Remembering movie poster artist Drew Struzan (1947-2025)

Movie fans who came of age in the 1970s and 80s are very familiar with the work of artist Drew Struzan, who passed away on October 13, 2025, even if they didn’t know his name. He was responsible for iconic posters for the movies Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark (and its sequels), Back to the Future (and its sequels), The Thing, The Goonies, Coming to America, the Harry Potter films, and, of course, Star Wars. (You can add many more movies to that list.)

Born in Oregon City, Oregon, on March 18, 1947, Drew attended the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles and remained in the city after graduation. His first job was with a design studio, and he later created album cover art for many bands, including Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly, the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, Roy Orbison, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

He later moved on to movie posters, founding the company Pencil Pushers with a friend and honing his use of the airbrush on artwork for B-movies like Empire of the Ants and Squirm. In 1977, as Star Wars conquered box offices around the world, Drew was enlisted to help create a poster for the upcoming 1978 re-release of the movie. The finished poster, popularly known as the “Circus” poster, was created to look like an old-fashioned bill that had been tacked to a plywood wall at a construction site. It prominently featured Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and C-3PO and R2-D2 in the back of Luke’s landspeeder.

That job led to his work on many first-run movie posters, along with his design of the original Industrial Light & Magic logo. His work on the posters for Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series led to him being hired to create new artwork for those films’ DVD releases, as well as book covers and packaging art for videogames.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Drew continued to create movie posters, but traditionally-created poster art was being supplanted by digital tools, and while he did produce posters for movies like Hook and Hellboy, he also branched out into comic book covers, postage stamps, and Franklin Mint collectible plates. However, George Lucas added a clause to his 1999 contract for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace that dictated to foreign distributors that only Drew’s art could be used in their posters.

Drew announced his retirement in 2008 but came out of retirement a few times over the years, including his 2012 work on a cover for an edition of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, his 2015 assignments on the documentary Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World and Stars Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and his 2019 posters for the How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy.

Earlier this year, Drew’s wife, Dylan, revealed that he had been struggling with Alzheimer’s disease for several years and his illness had reached the point where he could no longer paint nor sign autographs. He died on October 13, 2025, at the age of 78.

His family posted the following on his official Facebook Page. Our condolences go out to them and everyone who knew Drew.