American illustration

How did artists like Norman Rockwell, Austin Briggs, Jon Whitcomb, and others create the believable unique faces that can tell a whole story by themselves? In a magazine cover, like those by Rockwell and Stevan Dohanos, the image, with its setting and, most of all, its characters, must convey an anecdote without any help from words. So each face must be carefully crafted to do its part in creating the drama⸺or comedy.

Explore Jon Williamson's 17588 photos on Flickr!

Cosmopolitan (1964), Bob Peak

Edward Hopper, illustration, art, The Unknown Hopper, Norman Rockwell Museum

USA, Illustrator

copyright- estate of Norman Rockwell

CHARLIE DYE (American, 1906-1972) The Big Game, American Weekly cover Oil on board 20 x 18 in. Signed lower right - Available at 2010 August Signature...

JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER1874 - 1951STUDY FOR 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS'oil on canvas23 by 20 in

Medieval Merry Christmas by American illustrator J.C. Leyendecker | The Saturday Evening Post, December 25, 1926. From the turn of the last century up through the mid-1930s, the American public came to anticipate Leyendecker’s New Year's, Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday covers for the Saturday Evening Post.

"In the beginning, during my first period in New York, I realized I was on the wrong track when I tried to shape my style to commercial demands. I studied the works of illustrators who had done this; they were very successful for a year or two and then dropped from the scene." "It was apparent to me that an artist should not spend years developing a style which, in terms of demand, would quickly pass. In other words, he should not be an artist 'from the wrist down'." "Also, he isn't wise to…