Kevin Sprouls is the creator of the ''Wall Street Journal portrait'' style known as ''

hedcut Hedcut is a term referring to a style of drawing, associated with ''The Wall Street Journal'' half-column portrait illustrations. They use the stipple method of many small dots and the hatching method of small lines to create an image, and are ...

.'' He began as a freelance illustrator for

Dow Jones and Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Barron's'', '' MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'', ''Financial News'' and '' Private ...

, the parent company for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

.'' In 1979 he introduced a style of stipple portraiture that the ''Journal'' adopted because it was reminiscent of the sort of old engravings that are found on bank notes. Kevin became the first full-time artist at the ''Journal,'' eventually the Assistant Art Director and head of the illustration department. His ''Wall Street Journal'' stipple illustrations were awarded a gold medal at ''The Society of Illustrators'' competition in 1986. His style of portraiture, later coined ''hedcut,'' is the definitive corporate icon and is created completely by hand, not computer. Sprouls is once again a freelance artist but still works for ''Dow Jones'' on occasion, along with a host of other publishing clients. He has been featured on ''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

'', in the American ''National Portrait Gallery'' and in the '' Smithsonian'' magazine. His pen is housed in the ''

Newseum The Newseum was an American museum dedicated to news and journalism that promoted free expression and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, while tracing the evolution of communication. The purpose of the museum, funded by the ...

'' in

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External links

* Kevin Sprouls’
homepage

Kevin Sprouls
mdash;Blog site for Kevin Sprouls *
How a Photo Becomes a Wall Street Journal Hedcut
' at DowJones.com (PDF) *

' in the '' Smithsonian'' magazine
''Getting Inside Their Heds''
mdash;a chapter fro
''Picturing Business in America. Hedcuts in The Wall Street Journal''
an article on the National Portrait Gallery website {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprouls, Kevin American illustrators The Wall Street Journal people Living people Year of birth missing (living people)