A friend commissioned me to draw a portrait of his sons and their sweet (recently departed) family dog, which the boys, and his wife, loved very much. He sent me some very good, clear photos of them all – they live on the other side of the country from me, so live drawing was not possible. I started with a pencil drawing.
I scanned that and roughly colored it in with colored pencils.
After the client approved this I drew the image on illustration board in prisma pencil and painted it in with acrylic washes. There was a lot of play between the warm and cool colors in the scene, which helped define the shapes. I also feel that the fact that the boys were not aimed full-face at the camera helped me get their facial features well – profile or 3/4 view of a face is easier to define and draw that full-front portraits because you naturally get some 3-D effect from the head being turned.
AchillesPortfolio 
What a creative, lovely remembrance, Pat!
Thank you, Nancy. It was actually commissioned by RyanM, if you remember him from a past forum.
It will be a true treasure for that family. I liked the relaxed, casual look let with plenty of love as a whole family.
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.
Laura, thanks so much for your kind words – I did hear from the family and they love the portrait, so that’s very gratifying to me. A very Merry Christmas to you too and all Good Health in the new Year!