Since the moment it debuted on television, AMC’s Mad Men has enthralled viewers with its stellar story, performances and, of course, its visuals. Grounded in America’s past, it brought to the forefront a sense of style that many viewers had either forgotten about or never even seen before. With the show’s finale bringing its saga to a close last night we, with help from our friends at DeviantArt, thought it’d be nice to pay tribute to the show with a gallery of art inspired by Don Draper and the stories of his life and people around him.
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Don Draper by thegryluss
Mad Men isn’t the story of just one person. If there’s one man standing at the center of it all however, it’s unquestionably Don Draper. Iconic pretty much from the word go, Don starts off seeming like pretty much the slickest guy that ever lived. As the show progresses however and the layers of his personality are peeled back, it quickly becomes obvious that he’s man whose experiences have left him more broken than suave.
Don Draper by Cesar Moreno
Which isn’t to say, of course, that Don Draper still isn’t slick incarnate. Let’s just say that there’s a reason so many people are drawn to him. He might be an intensely flawed individual but he’s still a handsome guy who oozes charisma. Granted, he’s used those assets to con his way into a good life built on lies, but hey, nobody’s perfect.
Joan Holloway by Chris Mickens
Despite already having a considerable career prior to this show, Christina Hendricks was launched into the limelight by her role as secretary-turned-executive Joan Holloway/Harris. While many tend to concentrate on the fact that Hendricks is absolutely gorgeous on the show, the true meat of her performance comes from the frustration of her character as she struggles to find a meaningful place in a business world dominated by men whose interests in her tend to settle on just one thing.
Lady in Red by Dan Panosian
One of Joan’s most famous looks in the early part of the series is a skin-tight red dress that routinely turned heads as she walked through the offices of Sterling Cooper. This illustration does a good job of putting across exactly why.
Pete Campbell by Isabella Morawetz
Standing in that crowd of smutty, slimy jerks is account man Pete Campbell. A career ladder climber with seemingly no qualms about cheating on his wife, Pete spends the vast majority of the show pursuing and pining after “something better.” Though he does have good qualities, they’re frequently smothered by his endless desire for his next new woman/job/etc.
Peggy Olson by Tony Shasteen
One of the earliest objects of Mr. Campbell’s “affections” was Peggy Olson. Starting off as Don Draper’s secretary, Peggy was, initially, shy and naïve. Her experiences with the advertising business however, quickly unleashed an ambition that would help her rise to a position as a copywriter. Doing this, of course, meant overcoming the severe gender imbalances of the 1960; restrictions she was still struggling against right up to the end of the show itself.
Betty Draper by Isabella Morawetz
While the two wound up taking wildly different paths, the challenges of Peggy Olson and Betty Draper were cut pretty much from the same cloth. Beginning the show as Don Draper’s spouse and the mother of his children, Betty spent most of the series struggling with the well-defined gender roles of Mad Men‘s time period. Whereas characters like Peggy and Joan would work to overcome the accepted norms of society however, Betty’s tribulations arguably came from her decision to embrace them. She was a dedicated wife and mother, but never really seemed all that happy about it.
Betty by Dan LuVisi
This image is, in many ways, a perfect representation of Betty (and January Jones) as she’s portrayed in Mad Men. She’s classic and lovely; a woman that might many look and see a shade of perfection. That perfection is tinged however, by this innate sense of loneliness and melancholy that permeates everything she does.
Megan Draper by Sam Mc
Don’s second spouse, Megan, faced an entirely different set of problems than his first. While initially happy in her marriage with Don, she soon found herself dissatisfied with her professional life. With Don’s help she opted to leave behind the advertising world to make a go at acting. This decision however, left Don feeling disappointed, feelings which quickly led him to step back into his role as a serial adulterer. With her career and her marriage both quickly fizzling out, Megan was understandably less than content when the show neared its close.
Don Draper: Mad Men by Jack C. Gregory
If there’s one solid take away from both Betty and Megan however, it’s that you’re probably want to avoid marrying Don Draper. The guy might be the definition of smooth, but if his matrimonial record is any indicator, he’s much better at looking cool smoking a cigarette than he is at treating his wives with consideration and respect.
Bert Cooper by Cory T. Smith
The eccentric co-owner of Sterling Cooper, Robert Morse’s Bert Cooper was probably one of Mad Mens less depressing characters. Sagely while still possessing a prominent inner-child, Cooper was the sort of character you could count on to deliver deep, meaningful advice when needed and then just be amusing the rest of the time. He wasn’t always the most prominent character on the show, but he was still one of the most memorable.
Roger Sterling by Jake W. Bullock
Burt Cooper’s younger partner Roger Sterling meanwhile, could be viewed in many ways as an ever-evolving preview of the life of Don Draper. A charismatic womanizer who would marry a secretary half his age, the biggest difference between the two was that Roger’s flaws stemmed from being a spoiled, rich businessman whereas Don’s derived more from him having a horrible childhood that left him with some deep personal shortcomings.
Mad Men Blues by Dan Panosian
As rife with personal sadness as Mad Men could be, some might understandably wonder what the show’s appeal is. As depressing at it was in some moments, it had an uncanny ability to take its cast of walking self-destruction engines, throw them into a board room and make magic happen. Whether they were pitching ad campaigns, organizing secret office exoduses or having bare-knuckle boxing matches, Mad Men was a show that could take the seemingly mundane and make it exciting.
Mad Men by Eric Koda
Put more shortly, it was just a good show made by people who clearly cared about putting out a quality product even when it might not have necessarily been worth it in terms of ratings. It might not have been a series for everyone, but it was a show that will likely live large in the memories of TV watchers for years to come.
Mad X Men by Ray Ocampo
Although it might have been even more memorable if the cast had, at some point, manifested superpowers. We’re just saying.
Published: May 18, 2015 08:00 pm