The Norman Rockwell Museum shows us an overwhelming amount of behind-the-scenes techniques used in his illustrations. One of my favorite memories while visiting the museum was noticing (with Theresa) that Rockwell must have projected his reference photos onto the canvas. His charcoal studies are very large, and detailed, and matched the final painting too closely for him to be doing this via measuring and free-hand techniques. Not that a master of Rockwell's caliber couldn't match his paintings to his drawings stroke for stroke, but it would take way too much time for unnecessary accuracies. Rockwell was on a deadline so getting a beautiful image quickly was his only concern. It was refreshing to see someone I look up to was human and used modern resources available at the time. 

Rockwell's book "How I Make a Picture" confirmed what I saw at the museum as he writes about using a balopticon. It was such a great moment, I felt like a detective when my hypothesis was confirmed. If you would like to learn more about Rockwell's work process this book is wonderful. We only wish other Master painters could have done the same.

For the painters who didn't share their processes in a book we still have the museums. The Haggin Museum in Stockton CA, has the largest collection of JC Leyendeker paintings in the world and again, seeing these illustrations in person reveals so much about his process that no book or image from the internet could show us. We know Leyendecker would paint thumbnail studies before working on his final project. We also know he used a grid system to help get his paintings to scale from his smaller thumbnails, This is very efficient and used to this day.

What his books don't show us is how much paint he used, and how could they? The amount of paint used can't be explained because words like thin, a lot, and generous are all relative. If I suggest to three different students they need to paint "thick" we are probably going to see three different results. In the classroom, we show, through demos, how much paint to use. Just like we are shown how much paint Leyendecker used while looking at his paintings in person at the museum. Leyendecker paints large, so we can clearly see his brushstroke direction, grey gesso, and yes, sometimes the grid is visible in his final paintings. 

I could go on and on about each of my favorite painters and what I've seen in life compared to books, including Bouguereau's thin to thick layers, Sagent's green skin tones, and more but technique breakdowns will be another subject. I hope you get a chance to see your favorite painter's work in person, as a professional or student, it's quite literally, eye-opening and life-changing. An experience no book will ever recreate.