Drew Struzan, a poster artist who illustrated the posters for Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Blade Runner, has passed away at the age of 78.
Drew Struzan, the poster artist behind “Star Wars,” “Blade Runner,” “The Thing,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Back to the Future” and countless others, died on Tuesday due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease, his family said on a statement. He was 78.
Struzan attended the ArtCenter College of Design and, after graduating, worked at the Los Angeles-based design studio Pacific Eye & Ear, under the direction of Ernie Cefalu, who had worked on the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” album cover in the early 1970’s. Struzan would work on album covers for The Beach Boys, Bee Gees and Black Sabbath while there, also illustrating the T-shirt that George Carlin wears on the cover of his 1974 album “Toledo Window Box” and the cover artwork for Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare.”
After leaving Pacific Eye & Ear, Struzan started a company called Pencil Pushers, working on the eye-popping posters for decidedly lower grade fare like 1976’s “Squirm” (about killer worms) and 1977’s “Empire of the Ants” (about killer ants).
