Rockwell on Rockwell: How I Make A Picture

I want to tell you all about a book that I love. It's by one of my long time heros Norman Rockwell. Now you might after seeing my weird pictures think, why would I like Rockwell's stuff with all its homespun Americana and old fashioned subject matter?
Well Rockwell really could tell a story and he could really paint well. I mean really well!
I love his pictures and I really have learned so much from his book which I have owned since I've been in High School.

I use his method for creating a story telling picture with some changes here and there in technique and subject matter obviously since I am a completley diffrent artist.

The first thing he says in thebeginning on page 17 is ; "After you have learned how I make pictures, I hope that you will not try to make Rockwell pictures too. That would be a mistake. Each artist must find a method of working which best expresses his own individuality."

Heres the key steps that Rockwell used to creat a storytelling picture:

Step 1 - Getting the idea

Step 2 - getting the models     Step 3- getting the props

 Step 4 - getting the pose    Step 5 - making the preliminary sketch

Step 6 - making the color sketch

Step 7. The finished painting

Heres some links to this book and some others on the same subject of creating storytelling pictures that I find equally interesting and usefull.

 Rockwell on Rockwell: How I Make A Picture

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera

Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist

Forty illustrators and how they work