Commissioned Portrait

This is the start of a challenging project for a neighbour who wanted himself and his two siblings portrayed and he wanted the painting to replicate the supplied photo faithfully. I found the composition somewhat awkward, and also that the photo is very small and grainy so trying to "flesh out" the details is taking quite an effort. I'm trying to retain the bit of a smirk that the kid on the left seems to have in the original shot, although I was given another shot of him to use for features. I've managed to draw some roughs to go by and also to brighten up the old photo in photoshop to establish a colour scheme and a workable composition. These are the first sketches in this WIP. I plan to do this one in pastels.