8 Great Movie Family Portraits

The Torrances

Artist Kirk Demarais: "This is the first film family portrait I created and it remains my favorite. I meant for it to be funny, but it turned out equally creepy.

"The first step in making these is finding reference material. This amounts to scouring the films for moments when the actors are smiling in the general direction of the camera. It's no easy task.

"In the case of The Shining I had to settle for a vacant stare from Danny. I guess you wouldn't smile much either if your dad was Jack Torrance."

The Lundegaards

"A lot of folks have wondered whether or not these portraits are intentionally 'bad' in a technical sense. Well, I've certainly never had to tone down the quality because one was turning out too good.

"The fact that each family member was lifted from an entirely different scene really adds to their wonkiness.

"I guess they're a mix of artistic choices and pure lack of skill."

The Freelings

"It was extremely difficult to find visual reference for this piece since the unfortunate family spends most of the film disheveled, terrified, and/or dripping with ectoplasm..."

The Griswolds

"This movie was John Hughes' first writing job. Looking at it now, I'm reminded of all the enjoyment that he brought to the world...

"Actor Jonah Hill demonstrated his impeccable taste by buying my original for this one."

The Johnsons

"Family plays a strong role in all of these films, but few domestic units were as close-knit as Navin R. Johnson's Mississippi clan.

"They wholeheartedly supported his personal quest to 'go out there and be somebody'...

"...and then they came to the rescue when he ended up in the gutter with nothing but his favorite thermos."

The Emersons

"I wanted to see what it might look like if mom had talked the boys into a photoshoot in an effort to redefine their post-divorce family unit.

"I could see Sam (Corey Haim) getting into it - he may have had some say in the cheesy curtain backdrop - while Michael (Jason Patric) would have struggled to tolerate such an outing.

"This is my least favourite portrait of the bunch. Such a great film deserves a better effort. I just have to remind myself that Lost Boys director Joel Schumacher also gave us Batman & Robin ."

The Mitchells

"I can barely believe it, but this one now belongs to Seth Gordon, the director of King Of Kong (gifted by producer Andrew Haas).

"A guy in the middle of nowhere draws a silly picture based on one of his favourite movies and the filmmaker ends up with it hanging in his house.

"God bless the internet."

The Plainviews

"Attempting to recreate a portrait that would have been nearly a century old was fun.

"I just wish I could have embedded speakers to the original, cranking the atmosphere by constantly playing Jonny Greenwood's score..."


For more of Kirk's words and work (we love his Spinal Tap 'Smell The Glove' album cover redesign) visit his blog here .