Family Portraits in the WSJ style

I am occasionally commissioned to create family portraits in the stipple art style that I pioneered at the Wall Street Journal. Other times it is a little more complicated and that's when it really gets fun.I have an old friend who is what you’d call a real “Family Man”. Having done a portrait of him and his wife, I was now asked if I would draw his two, very striking, daughters. Of course, I agreed.Out of several photos he supplied, I chose two that I thought showed each figure in her best light. This is sometimes tricky, as one must consider things such as pose, expression, and lighting. In this case, the lighting was different in each case, but I decided that I could make the two photos “hang together” by the consistency of my technique. In other words, bringing the subjects into the same drawing would minimize the disagreement in lighting of the images.Here are the starting photos:When combining different photos of people, getting the size ratio right is a key consideration. I spend a lot of time working on sizing… one must find the perfect relationship in order to achieve a natural balance. After composing the two figures in Photoshop to my liking…I put in the work and completed the finished piece:My buddy reported that he presented the artwork to his wife on their Anniversary, and it was well-received, I’m relieved to say!Family portraits make for rewarding work.