Hi Subscriber,
Today we have an interview with Will Rochfort. Will combines a love of
cinema style with the teachings of classic art to create glamorous,
narrative artworks that are sure to stir memories up in each of us.
Enjoy,
BoldBrush Studio Team
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William Rochfort, The Popcorn Business, oil on canvas
William Rochfort, The Popcorn Business, oil on canvas
Will Rochfort's paintings combine the style of golden age cinema with
the narrative and detail of a Norman Rockwell painting, and he draws
inspiration from them both.
Like most artists, as a kid he was always making something - he loved
to build models, make comics, and, above all, draw people doing things.
He has always had a bent toward narrative work; he always enjoyed
looking at picture and comic books, so when it was time to go to
university he started thinking about illustration. While taking some
introductory classes at university, he just happened to stumble upon a
class about the illustrator Norman Rockwell - who, not being as
ubiquitous in the UK as he is in the US, Rochfort had never heard of
before. "I was fascinated. I remember one of the paintings they showed
in the presentation, the one of the pitcher winding up and the umpire
looking through his legs, and just being amazed by his storytelling and
sense of design. I instantly went off to research Rockwell and learn
everything I could about him. I studied his methods of painting, the
way he photographed his models, his materials - everything. He was a
brilliant craftsman; he was dedicated to getting the right reference
and he worked like crazy." Will ended up transferring to a fine art
major because he wanted to focus on painting - he recalls that the
students were pretty much left to their own devices there, there wasn't
a lot of instruction but there were no restrictions either. So Will
pursued his own interest in narrative painting and taught himself how
to work realistically. For his final project, he tried an oil painting
for the first time: "I worked on it for two months, it was a major
undertaking! It was a painting of a father and son called 'The Waiting
Room' and it was incredibly Rockwell, basically a ripoff," he said with
a laugh. "I studied all his methods of painting and composing and
telling a story and used them in this painting."
Although he was consciously imitating Rockwell's methods when he
started out, he quickly moved beyond them, and although his work still
shows Rockwell's influence in its ability to show a story at a glance,
he notes that he's no longer consciously imitating Rockwell. "I'm still
honing different aspects of visual storytelling - I'm most interested
in telling the first chapter. I want to start a story for the viewer,
make them wonder what happens next and invite them to fill in the
details with their imagination."
He looks at fine artists as well as illustrators: John Singer Sargent,
Edgar Degas, and Joaquin Sorolla are three he admires for their
brushwork, compositions, and ability to stage and frame a scene. But
equally as significant as the artists are the filmmakers.
"Films are my biggest inspiration, really," Will said. "I draw a lot of
both direct and indirect ideas from them. Sometimes it's the whole
'feel' of a film, sometimes it's a split second of a scene - there was
this very brief scene in Hidden Figures that inspired the painting
'Ticker Tape'. I also love the behind-the-scenes drama, especially the
way sets and cameras and lights looked during the golden age of film in
the 40s and 50s - the equipment is so cool and it just captures the
magic of movies. I'm always trying to tell a story, but to tell it in a
slightly heightened reality - this is something Rockwell did well, and
Spielberg and Tarantino are always doing this too - the action is
always staged, and they don't hide the fact that it's made up, they
give you a glimpse of the sleight-of-hand that makes it happen. Film is
a form of escape for me, and to some degree I want my paintings to do
the same thing for the viewer, let them get lost in the created world
of the painting for a moment."
William Rochfort,
William Rochfort, "Ticker Tape", oil on canvas
Film influences both the compositions and colors of his paintings, as
well as the flash-photography lighting that Will enjoys working with.
"Honestly, I like the dramatic colors and pushed contrasts of modern
films, as well as the bold colors of technicolor movies. Think about
Singing in the Rain - it's such an amazing film in every aspect, but
the colors are amazing and because it's a limited Technicolor palette
it just works so well." I play on that idea with my own painting, and I
work with a limited palette, and use colors straight out of the tube
whenever possible to give it that bold, primary palette look. As you
can tell, I love strong lighting and I can't emphasize how important it
is to get the right lighting when you're shooting photo reference. I
work with a phenomenal photographer, Adam Lynk, who helps set up the
camera and the lighting - which is a huge thing for me. It's so helpful
and takes so much of the stress out of it for me; I won't set up a
painting without him now! Once it's all set up, he steps back and I
take the photos I need."
Will puts a lot of work into getting great reference. Many of his
paintings are complex crowd scenes featuring vintage costumes and
props, which he often builds himself. "I generally build the props I
need - pay phones, old cameras, monster costumes - out of cardboard.
It's great fun, it takes me back to my childhood days building models.
If I have ten cameras in a scene, I'll build ten cameras." For the
'Ticker Tape' painting, though, he did call in a real horse and a real
car for the shoot. "The more information I have in my reference, the
easier it is to shoot and paint." The models are all his family and
friends, and Will, aware of their time, will carefully plan the
photoshoot ahead of time, preparing props, lighting, and the shots
he'll need so that once he calls in the people the shoot will be over
in an hour or two. His photographer Adam will take hundreds of shots
from various angles so that there is a wide variety of information to
select for the final painting. Will likes to get the models to try
different poses too, as it gives him options for the most expressive
pose. "I will tell them a bit of the story I'm going for, to help them
get into the character, but then I try to get out of their way and let
them do what comes naturally to them. I find it's only around the
hundredth photo, when people have relaxed and are falling into their
own characteristic gestures, that we get the really good shots."
William Rochfort, The Only Way is Up, oil on canvas
William Rochfort, The Only Way is Up, oil on canvas
Working with people in this way, he adds, opens the door for
serendipity. He has started a series of paintings featuring his
brother-in-law as a traveling salesman. "He's a great model and I
really love this character that we've come up with. Originally, in the
first painting, where he's standing alone in an elevator, he was just
one of a group of figures. But the painting didn't feel right - it
wasn't reading as a narrative - and I realized I wanted to focus on
just the salesman character so I scrapped the rest. And he's such a
great character, I've done several other paintings with him, at other
points in the salesman's story."
The planning stage for his paintings starts with loose sketches. Once
he has the concept down, he'll go right into prop-building and
photoshoots, and once the reference is in hand he'll start to build the
final piece. "I'm a fairly impatient person so I've taught myself to
work quickly. I don't like to work on a painting for more than a month
at a time, so I try to keep up the momentum and complete a piece before
I lose interest."
He balances his studio time between commissions and personal work,
which he sells in a gallery. "I like the variety that you find in
commissions - people think of things that I myself might not think of
doing, and they're great fun. One person commissioned a portrait on a
playing card - it was so different from what I normally do and I really
enjoyed it." But he tries to prioritize time for his personal work in
his schedule, to do what he loves best - large-scale narrative
paintings that draw people in with a storyline that intrigues them and
makes them want to take a second and third look. "I want to draw the
viewer in with the narrative, and then hopefully when they take a
second look they'll be able to appreciate the quality of the painting
as well." Our final question for Will: what are his favorite films from
his favorite directors - Tarantino, Spielberg, and Hitchcock? Without
hesitation, his top favorite film of all time is Jaws by Spielberg.
"It's pure storytelling. The shooting is incredibly economical, every
second counts and there's not a single ounce of fat on it. Even the
corny shark adds to the film." For Hitchcock, the choice is harder -
"Psycho is top for pure suspense. But To Catch a Thief is probably the
most influential of his films in my work - the technicolor, the stars,
the movie glamour in that film are a feeling I like to capture, and
I've done many paintings directly inspired by scenes from it." And from
Tarantino, it's Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. "I
watched Pulp Fiction way too much when I was younger, it's a great
film! And of course Once Upon a Time in Hollywood because it's about
the behind-the-scenes grit of the golden age in Hollywood. I know it
was criticized because nothing really happens, but I kind of loved
that, it's a slice of life, a snapshot of the place and time. And it
has gorgeous visuals and details."
That combination of big-picture glamour and attention to detail is a
highlight of Will's work as well. To see more of his work, you can go
to his website www.williamrochfort.com
or see his in-process paintings on
Instagram .
William Rochfort, The First Draft, oil on canvas
William Rochfort, The First Draft, oil on canvas
William Rochfort, Screen 1, oil on canvas
William Rochfort, Screen 1, oil on canvas
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