chuckle it's a family. period. happy parents, happy child. I dare to think what a pic would have stirred up if the kid was crying? ;-) To the pic itself, IMHO the background (the building?) is a bit plain, compared with the figures. Maybe add some rough stone or weathered metal texure to it? Or have them do their walk in a park....;-) The skin of the two figures on the left side is indeed a lil shiny, maybe toning the ambient and reflection color down there would help, too. Other than that: art's -always- in the eye of the beholder. and good art stirs reactions. So from this pov, you're dead on. Just keep going! ;-)

Now from an artistic viewpoint: Nice composition, posing, and facial expressions. The environment textures need work--the plain building and repeating ground pattern detract from the realism. Having some kind of reflection in the windows and metal behind them would help. The light on the figures seems to be pretty bright, so the darkness of the background doesn't make as much sense in broad daylight. The shadows that do appear on the figures seem a little too dark. Putting a filler light in there would help. I like the transmapping of the edge of the right guy's shorts. The cutoff on the shorts of the guy at left is a bit sharp, though. A little bit of postwork or transmapping could fix that by thickening or fraying the edges. Texturing and bump mapping the bottom of the kid's shoe would also help--it's pretty flat right now. There should be a tread and some dirt on the sole. And maybe give the two men different types of shoes. They're good shoes, but you seldom see two people together wearing the same style. ;-) The highlights in the boy's eyes are a bit stark. And as you mentioned, there don't seem to be any cast shadows. Aesthetically, it's a fairly pleasing image. If it weren't for the title and the nature of most of the posts here, I wouldn't have made any moral comment on it. But since so many people see it as an endorsement of homosexual-parent families, as I think the title was intended to imply, I felt I should comment on that too.

touching image... great job :)

wonderful picture - from the look on the little boys face right down to the matching sneakers. The only thing I could suggest is that I would love to see them in a more colorful setting. Maybe outside at a park or somthing to that effect. They looks relaxed together and having fun (shirtless even). Perfect for outdoor play. Other than that...fantastic and expressive work of art! Render on! - Jane