Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School

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Job: 11803 Title: #218076# Drawing Lessons From The Famous Artists School (Rockport)

DTP: GLP Page: 96

Drawing Lessons_094-125_11803.indd 96 16/2/17 3:50 PM

Text

CASTING AND POSING YOUR CHARACTERS

Norman Rockwell

Saying Grace, 1951

Cover illustration for

The Saturday Evening Post,

November 24, 1951

Oil on canvas

After composition, what determines the success or failure of an

illustration is the action and expressions of the characters. And why

not? The human figure is one of the most fascinating and rewarding

subjects any artist can tackle. Few things interest us more than the

men, women, and children we see around us. The liveliness and

energy in the vast majority of artworks by the founding artists are

directly related to their skill at making characters true and believable.

We, as viewers, can almost hear whispers, shouts, laughter, and

weeping because of the actions and expressions of the characters — 

no words are needed.

Artists cast their characters as carefully as any stage or movie

director, for an illustration must capture a moment in time. So,

very early on in the process of creating an illustration, artists take

time to consider the individuals who will bring their work to life.

With an eye on the visual narrative, Norman Rockwell went to

great lengths to populate his images with just the right models,

or types. Unlike other artists who engaged professional posers,

Rockwell hired his family, neighbors, friends, and fellow artists to

act out the characters in his paintings to great eect. Following a

series of thumbnail sketches in which his concept and composition

were sealed, he scouted models, costumes, props, and locations,

and captured the essence of character and expression in nuanced

black-and-white photographs — sometimes up to 100 for a Post

cover. “Directing models so you can get the right poses for your

pictures is an art in itself, and is somewhat akin to the motion picture

director’s job,” Rockwell wrote. “Before a model even attempts to pose

for me, I tell him the story I want my picture to tell because I want

him to understand what I am trying to do, what I am trying to convey.

Then, I get into the pose myself and show him how I think it should

be done.” The camera captured countless necessary details, from the

subtleties of facial expression and body language to the folds of a

model’s dress. This all but eliminated repeat modeling sessions

and high professional fees, an advantage in a deadline-driven field.

“Now anybody could pose for me,” Rockwell said. Photography’s

spatial ambiguity, oblique angles, extreme perspectives, and cropped

edges oered new ways of seeing, and choice photographic reference

could be retained and filed away for future consultation.

Rockwell’s Post covers generally derived from his imagination or

were inspired by scenes that he had witnessed and remembered, but

Saying Grace was one exception. In the fall of 1951, the artist received

a letter from a woman in Pennsylvania who described something that

she observed in a Philadelphia Automat restaurant. Seated at a table,

she observed a young woman with a little boy of about five. They

walked by her with food-laden trays, situating themselves at a table

where two men were already seated, “shoving in their lunch.” Despite

this, the young woman and boy folded their hands, bowed their heads,

and said grace.

As shown on the following spread, Rockwell used this description

as a jumping-o point.

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Job: 11803 Title: #218076# Drawing Lessons From The Famous Artists School (Rockport)

DTP: GLP Page: 96

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