In case you wondered …

… How Norman Rockwell Used Photographs to Create His Famous Paintings: See Side-by-Side Comparisons | Open Culture. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

… if Rockwell’s admirers give him a pass on this sentimentality, his detractors often turn a blind eye to his obvious technical mastery. Say what you will about his themes, the man might as well have been a camera.  Indeed, his process began with an actual camera. According to that NPR piece, he “used photos, taken by a rotating cast of photographers, to make his illustrations — and all of his models were neighbors and friends,” residents of his small town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.