"They will never shoot you for what you leave out of a picture."

When Norman Rockwell took on the challenge of illustrating Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, he went to great lengths for authenticity, traveling to Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, to research characters, costumes and props.  

Here is his initial charcoal drawing for the scene of whitewashing the fence. Tom Sawyer has escaped his chore by convincing his friends that it's a special privilege to paint a fence. Twain lists the loot that they paid Tom, including: a kite, a dead rat, a cat with one eye, and a window sash. Tom sits on a barrel, chuckling into his hand at his pals, who work hard at the job he was supposed to do.


At some point Rockwell must have felt that his original conception was too literal, too much "on the nose." His finished composition removes Tom Sawyer entirely.

Rockwell once said that "every single object shown in a picture should have its place there because it contributes to the central theme of the picture. Otherwise it simply does not belong and should be discarded ruthlessly."

Or as his hero Howard Pyle once said, "They will never shoot you for what you leave out of a picture."