The Art of Drew Struzan

If Drew Struzan's name doesn't immediately ring a bell with you - and it certainly didn't with me at first - don't panic. You may not know who he is but you definitely know what he does.

Struzan's photo-real portraiture has been adorning theatre walls since the 1980's. With movie poster designs for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Back to the Future under his belt, it is hardly a wonder that Struzan's iconic style is immediately recognisable.

Thankfully, someone recognised that his work needed some considerable celebration and The Art of Drew Struzan is being published this September.

Collecting the original commission sketches in addition to multiple versions of the finished posters, The Art of Drew Struzan is a visually stunning walkthrough Drew's remarkable career.

Struzan's sense of humour pervades throughout - with an amusing backstory to go with his work on each movie.

I just couldn't stop reading this book. It's a gorgeous coffee table hardback and you'll find yourself flipping through pages again and again. I thought I was just going to skim through some of the artwork, but I found myself compulsively reading.

As the book goes on, a saddening trend becomes apparent. Studios commission Struzan to do a comp poster, then ultimately go with something Photoshopped and completely minimalistic. His proposed Pan's Labyrinth poster was particularly powerful. Yet even his Back to the Future ideas were fun, quirky and ultimately unused. If anything, this book is the story of Hollywood's inability to keep up with one man's imagination.

It also has the distinction of being the only book I have ever read with both an introduction and outroduction.

Memorabilia, Star Wars, art, cinema history; if any of the above do it for you then this is the book for you. Even if you don't buy it; definitely rock up to your local bookstore and leaf through it. Try not to scare the staff with your fangirl squeals though.

You can check out a video of Drew at this year's SDCC here. Information about the feature length documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster can be found here.

The Art of Drew Struzan is published by Titan Books on September 14th in the USA and September 24th in the UK. US folks can pre-order it on amazon.com and UK folks on amazon.co.uk

Wookiee the Chew

One of my favourite things in the world is when someone takes an existing idea and puts a new and creative spin on it. This is why I enjoy alternative/modern versions of traditional fairytales (except when they are made into movies featuring Vanessa Hudgens *shudder*), steampunk, Jeffrey Thomas' Twisted Princess series etc.

Two other things I am insane about are children's books and science fiction.

You can only imagine my joy when geek with curves introduced me to James Hance's Wookiee the Chew drawings. For me, at least half of the joy was in recognising the direct references to the EH Shepard illustrations that I sell every day, and that I grew up with. It's pretty much exactly my brand of geeky!

Nods to classic stories of childhood aside, these are genuinely adorable little drawings and a whole lot of fun whether or not you are familiar with Winnie the Pooh. They'll cheer your day right up! Although I have now gotten myself into an internal debate over what Wookiee the Chew goes for instead of pots of honey... any suggestions?

Prints are available from James' website (where you can also check out his other awesome geek art!) and now there are even t-shirts - one of which I definitely did not spontaneously buy... You can also follow him on Twitter @JimJeroo

Jeffrey Thomas - Twisted Princess

Let me start by highlighting that Jeffrey Thomas is an all-round FANTASTIC artist and I highly recommend that you check out his blog/portfolio if you are at all into Star Wars, Batman or general awesomeness.

Jeff and his writing partner Celeste also have an ongoing series of mini-webcomics here which I highly recommend checking out!

BUUUUUT, this post is about a particular series of pieces that Jeff did back in 2009, which promptly went viral on Tumblr and elsewhere, and justly so...

Twisted Princess re-imagines the traditional image of the Disney princess as something entirely more menacing. This appealed to me on a variety of levels; not least of which is the representation of these otherwise fairly diluted characters in a much stronger and infinitely more kick-ass form. Much of my problem with Disney lies in their creation of sickly sweet characters in the name of family entertainment. The women of Grimm's fairytales were either stupid, evil, or sharp and clever and self sufficient. Theirs is no less one-dimensional a view of women but it does allow for a slightly more realistic view of the world - there are frequently bad endings, bad things happen to good people and generally you have to work for what you get.

However, I digress... this is a truly wonderful series - including some of my favourite fairytales - and I strongly recommend you check out the entire lot. I'm a sucker for an alternative take on fairytales and this one just blew me away!

All princesses have, in their own way, the definite potential to go over the edge as far as I'm concerned... Rapunzel? Trapped in a tower... Beauty? Trapped in a castle. Raised alone by a very eccentric father. Cinderella? Abused by her family and forced to work as a slave in her own home... If you think about it, these women all have the potential to go over to the dark side (no capital letters; no suing, Mr. Lucas!!) and they were just waiting for someone to realise it! Jeffrey has created an individual story to go with each piece, which you can find over at his DeviantART.

These works all have such wonderful creative details particular to each individual's story - especially Alice and Cinderella.

What I do know for certain is that, come the day when I have my own geek pad, this and hopefully much more of Jeffrey Thomas' art will be adorning the walls!