Original King of Photoshop

[d2creative]

I found this to be an interesting take on Norman Rockwell.

http://gizmodo.com/5389780

[mmuhlenkamp]

I'd say he's more of a great Art Director than a photoshop masta. I might have to buy that book now, looks pretty interesting.

[SaSha]

Thanks for the interesting info ;)

[kenw]

Having seen my dad do the same sort of setups for years, I always a special draw to NR's work; as I could easily imagine the process it took to create the final image.

The photography part was just a shortcut to avoid having to pay modeling fees for what could become day-long (or week-long!) live sessions. Combining various photos into the final product was part and parcel to the pre-p'shop artists' tool box. Photostats, airbrushes and a ton of frisket paper and rubber cement got the job done. Cut and paste was a reality.

And if you spent enough time around the dark room and rubber cement thinners you didn't really care how long it took......And since most of the guys in the office smoked big fat cigars constantly, I'm surprised the place didn't blow up.

I can still hear the Muzak in the background, altho dad usually had it disabled in his art room and an old tube RCA radio on the local classical station most times I remember.

Nice link, thanx for the memories. Dad has been gone for just over a year. It just doesn't go away....

[d2creative]

Cool memories, Ken. What exactly did your dad do/work for?

I used to do similar stuff with my art sometimes. One of the reasons I got into photography was plans to give me reference for painting. But I've gotten so into the photography part of it, I hardly pick up a paint brush anymore.

[Imagebuffet]

The author states that on the jacket (of the book?), the car was pointed in the other direction. What is he talking about? The car is pointed the same direction in both photos he showed, although it looks like NR used a British car, as the steering wheel is on the opposite side as an American car.

[dbphotos]

Very cool. Arrives from Amazon tomorrow.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

The author states that on the jacket (of the book?), the car was pointed in the other direction. What is he talking about? The car is pointed the same direction in both photos he showed, although it looks like NR used a British car, as the steering wheel is on the opposite side as an American car.

I was a bit confused on the car direction myself....

kenw added 3 Minutes and 20 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Originally Posted by d2creative

Cool memories, Ken. What exactly did your dad do/work for?

My dad was the Art Director for a small agency in downtown San Antonio. Curiously, the original building is now a radio station, in later years they were at the "new" SASA building on San Pedro at the Loop.

Almost all of their work was print, and they had the print accounts for most of the savings and loans across Texas, including SASA, 1st Federal, Lamar in Austin and a whole host of smaller S&Ls. After the S&Ls collapsed he went free-lance from the house, and was doing some small work until just a few years ago.

He did a lot of brochures/signage/etc for things like the Texas Open golf tourny and various commercial stuff for Reliable Battery as I remember.

[d2creative]

Oh ok cool!
I was getting into the design biz just as computers were becoming popular and things like rubylith, stats, type setters, and marker renderings were quickly on their way out. In some ways things today are much easier, yet in some ways the technology has made clients even bigger PITAs. The "i want it now" mentality and the fact that clients can no longer use their imagination and must see it in layout stage EXACTLY as it's going to look printed is just two problems your dad didn't have to deal with. Then again, i'm glad I'm not bent over a drafting table doing renderings or comps without an undo button.

[donlfaulkner]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

The author states that on the jacket (of the book?), the car was pointed in the other direction. What is he talking about? The car is pointed the same direction in both photos he showed, although it looks like NR used a British car, as the steering wheel is on the opposite side as an American car.

Looks like he did a flip of the negative to get the car pointed in the direction he wanted it to point.