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

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all. I didn't get a chance to post anything last night, but here's a drawing from this evening. I never play with pen hatchwork unless I'm doing pen and ink stuff. But nonetheless, here's a rather rushed study using a tech pen.



Thanks for stopping by!

EDIT: hey, I'm on my second page

-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all. I finished another commission this evening. I've been so busy with work, finals type class stuff, and commission work, that I haven't been able to sketch.

However, I did manage to complete this in time for christmas. The buyer needed it as a gift for his son. His son is the one laying in the sand. I'd done a smaller version of this a while back pro bono, but they requested a larger paid work.

This is mixed media on a half sheet of arches paper 20x15. I just took this picture now, at 4 in the morning in a poorly lit room, so the quality is poor. In the daylight tomorrow I'll get a better shot.





Thanks for looking!

-Craig

[Jokisalo]

love the last one man..
great figures keep up a good work fella

[Craig Houghton]

Jokisalo - Thanks!

Hey all. I've been away from art, and all else really, for Christmas. I'm back.

For fun, I bought a cheap block of 6$ self-hardening clay. I made a little head to see what the stuff felt like. I've _never_ tried any 3d sculpture type work before, so this was a totally naive attempt without the aid of a ref, step-by-step, or even a list of pointers.

He has serious problems, but I've never tried this before. I'm happy to have taken a block of clay and made it into.. anything. His mouth is weird and I meant to fix it, but this was just for fun. Anyhow, here's a tiny little generic and mean looking gent







I'll be starting a figure drawing this evening and hopefully I'll finish before bed. If so, I'll post an update.

Thanks for stopping by
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Gotta run, but Happy New Year all.

Here's a watercolor sketch. If it had a title, I suppose it would be, 'Dumped'



Thanks for looking!
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all.

I enjoyed doing this one. That's a good thing since it took most of the day.

8x10 Charcoal on stained hot press paper



Thanks for looking.

c&c always welcome

-Craig

[dlong]

I really enjoy your work. Awesome.

Will you be continuing the assignments in the CA Academy thread?

[Craig Houghton]

dlong - Many thanks! And, welcome to CA. Also, I will indeed be continuing in the academy thread. Thanks for reminding me by the way!

I decided to give that last post a figure. All that charcoal made her look too muddy. I'm hoping the background, as incredibly bland as it is, lends some unity. Also, I tried to step down some of the texturing on the leg.

There's also a bunch of earthy red scattered about, but it didn't really come through when the scan was resized.



And, here's a close-up



I'm hoping it's a bit better off this way. Well, I'm moving on now to a new drawing.

c&c always welcome

-Craig

[warlock1234]

craig, great job, i'm really digging these soft tones you add in there...keep it up...i don't see anything wrong with your newest render, keep'm coming o yes...and da vinci is one of my favorite artists....your drawings really do bring out alot of his style....good thing...very good thing...

[Jokisalo]

i like the uptades keep posting

[Craig Houghton]

Many thanks warlock1234 and Jokisalo.

Between a large oil painting I've been working on and a week and a half of the flu, I've fallen behind on updates. However, I'm back in action.

Here's another figure study I began last night and finished up today.

charcoal on stained hot press


Ya know, there's a lot of naked people in this thread now. But, I still have so much to learn -- there'll certainly be more to come.

-Craig

[-sideshowbob-]

very nice figures O_o

nice clay head hahaa

these figures.. reference used ? very sweet face ... nice


keep 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]

Rodrigo - Thanks man, it's great to be back around.

Andy - Thanks. Yeah, navels look sort of odd by themselves.

Icey - Many thanks for the kind words!

Here's some new stuff.

a fairly rough cheetah study in charcoal. i might do a watercolor of this later.



and some hand inking practice



Thanks for looking! c&c always welcome

-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

I've never used painter or done any computer painting except for some cel type stuff, but I received a copy of Corel Painter 9 from my girlfriend as a birthday present.

I've been reading the helpfile, a lot. I'm about halfway through, trying out every damn thing as I read about it. I'm getting the hang of it. Now I just need to get used to the tablet.

Last night I tried doing a simple landscape using the artist oils brushes

Morning Stretch - Corel Painter


I wanted to see if I could make it look like actual oils without it coming across as cheesy.

By the way, I've been working for quite some time on a large painting of a nude. I'll start posting WIPs this weekend. I'm working up from a detailed neutral gray underpainting into glazes and such. It's a good time.

Thanks for looking,
Craig

[welch99]

Great sketchbook you've got here. I've been wanting to get Painter for awhile now. I've had a tablet for a couple years now, and I'm still not used to it.

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks Welch. Yeah, the tablet is odd for me. I've been trying to practice my ass off with it. I'll catch on eventually I suppose.

This was done for the DSG (Topic: The Cowardly Lion)

The Little Coward and the Turtle - Painter IX (sketch and color)


Thanks for looking!

-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all. This was my submission for yesterday's DSG, but I never finished it up in time. I'm not at all used to the tablet, so it took me far longer than it should have. The topic was Heartless Tinman.

The tinwoman came upon a tin-man, scorched and blown heart in-hand. She's sharing her pump with him. I imagine they'll head for a repair shop.

Painter IX - Painted version coming soon


I'm sure I'm just procrastinating from the oil painting I'm working on

-Craig

[Mr.Blonde]

I love your navel study, great idea, and great execution. Good luck with Painter, it's some hot shit. In the latest sketch your figures don't seem to fit well with the background, which I feel is a lot stronger. I do like the idea, though. I think the foreground characters seem flat... I suppose that can be fixed by the coloring though. nice work.

[Craig Houghton]

Mr Blonde - Many thanks on the navels. They were a good time. I've another body part on the way. Also, I've been working on the foreground figures in the latest thing. I'm hoping they'll be less flat, despite the fact that it's an inky outline style work, by the time I'm done.

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

Here's a so-far on the tin-people thing. She's apparently not made of tin, but I'm not concerned My goal is to just get more used to Painter IX.



I might not know how to use it yet, but Painter really is pretty badass.

-Craig

[draw]

Nice stuff Craig! I really like your ideas and compositions very much. The only suggestions (be them ever so humble) I could think of, is to use a wider range of tones and put even more punch in to the highlights. As well as this, proportions can be off occasionally (very occasionally) and maybe an even higher finish in your work(if possible). Then again what would I know ... you are an artist. A lot of these pieces, and those on your site are fantastic.

[Craig Houghton]

Draw - You're right about the highlights and the tonal range. I've a tendency to hold back. It's definitely something I need to work on. I needn't be afraid of drawing attention, so to speak. Also, thanks so much for the kind words -- they're encouraging!

---------

I haven't worked on the Tinman thing since the day before last. I worked for 5 hours straight and lost everything when Painter crashed. I'm so friggin used to traditional mediums that it really sort of devastated me. To suddenly have nothing to show for five or six hours work is really discouraging. Either way, I've worked with computers and programming etc long enough to know soooo much better than to work that long without saving. It was madness, and it was a lesson well-learned.

Anyhow, I was screwing around in Painter IX again last night. I tried to do a no-ref no-underdrawing straight to brushwork study like I've seen so many others do. This isn't anything too exciting, but it was a great practice.

harbor tug-ship (some more Painter practice)


Also, I just got a new scanner. So, I'll probably be a lot more likely to scan the everyday sort of sketches that I usually neglect to thread.

Thanks for looking!

Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all.

This was from today's DSG. The topic was Half-Orc Assassin

Half-Orc Assassin, Painter IX


-Craig

[rodrigo!]

good to see u getting into the digital stuff! the tin womans head looks a little big i think, but good to see u posting more too!

[Craig Houghton]

Rodrigo - Many thanks. And, yeah, her head is definitely a bit swollen. I tried to compensate for the oversized head on the mannequin I used when drawing, but it's still too big.

----------------
Here's just a mini-update today. I didnt have much luck in getting any art done.

Painter coloring practice



Thanks for looking.

Craig

[comixnut]

Nice stuff man. Your improvent in your range of skill as well as level is more than evident, dude. Keep it up. I loved to the robots and the lions and the half-orc (any particular reason why you did that one?).

Great stuff.