Part of my job at the Wall Street Journal is training new illustrators in the hedcut technique. It has been developed at the paper and kept alive by only a handful of us who had a privilege of learning the tricks of the trade. Mastering the hedcut technique is just one aspect of this illustration style. Capturing the likeness of the subject is ultimately more important, which is best shown with celebrity portraits.
Most of my portraits are done as spot illustration accompanying newspaper articles or as requested by my clients for various projects. I usually don't pick my subjects and I'm given clear rights or permission for use of reference photographs I base my portraits on.