Thursday, June 9, 2011

Kazu Sano: 1952-2011

Illustrator Kazu Sano has passed away, and Greg Newbold has posted a lovely tribute. 
and there's another portfolio at Robert Hunt's Drawger page.

9 comments:

  1. I never knew him or even OF him until now, despite the iconic Star Wars poster. May he Rest In Peace.

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  2. Ohhhh this was one of my favorite SW posters =(. I'm ashamed I never did much research behind the artist ( I got swept up in an exclusively Drew Struzan fascination). I once did a poster-sized, full-color illustration for an English class in high-school based on this poster, but replaced the characters with those from Romeo and Juliet. All the night before-hand. My teacher never believed that bit.

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  3. Oh shit. Kazuhiko was a huge inspiration for me after graduating from Illustration & Design.

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  4. Hunt's tribute is moving as well. Quite a talent!

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  5. I was lucky enough to have had him as a teacher at the Academy in the late 1980s for Acrylic Figure Painting when I was studying illustration there. He and his work were always an inspiration to me. So many great paintings that will now be left unpainted.

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  7. When I worked at the ranch at LucasFilm I actually had the original of that poster hanging in my office along with some Joe Johnston marker sketches. Great artist and a very humble guy. Very sad that he is gone.

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  8. Kazu Sano was one of my teachers at the Academy of Art in SF during my last semester before graduating. In the short time I studied under him, and while he was dealing with his health, his passion and kindness never waned. Kazu will be missed. Thank you!

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  9. Thanks for posting this, James. Kazu was a great artist and person, he is going to be missed by many, many people. It's funny in a way to see him remembered so much for the ROTJ poster, almost 30 years old...he did a lot of great work over the years.

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