Rockwell used photos, taken by a rotating cast of photographers, to make his illustrations... Rockwell never kept it a secret, but for some reason this little fact has been neglected in recent decades. Although he may not have clicked the shutter, Rockwell directed every facet of every composition.
A newly published book, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera (Little, Brown and Company, 2009), and an exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum provide further insight into this process and offer acknowledgement to the photographers involved in the process.
Those who feel the lack of freehand drawing somehow diminishes Rockwell's status as an artist should be reminded that painters as famous as Vermeer and Caravaggio are thought to have used the camera obscura to compose their works.
NPR link, via Photo District News, via (ovo). Photo credit Norman Rockwell Museum.
Banana.
Yes, this is a bit of a troll, but I stand by the question.
Hów he came to his endresult is irrelevant, because what counts for Rockwell is only the endresult in all its minute details and nuances.
I mean- You only have to look at the illustration here to see that- the things that make the painting a typical Rockwell-painting definitely cannot be found all in the photograph that was used as the basis for the endresult.
I use reference photos w/ my artwork all the time and when I first started going out with my husband, he always used to joke that I was cheating :P
ALL artists use references, whether if it's from a photo, a still life, or models. It's how we learn about shapes, lighting, contrasts, textures etc etc.
Long live Sigatoka!
...So let us please stick to the produce of mr. Norman Rockwell...
The person who commented on Rockwell's "tracing techniques" was Clemens Kalischer, an artist-photographer who reportedly "assisted Rockwell through the years."