I like your version better. The blue/red gives it more character, and the black draws more attention to the boot straps.
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My mother-in-law has a painting in her kitchen that was copied from several different photographs, some of which were terrible school photos or psuedo-glamour shots. Everyone is either looking at the camera or staring off into space in different directions. Itās exactly like several paintings of photos on one canvas, not a portrait of a family ā just hanging the individual photos would have been better. And your approach would have been much better 
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Oh, no!
Someone wanted me to do something like this once. They didnāt spring for a photographer when they married, so she wanted me to stitch together the good elements of different photos taken from different distances and vantage points. That plane never left the runway.
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Alternatively, I can just create something:
(@knoxblox I know youāve seen this already, but others here should have a chance to appreciate it.)
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Yikes, yes.
Itās a very funny 'shoop, but I hope if someone is trying to malign the photographer, they find out soon enough before the news cycle drops the story. If sheās innocent, what a horrible thing to have to deal with regarding oneās professional reputation.
Related noteā¦Iām quite often late with my work, so I hate to promise deadlines, but Iād prefer to admit I canāt paint something than turn out something that bad after a long period of stalling.
Iām under the impression that Sargent would abandon portraits if he didnāt feel comfortable with them, instead of plodding on.
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DOUBLE DOWN! NO RETREAT! Lol.
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Thatās a level of incompetence thatās hard to believe, but, unfortunately, I do believe it.
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Just going to point there is no photos to compare to. So maybe the family were caught in an explosion in a botox factory.
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Ironically, 6 years ago I started a series of portraits using my usual tools of GIMP and Apophysis, with photos provided by the subjects (whom I already knew, mercifully) instead of sittings. An example:
If I recall correctly, the picture provided to me was something on the lines of 360 x 180, so, yeah, lots of manual retouch (with a mouse, no less! 
), otherwise this would have been a portrait from Minecraft once I blew it up to working size. In fact, so much manual retouch that I was glad I have a background in painting.
I donāt think the photographer in @teknocholerās post knew what she was getting into, and Iām guessing that she made the boneheaded mistake of saving over top of the original filesā¦
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No no no. Charge them 6 x the copy price for the custom work. Then you will get clients who appreciate you.
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I am an absolutely crap painter - a talent free zone that cannot even paint a door.
When I went to secondary school here our first assignment was to paint a group of people. My effort was dire. The art teacher gave me top mark and failed everybody else.
Because my people were facing one another and theirs were all looking out of the picture, and he had said a group of people.
I learnt that lesson but never came anywhere other than bottom in art again.
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I donāt know if you have ever seen Lord Snowdonās portrait of John Betjeman? I canāt find a decent thumbnail even online.
Betjeman was a terrible sitter and Snowdon knew this. So he put him in a chair and started talking to him while fiddling around with a Hasselblad, making a big thing of taking it off the tripod and putting it back and so on. After about twenty minutes he said to Betjeman, OK, thanks, you can go home now.
Betjeman asked him when he was going to take the picture. āI did,ā said Snowdon. [source - personal communication, not by Snowdon though.]
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He had all the tricks of the trade, eh? Wouldnāt have needed them with the sister-in-law, though - she is, I gather, pretty much a professional sitter. [source: personal communication. The daughter of an old friend did HRMās portrait a few years ago.]
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That story reminds me of the famous Churchill portrait by Karsh.
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I know I should, but I think if I can get a few people to put all their trust in me for a short time, I can change course away from simple copies and have proof in my portfolio that I can be as good as I believe I am.
That said, I think anyone in the San Diego area should jump at this if theyāve ever wanted a portrait.
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There were/are plenty of poor quality draftsmen out there who were/are great artists! Sometimes I can do a nice flourish in a painting. However, I think - if I can just find some visceral truth and express it concretelyā¦this is just soā¦that it stands alone, then I am completely happy.
Hereās Walt Kuhnās Clown with Drum (if I recall the title correctly) to show you what I mean. Kuhn did not express a refined technique, but his work is still powerful.
Full disclosure: Forget the Mona Lisa. If I was a black market art dealer, this is the painting I would keep for myself.
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You can do that without lowering your prices. You want something for your portfolio? Thatās what family is for. You donāt make any money, but neither do you cede ownership, so the work remains in your portfolio to trot out at need, and it should be your best work: you know the subject(s).
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Your suggestion is duly noted, but my family is spread out all over the U.S. and a career in art is a sore subject between us.
Iām generally happy with my choice, but some family members think the trade-off is not worth it.
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Make portraits of the worst offenders, and send them as gifts next Christmas. I suspect the offenders wonāt refuse - your skills are easily good enough. You might not be able to work from sittings you control, but you do know the personalities involved.
For what itās worth, I think that you are doing the right thing. One of my biggest regrets is that I did listen to my family - I should have done my starving artist years when I was young. Nothing is entirely lost, I suppose. I think I am maturing very nicely as a composerā¦ in my 60s.
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