I am “Norman the Doorman”
A lifetime's worth of influence from one of my favourite picture books
I crossed the halfway mark this past weekend in creating the final art for the picture book I’m currently illustrating, “The Perfect Ride” by Anne Carter. It’s been challenging charting a schedule for the work as some page spreads have taken only a week to complete, while others have taken as long as a month. Regardless, I am motoring along to my November deadline as quickly as I’m able, as I want to leave ample time for the inevitable ‘spit and polish’ phase right at the end.
To mark the halfway milestone, I thought it would be fun to share a favourite picture book from my childhood, “Norman the Doorman,” written and illustrated by Don Freeman.
This is the story of the gifted mouse doorman, Norman, who lives in the basement of the Majestic Museum of Art. In his spare moments, Norman is an artist himself, creating true works of art from the most unusual materials. But even Norman is surprised when one of his tiny mobiles causes an uproar at the Museum’s sculpture contest…
(book description by Puffin Books)
I have no recollection of where I got this book as a child—perhaps from my parents or friends of the family. I only remember that it’s a picture book that I came back to over and over again.
Norman was the doorman of the mouse entrance to the art museum, but this wasn’t just a job to him. He did it because he loved art. He loved it so much that he wanted to share his love with others by giving tours to other mice of the art stored in the museum’s basement.
He also loved making art himself. He exercised his creativity every evening after work, making everything from paintings to sculptures in his home/studio inside a knight’s helm.
In short, Norman was an artist with a day job. When confronted about his art in the climax of the story, Norman proclaims that his work is “just a hobby,” which is fascinating to reflect on now as an adult and creativity coach. There are certainly aspects of my life and career that have mirrored Norman’s in that I spent so many years working a day job as a graphic artist and web developer while continuing to hone my abilities as a fine artist in the background.
And the similarities don’t end there…
It all began with a mouse
From 1999 to 2013, I built and ran the website “Keyframe: the Animation Resource” as a way to practice my website coding skills while getting to deep dive into my love for animation of all kinds. I populated the site with original mouse characters as an homage to Walt Disney’s famous quote, "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse."
It wasn’t until very recently that I realized my take on the mouse character design appears to have been unconsciously influenced by Norman himself. Certainly, there are anatomical differences and in the softness with which Freeman wields his pastels versus my more clean edge, graphic style. Still, in looking at the Norman’s head shape, the spindly fingers and toes, and the extreme way Freeman squashes and stretches the bodies of the characters, I can see how the picture book left a strong impression upon me for the mice of Keyframe and all the other mouse character designs I’ve created since.
“Norman the Doorman” was first published in 1959, and remarkably, it’s still in print today. I hope its timeless message and beautiful illustrations continue to inspire many generations of future artists, hobbyists and professionals alike.