Thursday, April 2, 2009

My Drawing: Death of a Salesman


This is a poster I did for the play: Death of a Salesman.
When I started to think about the drawing. I tried my best to find a way to express the plot and theme of the play.
In the play, Willy, who is the salesman, is the main character. That's why I chose him as the main figure in my drawing. The play also shows the complicated relationship between Willy and his family memebers.
Willy suffers from depression and anxiety as a result of his dissipating career, his estranged relationship with his oldest son, Biff.
In this drawing, Willy's family member's figures were simplified as a hand by myself. Biff's hand is the one on the right side. Unlike other hands, his hand is far away from Willy. Because in the play, Biff resents his father bitterly after discovering his father' affair. The black background not only makes the main figure pop up, but also make a contradiction with Biff's hand which is purly white, showing his cold relationship with his father. The huge black space between his dad and him also somewhat shows the gap.
The hand on Willy's shoulder belongs to Happy, Willy's second son. Compared with Biff who could not hold a steady life over 15 years, Happy works as an assistant and always exaggerates his position in order to impress his dad. That's why I let Happy wear a watch showing that he has salary and his willing to impress his father.
The hand which tenderly touch Willy's right arm is Linda's hand. Linda is the only one in the family who protect Willy and take care of him a lot. The place where her hand touch is more like the place where a wife touches her husband.
In the right corner, their is a vague street scene. In the play, Willy suicides himself by crashing his car on purpose. I put a car in the street and make the road looks wet in order to express a sense of misery and sadness. You can see the reflection of the car and the passengers.
Considering the principles of design. Alll the hands potentially form a circle and the directions of the hands suggest a sort of movement and the opposite direction of Biff's hand adds disturbulence to the drawing and inharmony of the family.

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