Sketches and Studies by Craig Houghton - [11/16]

[Craig Houghton]

With this thread I'm going for quality through quantity. Instead of just posting here and there, I'm going to fill this thread with my daily work. For a selection of finished works, look here. In this thread you won't find the finished stuff, you'll see the raw material and the grunt-work that goes into the finished pieces.

I've never been much of a sketcher. I've always just approached each piece with a finished product in mind, assembled a host of reference materials, and dived-in, hacking away at it until I put on paper or canvas what I saw previously only with my mind's eye. That's not to say I haven't done hundreds of studies and sketches. I have, but usually they were either material or technique practice runs or an intentionally inconsequential work for the sake of practice.

The exception to this has always been plein air on location painting and from-life studies. I suppose they've been my equivalent of sketching, but nonetheless, my work is screaming for the imaginative confidence that seems to come from a lifetime of sketchbooks and studies. It's rare that I go it no ref (i.e. not from life, model, or photo), but I plan on quite often doing exactly that in this thread.

Thanks for taking a look. Feel free to comment and critique. As the thread grows, I'm going to especially be looking for comments that can recognize overall mistakes in approach or technical ability that I make time and time again.

Thanks for looking. This should be quite a ride. For better or worse, I'll be posting almost daily. I'm not starting this thread off with a selection of older drawings. Instead, I'll begin by posting todays (only) sletchwork as a new dated post.

-Craig

WARNING THIS THREAD DOES CONTAIN NUDES (lots of em' too)

[Craig Houghton]

Here's today's sketches. I'd hoped to get to some anatomy studies, but I spend way too much time writing out the plot line for my NaNoWriMo novel.





this next guy is just something i was throwing around from the NaNoWriMo project


c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[GriNGo]

nice stuff Mr.Craigh! maybe you should make more human anatomical studies? Check out Leonardos Da Vincis stuff and analyize why he kicks so much ass? But by your website it might seem that you dont need no help at all, that you are on the right track

cant decide!

well greetings!
GriNGoLoCo

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks GriNGoLoCo. I've dusted off my big book of da Vinci that I've had laying around, and re-reminded myself exactly how good his stuff really is. Sometime over the week I'll be doing some anatomy studies, probably a few from his works. Thanks for the comments.

Ok, I've only one thing to add to the sketchbook today, but hey, it's an entry.



and, for the interested











c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[rodrigo!]

loolking good craig thanks a lot for the comment

i especially like the guy playing cards

keep posting and sharing

[Craig Houghton]

Many thanks Rodrigo.

Here's some things from today:



this thing is SpaceShipOne




c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Today's sketches:



Then, I decided to put what I learned to use on an actual skinned human. I decided that a ridiculously muscled individual would be a great place to start. Exaggeration did indeed make it easier to get all the muscle masses in there. I'll also be working to get a better understanding of how the superficials show up on a normal build, but for now..



c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[Dished]

Hey Man, good stuff!!
Im really liking these anatomy studies. Theyre awesome! Keep it up!
]http://img115.exs.cx/img115/1756/sb_tomato.jpg THAT IS TOOO CUTE!heheh.

http://img126.exs.cx/img126/7419/jcmtg.jpg
This is one of my faves. Really neat drawing right there. I like how you did the pose to make the person really seem like he's thinking. The pose is pretty neat too!
Keep it up!

Dished

[Burning Eyes]

Nice studies, keep it up and keep posting... that one with the cards is greeeeat!

[Craig Houghton]

Today was a really busy day, but I did find some time to do an ink sketch with some watercolor washes. It's a bit boring, but it's good practice. I just wish that middle ground wasn't so empty, but hey, it's just a sketch.



c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[Johann de Venecia]

Love that!

Exquisite stuff you got here, Craig. I love your take on Bouguereau's painting as well as several of your life sketches. Very detailed work, quite far from your DSG postings although those are good too.

Keep up the great work. I'll see you int he DSG. Goodluck with your IDM too.

[bizarre]

damn. high-quality stuff, man.

good to see. good to see.

[Craig Houghton]

lukavi - thanks so much. it's great to get support like that. yep, seeya in the dsg

biz - many thanks. glad you like. seeya in the channel

---------------

Life drawing class this evening. I didn't scan the gestures -- my scanner has been acting up this evening

pen from life

and

charcoal from life


both were longer poses. I'm not sure if i'll try scanning the gestures again this evening.

Thanks for looking,
Craig

[rodrigo!]

cool man good to see u getting back into life drawing.

[Craig Houghton]

Many thanks sideshow. yep, mostly ref pics w/ as much deviation as needed/desired. Also, thanks for mentioning the face btw. The likeness is no ref (and they usually are since I've grown very used to keeping it as such).

I've been working my dayjob many more hours than I usually do, but here's some.. navel studies

okay, so you don't see bellybutton studies that often, but I figured that's a perfectly good reason to give myself a crash course in button.



Yeah, they look odd by themselves, but that was part of the fun of it.

Thanks for looking

Craig

[Craig Houghton]

I've a bunch of little things I've yet to scan, but here's an update, finally.

some ear studies



a nude in conte over a pencil drawing. i wasn't so crazy about this. It took a lot of erasing (praise be to my electric eraser) to control the conte.



and here's a watercolor I finished up this evening



c & c appreciated as always. it's gettin' lonely in here

many thanks,
Craig

[rodrigo!]

looking great man good to see u posting again

[PHATandy]

LMAO loving the belly button studies.. not often you see those..lol.
Good work though man keep it up.

[Icey]

nice to see you here too Craig!
love the ear studys
you're sketches are getting better day by day!! Keep it going man!

[Craig Houghton]

inked it early today



And then, all day really, I painted it in Painter:



The Dream-Eater

This disturbingly common creature frequents his victims with ease and regularity. Those with chronic nightmares may do well to keep their windows shut. You see, when this critter unfurls his feeding tube and dangles it about, the little glowing fingers do a dance upon the brow. He feeds upon the very best of dreams, like sugarplums and games, but in their stead he leaves the worst, like hopelessness and pain.

Thanks for looking!
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Judging by the COW response, ppl don't like the text. Well, live and learn. I was worried it would be cheesy, but the English major in me couldn't resist including it.

anyhow, something different

Cirsium Bacifera - Imaginary Plant

Cirsium bacifera, commonly known as the Western Sparrow Berry, is not actually a berry-bearing plant, but it resembles one at a distance. Once the 'berries' give birth to the little purple flowers upon the tendril stalks, they turn to tiny seeds that the sparrows love to pluck. The florettes above are often eaten by small mammals, but they know better than to bite the spiky surface of the thistle itself.

the latin is beary-bearing thistle

Watercolor and Ink on Hot Press. 4x6 (very small!)


-Craig

[Masayasu]

Cool plant. Keep the ideas coming. No crits, but keep posting.

[adiere]

x 1000

I love your girls, can i meet one?

you rock man thanks for the share

btw you should rename the thread Artwork not Sketchbook.

[Craig Houghton]

Masayasu - Many thanks!

adiere - I'm willing to hook you up with any of them, for a fee thx man.

------------------

Just got back from a life drawing session. I'm not posting the gestures this time since I never got into the zone with em, but here's a longer pose

charcoal from-life


Thanks for looking,
Craig

[glikster]

Whoa! I wish I could manipulate form and color the way you can.

[Craig Houghton]

theartguy - Many thanks. I used a couple of refs for the girl & portions of the gun were inspired by a squirt gun. the likeness of the girl in the ref came through too much for my taste (especially considering I wasn't trying), so I'll be changings some things before I call it quits. and, many thanks. I'm hoping to finish it up. I hadn't meant it to be such a project, but I kept escalating the details.

IanE - Thanks man. I really appreciate it. And yeah, those chompers look terrible on the stained paper. I really, really didn't think of that before-hand.

Glikster - Many thanks!

---------------------

Among other things, I've been working on the tree girl and this, but the former isn't ready for an update.

I finished up the gun, I hope, and I've blocked in the hair/added detail on certain portions (like against the white). I'm hoping to leave it pretty dark and only lift out the lights wherever it's really needed.



she still has far too long to go. oh, and the CA on the gun is for Condor Army. the bird logo thing is um.. supposed to be a condor anyhow..

-Craig

[Quinster]

AWSOME!!! I LOVE YOUR WORK!!!! AHHHHH!!!

[blankslatejoe]

heh.... i did something similar to that blueline material study once... I had the blues on one side, and then a photocopy of the page next to it... it made it easy to see which pencils were TRUELY non-repo...

great paintings by the way, I think you're really hitting something with those!

[Craig Houghton]

blankslatejoe - The blueline thing was a lot of fun. I have another to add to it now too. And, many thanks btw.

Quinster - How can I argue with a post like that Thank you.

--------------------------

Still working on it, and I hate to mud up my thread with too many wip shots, but what the heck, real-estate is cheap



I'm still working on the hair and other things. then, I need to work on the clothes quite a bit more. I'm not sure what I'll do with that top. Her arms/belly need work too. I'm hoping I can get away with leaving her hair fairly dark while just milking the highlights.

-Craig

[Johann de Venecia]

Hey Craig!

Wow, your SB is blooming! Your progress (especially in painted ones) is in huge leaps and bounds. Very inspiring stuff.

I don't know what the hell this is: http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4...dfalcon3ma.jpg... But damn I like the way you rendered it.

Hope to see more from you.