value on what that man truly provided to society? As much bullshit as there is, shouldn’t we appreciate the Drew Struzans of the world? Just because technology allows us to cut them out of the equation, what does it say about us if we do?
If Drew Struzan’s art painted you a clear picture of who the heroes and villains were. Drew Struzan’s life can bring the real-life heroes and villains into focus. Look at the people telling you that artists’ rights aren’t important. Those are the people who would have preferred Drew Struzan to fix all of their paintings for free because their focus group didn’t like a detail on the poster. They don’t see the value in art, and like all the other villains, they want to make their reality your reality. It’s your job as the hero to stand up for the little guy.
If you need a little inspiration, grab The Art of Drew Struzan and learn from a master. If you don’t know how to be a hero, spend some time with Drew’s work. He’ll teach you everything you need to live a full life if you open your heart to his creative expression. “All those things add up to a feeling. I pick those things and make that feeling.”
Yes, you did, Sir, and you made it look easy.
Rest in Peace.
Fuck Alzheimer’s.
