Drew Sturzan via Time

Acclaimed movie poster illustrator Drew Sturzan, upon retiring, talked to Time about his favorite movie posters and a little background on each.

Check it out here.

Drew Peterson

Who are you?
Drew Peterson
drewpetersonart.com (soon)

I’m 24 years old and I live in Minneapolis. I am an Artist, curator, collaborator, event organizer, and student.



What do you do?
All printmaking processes, paint, organize shows, paint walls, make shirts. I am very grateful to have had an onslaught of ideas, premonitions that experiences that have enabled me to stay passionate about being creative. These same things have also allowed me to work closely with a handful of close friends in cooperative artistic endeavors that have proved to be the most rewarding and trying experiences.



















In 2007, I was, involved in the organization of two shows in Minneapolis, Will Work For Food 2 At the Theatre Antiques Building, Minneapolis, MN, and Cultivate: Twenty Five Under 25 show at Stevens Square Center for the Arts. While working in close relation to other artist for the shows (John Grider, Jen Davis, and Isaac Arvold, and many others, for WWFF, and Katy Meegan for Cultivate) my responsibilities were far different from what I was doing as an artist.


















I see my work moving towards a multidisciplinary practice that transcends scale and process. I’m thinking of the intimacy and intensive process of printmaking combined with the sprawling nature of painting installation.

I also have printed a line of t-shirts lately with Minneapolis designers Anthem Heart, and have been working on a design for Sims Snowboards out of Canada.


























Inspirations?
Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, Matthew Ritchie, Inka Essenhigh, Neo Rausch, Fred Tomaselli, Basquiat, the Clayton Brothers. Judice Suppine, Os Gemeos, Joan Mitchell. Alec Soth’s Blog. Anthony Lister, Ryan Mcguiness, Sarah Sze. Chris Ofili, Peter Doig, Mark Bradford,

Environment: Urban, Buff marks, tire marks, graffiti, chipped paint, torn posters. Highway paint drippers. Abandon Buildings, urban exploration, trains. Expansive open skies.

Local artists: Eric Inkala, John Grider, Isaac Arvold, Jen Davis, Ben Olsen, Hardland/Heartland, Keegan Wenkman, Many other MPLS artists. My girlfriend Anna.

Please describe your process:
Archive: Drawings, photos, clipart. Print: Digital archival inkjet, screen-printing, lithography, sometimes all three. Paint: acrylic, gouache, aerosol.

I spent the summer making Digital drawings. These are now being incorporated into prints, painting installations, T-shirts, and animated videos. Most of my recent work has combined all of or most of the listed processes. I like the elasticity of digital combined with the tactility of hand on process.



















Please describe your average workday:
I’m in school full time at the University of Minnesota, so I see that as a priority at this point. I spend a lot of time in the print studio. I’m working on a show called colOURS @ the U, which will feature some framed work, an two painting installation pieces.






































Any things you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
Continue to print and design T-shirts with the Minneapolis Based Anthem Heart. Get a studio space that allows me to work large scale, develop an intensive studio practice. Read more, drink less, eat better, quit smoking. Curate shows and apply for shows. Finish school, maybe go to Grad School. Get my website up. Travel.

Colin Strandberg

Who are you?
My name is Colin Strandberg, and currently I reside in Minneapolis, MN.

http://www.theworksteady.com








What do you do?
I Illustrate and Design. Fine Art whenever I can.

























Inspirations?
Milton Glaser, YES Album Covers, Blade Runner and the Blade Runner Soundtrack, Thrash, Mock Duck and Renotta pizza from Luce, T-Shirts, Coast to Coast AM, 80’s Halloween Decorations, Pyramids, Geoff Mcfetridge, Shi Tzus, Norwegian Black Metal, Autumn in Minnesota.

























Please describe your creative process, or highlight a specific process used for a recent project.
I tend to have great ideas when I’m in the shower. I don’t know what it is exactly. Is it the effect of water ionization? I dunno, but it seems that a percentage of good ideas come to me in the shower. That’s where I like to start the creative process. That or over a bowl of cereal.

























Please describe your average workday.
I’m still desperately trying to myself on a schedule. I usually get up round 9, take the dawg out, make coffee, answer emails and chase online gossip.

























Round 10 I try and get down to business, where I’ll work til 1 or 2 pm and make lunch, followed by 5-6 more hours of work. It’s pretty swell, lemme tell yah.

























What are things that you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
I would love to do some large-scale installations. I’ve never worked much in 3D, As I’d like to get into some fabrication of sorts. Plastic, vinyl, rubber, whatevs. I’d also like to travel and exhibit my work abroad.

Andy Rementer

Who are you?
Andy Rementer from Philadelphia USA
andyrementer.com




What do you do?
I draw comics, do illustration, publish zines, do gallery shows sometimes. I also have a 9-5 design job which I like and keeps things interesting. I also play the banjo and drink a lot of beer and coffee.





















Inspirations?
The ultimate interview question. Well, I sure like Daniel Clowes, Robert Crumb, Medieval Art, French new-wave movies, Jazz music...god, there's too much. I get most inspiration by observing people I think.

























Please describe your creative process, or highlight a specific process used for a recent project.
Before I even touch a pencil I do a full-body spiritual cleansing, that includes full release...just kidding. Depends on the project I guess. With my comics it usually starts with a quick observation or
idea-spasm (patent pending on that term) of which I note down in my sketchbook. Then I flush it out at the drawing table, taking as many breaks as possible.


























Please describe your average workday.
I always sit down at the drawing table with the best intentions. I suppose I set little goals to achieve, and this keeps me going. I'll say to myself "okay, just pencil the rest of this page and THEN you can go out for a coffee". yeah, l reward myself a lot for accomplishing things like that. This process sort of repeats itself over and over until I become a kind of zombie towards the end of the day.

























What are things that you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
Pipe dream: I'd like for my art to inspire people to rally together, topple the government, and revert to a sort of socialism or property / resource sharing community-based system.


























More realistic pipe dream: I would like to be able to make a living off my comics so that I can move back to Italy for good. Now that's something to work towards, eh? :)

Erin Johnson

Who are you?
I am Erin Nicole Johnson. Scatterbrain, PhD.




What do you do?
I’m a photographer, currently student but marching onward to discovery of something greater in the world (or student of something greater).









Inspirations?
I find my inspiration comes from process, which I find that a lot of photographers completely disregard, considering it not to be what photography is, which is ridiculous. It’s all process, and to disregard it gives no groundwork to further concepts and/or ideas. Ryan McGinley, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Robert Gober, The Books, science, hip-hop, philosophical theories, and the ground where all of these meet.















Please describe your creative process, or highlight a specific process used for a recent project.
With the above in mind, I consider the principles of photography. What makes it a unique medium, and why choose it over drawing, sculpture, design, etc? I read the newspaper. I get out into the world. I take my camera. My thesis project that I am working on now is an exploration of perception. I started with the idea that I, like most in today, cannot separate my personal experiences from the world. We find that to some degree life is a big novel we're creating, that all the people we meet are merely characters, metaphors perhaps, about the greater story we are creating for ourselves.
















By incorporating personal daily life versus the collected daily life found in media, I am attempting to define that moment where the two merge—perhaps there is a news article that runs parallel to an event in my life. Can I correlate the 2008 campaign to my personal relationships? These kinds of moments that are most real to us are most cinematic. Personal history defining all history.









Please describe your average workday.
Hear my alarm go off at 7:30 AM and immediately shut it off. Hear it go off again at 8:00 AM and hit snooze, wiggle until I decide that getting up and doing something is more important than sleeping in. Read, read, read- newspapers, blogs, essays. Drink lots and lots of coffee. Go to class and take notes and attempt to sneak in more reading. When I get home I make dinner, generally do a photoshoot, or go out and walk around and take photographs. Work on other homework before crashing.















What are things that you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
Get more involved in collectives, group shows, and travel more, more, more. Push myself even farther out of my comfort level.

John Casey

Who are you?
John (Frederick) Casey (Jr.)
bunnywax.com





What do you do?
Draw a lot, sculpt some, see lots of art, read, and watch birds.









































































Inspirations?
The human body, science, science fiction, world history, nature (critters, plants, earth), you know, the usual stuff. I also like looking at other artists' art (if it's good and interesting). I dig odd dark films like David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch", Aronofsky's "Pi", the animations of the Brothers Quay, Julie Taymor's "Titus", "Repo Man", "Altered States", "Blade Runner", etc...



















Please describe your creative process, or highlight a specific process used for a recent project.
For drawing I basically sketch out a light pencil idea. Sometimes I use a photo reference and might even do a tracing transfer for clothing. Then I draw out the contour lines in pen and follow it with some hatching in a super fine pen. When I'm filling in large areas of the paper I can completely lose my sense of reality. Plus, I almost always work with headphones on which just puts me in "the zone."




















Lately I've been using 12" action figures from flea markets as an armature when I sculpt. I pose them and then skin the figures with Magic Sculpt clay. The clay is a two-part system that, when mixed, begins to harden in three or four hours, so I work the object in stages.

I'm doing these cutouts out of plywood. I project a drawing on an Artograph onto the wood, trace it and cut it with a jigsaw. I paint on a couple of layers of off-white house paint then outline the cutouts with black acrylic. After all is dry I lay down my lines with brush pens.






















Please describe your average workday.
I get up, drink coffee and check email. Then I walk around lake Merritt with my lovely wife and check out the waterfowl. I have a part-time day job, so sometimes that can keep me occupied until mid-afternoon. Then I work in the studio for 3-6 hours, taking a dinner break. Often draw. Sometimes I sculpt. Sometimes I do both. I think I want to do some paintings someday soon.












What are things that you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
Build a 10-foot version of one of my sculptures. Travel to New Zealand and Australia, maybe even Antarctica. The Galapagos would be cool to visit before all those exotic critters are extinct.

Jocelyn Chase

Who are you?
Jocelyn Chase
Chase Jocelyn






What do you do?
Read, Draw, Photograph, Write, and lately a whole lot of research.
(In no particular order)





















Inspirations?
Rick Moody, Haruki Murakami, and Wally Lamb; among other authors that describe vivid visuals and weave complex narratives about human interaction. Elaine Scarry, people watching, Jeff Wall, my daily horoscope, the plight of the thylacine, children's stories and allegories, my friends, art groups and creative dialogue (like W.A.D.F.F.).
















Please describe your creative process, or highlight a specific process used for a recent project.
There is a lot of research, planning, and preparation for each photograph I try to make. Thats not to say I don't make intuitive photos when I'm on set, because I definitely try to stay observant the whole time, but I always come with a sketched composition, color scheme (via props+lighting), add. PROPS, and subject/model.















For my own work I shoot with a 4x5 camera so it goes:
film loading>>pack up car>>unload car at location>>polaroids>> lights>>set up>>gaff tape>>loop>>cable release>>proof polaroid>>make picture>>tear down set>>load car for home>>unload car>>unload film>> develop>>scan/contact>>edit>>print>>

Lately I am mostly reading, researching, and doing much letter writing related to exotic pet ownership+recovery+captivity or extinction. When I'm not trying to make photos sometimes I draw and watch sad animals in suits at zoos.

















Please describe your average workday.
My non-art jobs are always an issue... but if I didn't have to work all the time it would just be:
coffee over e-mails, second cup of coffee + first cigarette + lists, finish e-mails and start research of big cat facilities + news for the day + other creative prospects, phone calls, lunch, errands, darkroom cleaning (once a week), walk my dog, check e-mails again, sketch & plan, write letters and work on grants, more research, load film, dinner, make photographs, edit pictures and work on the NomadicLifestylez blog, meet up with friends at a house, restaurant, coffee shop, or bar, and then sleep.

















What are things that you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
It'd be cool to DP on a film.
Go on a safari.
Work with big cats and hear veterinarian jokes.

Chad Covino

Who are you?
Chad Covino from Vermont.
chadcovino.com







What do you do?
Freelance Illustrator using interesting and unusual techniques.





















Inspirations?
I get a lot of inspiration from stand-up comedy, traveling, Driving, Mowing the yard. Mowing the yard is like a task where my hands and body are doing something else and my mind can just wander. I also listen to music like Flight of the Conchords, James Kochalka and Tenacious D.





















Please describe your creative process, or highlight a specific process used for a recent project.
I have a really short attention span and the faster I can get my work done the better. My work is done in stages with wax and ink so there is a lot of drying time involved which gives me time to start another piece or run around.





















Please describe your average workday.
I’ll try and get up around 9AM, make a cup of Maté and head down to the studio. I find wearing shoes puts my mind into “Business Time.” I’ll check my e-mail, blog stats, reply to anyone who has e-mailed me and then doodle with a sharpie. The doodling helps get any nonsense and sarcasm out of my system and I can focus on getting an idea started.





















The Maté kicks in pretty quick and the wax is melted so I work like this till it’s time to eat. Then after food, work till I get aches in my shins then I know it’s time to call it a day which is around midnight…so I guess I would call it a night then.





















What are things that you would like to do in the future that you haven't done already?
I’ve always wanted to be a comedian, but always wanted to draw so I want to find a balance between the two that I can make a living off of and be able to produce quickly. I leave all my work in the future, but I’ll put it online when the time comes.