Combining Photos

There are times when someone comes to me with a commission looking to combine multiple photos into one drawing. It can be hard to find those perfect family photos where your kids are actually smiling, the dog is looking at the camera, and no ones eyes are closed. With a drawing, I can help you combine what and who you love all into one image!

Below is an example of combining multiple people, and pet into one drawing:

The family commissioning this drawing had a picture of their dog (Gus) and a picture of the two granddaughters (who couldn’t be any cuter if they tried), but not a picture where it was a good view of all three together.

first, i take the images into photoshop

I combine the image of Gus with the image of the girls using a clipping mask in Photoshop. Then, I changed the perspective of the Gus to make it look like he was sitting there right next to the girls. The work in photoshop is not perfect. There are some weird corners and different lighting / shadows, but it’s not important to make the photoshopped image perfect. The digital imperfections are all things I fix manually while I create the drawing.

then, i base the drawing off of the photoshopped image

As I draw the image from the new file I have created, I keep in mind the entire composition. I make sure the lighting on the girls matches the lighting on Gus by keeping the level of contrast the same.

as a result, you have a drawing that captures countless memories in one piece of work.

Memories of the girls in that pumpkin patch, memories of Gus, and all the memories of together as a family. Combining photos is more than just cropping pictures together. It is bringing together moments of time into one beautiful work of art.