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NORMAN ADAMS

The most successful, wealthy and famous Illustrators
considered Robert Fawcett to be the “Illustrator's Illustrator.”
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If Robert Fawcett was the Illustrator's Illustrator
then Norman Adams was commercial art's Babe Ruth.
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Norman Adams became commercial art's Babe Ruth because he
defied “Nonart's Rule” that separated the business of Illustration from the realm of “Art.”
He did this by painting illustrations that looked far better than they would appear in print.

To ordinary illustrators Norman Adams was some sort of freak who put needless detail
into his illustrations, detail that would be lost when its image was printed.

What Norman Adams knew, and the professionals of commercial art,
like Charles E Cooper and Robert Fawcett, took for granted:

the extra detail Norman Adams put into his originals might be lost when in print
but it would easily get him all sorts of jobs
that the other illustrators would have to work hard to get.

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Robert Fawcett had heard about Charles E Cooper hiring a rookie
who was scoring all sorts of home-runs with his illustrations.
To Robert Fawcett Norman Adams had to be something special because
Cooper had hired him eagerly
when there were literally thousands of perfectly good artists and illustrators
who were dying to get an interview let alone a job
with the “preeminent” Charles E Cooper Inc.

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As a rule Robert Fawcett did not have to see the originals of Illustrators to judge them. This was
because he took “Nonart's Rule” for granted:
“In commercial art the published images always looked better than their originals.”
But with Norman Adams he had to see the originals
to understand why Cooper had hired him so eagerly.
Robert Fawcett went to an exhibition put on by the Society of Illustrators
specifically to see the works of Norman Adams.
Fawcett was so impressed if not “stunned” with Norman Adams' paintings that he had to go
and personally introduce himself to this rookie, Cooper's pride, Norman Adams.
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The untrained eye might need a magnifying glass to observe in Norman Adam's originals
what sometimes “stunned” the trained eyes of the professionals of commercial art,
like Charles E Cooper and Robert Fawcett
and later Bill Erlacher
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It was Norman Adams' ability to exploit Magic Realism and trompe l'oeil techniques
to make his paintings look good
– with detail that obviously went way beyond the realm of photography –
that got him jobs easily in commercial art ...
often lucrative jobs that most other established Illustrators
would have to work hard to get.

The Nonart's Rule that Illustrators followed to make a living
actually created the much misunderstood word: “Nonart.”

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Ever since the dawn of printing Illustrators have followed Nonart's Rule:
the larger the original illustration
the better it looks reduced in size for publication, print.

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Illustrators, as a rule, never painted illustrations to be hung on a wall.
They painted images that would look good when reproduced in print.
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Nonart's Rule: when an original image/painting has to be manipulated
electronically or photographically to look good
then it, the manipulated image, is the “Art” that looks good
and the original it makes looks bad is its “Nonart.”
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