Through my graphic design internship at the University of West Florida (UWF), I had the opportunity to design the promotional content for the Department of Theatre's 2018 production of The Skin of Our Teeth. The Director of UWF's Center for Fine and Performing Arts (CFPA) acted as my supervisor but ultimately gave me free reign as to how the poster would ultimately look.
Concept Phase
I played with a several rough design options including: one inspired by a Bauhaus poster, a door with characters trying to get in, a book being washed away by a flood, one inspired by a cave painting, the play's actual script, characters popping out of the play's script and, finally and most importantly, a book house.
Line Work
Given the overarching importance of knowledge in the play, the book house was ultimately chosen. I did a rough digital illustration which I expanded through traditional illustration. I tweaked it some more till I was finally happy with the basic line work.
Coloring
The director wanted a plastic, artificial look akin to the Duracell Plastic Family, The Puttermans. To achieve this look, I printed off the line drawing and colored it with colored pencils for texturing. After tweaking the colors slightly, I added a plastic wrap filtered version which I masked and fused with the colored pencil layers.
In the end I printed and trimmed a total of 180 regular 11x17'' posters and 10 large 24x36'' posters for display boards
Characters
In order to remain faithful to its insane nature, I tried to cram as many visual references from the play as I possibly could from
Henry Antrobus: aka "Cain" who threatens people with his slingshot and is dressed like a caveman in the 1st act
Woolly Mammoth: the Antrobus family's pet mammoth in the Act 1, a major visual for the play
Dinosaur: the Antrobus family's pet dinosaur
Moses the Judge: writer of the 10 Commandments and refugee from the impending ice age in Act 1
The ice age is represented by the cloud on the poster's left side with snow and then rain to represent Act 2's flood)
The Reporters: newscasters who interview the Antrobus family in Act 2, modeled after Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn from The Philadelphia Story (1940)
George Antrobus: inventor of the alphabet and the wheel (seen on the bottom of the poster) in Act 1, and president of the Fraternal Order of Mammals in Act 2, modeled after Donald Trump at the request of the director
Sabina: Antrobus family's maid
The Director: not a specific character, possesses a script of the play on the poster of the play to represent how at various times the 4th wall is broken, modeled after the Director of UWF's Center for Fine and Performing Arts
The Fortune Teller: who warned of the impending flood from Act 2
Maggie Antrobus: mother of the family and first lady of the Fraternal Order of Mammals in Act 2, modeled after Hilary Clinton at the request of the director
The Stagehand: represents how the stage crew become characters themselves in the play
the theatrical elements within the play is also represented by the stage rigging on the left of the poster
The Soldier: represents the catastrophic war of Act 3, also represented by the chimney's mushroom cloud
Thornton Wilder: original writer of the play mopping the sidewalk to represent the outrageous nature of this play, inspired by the man sweeping up after the parade in the credits of Peabody's Improbable History from The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
Gladys Antrobus: who wishes to grow up till she has a baby in Act 3
Playbill
My poster design was adapted for the program of which 600 were printed.
Stemless Wine Glasses
At the concession stand during the two intermissions of every performance they sold limited edition stemless wine glasses with the book and mammoth line work.
Alternate Limited Run Poster
In honor of the production's final week I made a bonus, limited run poster. It depicted the mammoth crashing through the UWF Center for Fine & Performing Arts building 82's ticket booth. A total of 20 posters were produced and hung around building 82.
