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

[Craig Houghton]

Many thanks Mike and Joe

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This is going to be for my IDM entry.. painted the faces in the bg thus far, but the rest of it should be fairly easy. The topic is something along the lines of a device that helps the blind see

ppl usually want to look like everyone else, not a cyborg. so, there's no design that would make more sense than something that passes for a real eye. the final entry will look like something along the lines of an advertisement w/ some features and slogans etc.

"they'll never know it's not natural.. / restore your sight without setting yourself apart"



I've more or less finished painting the background. they're mostly no ref with some eye ref and help from biz and intern in the irc channel. I'm also going to do a faded semi-cutaway on the eye of the figure on the right showing the device sitting inside

the tech diagram will be done in a realistic cutaway sort of style

Thanks for looking,
Craig

[hurricane]

nice stuff as usuall!

i cant wait for for last pic to be finnished, looks great already!

cheers man!

[glikster]

When I die, I want to come back just like you.

Those faces are gorgeous!! Can't wait to see the finished "ad"!

[clogik]

the faces on that ad are looking good. cant wait to see it finished.

[Slash]

I cant believe i havent seen your sketchbook before! I have seen a few of your drawings tho, those you have posted in irc. Anyways, you have a very nice thread going on here! There's a constant improving curve from the beginning, and i love it. Espescially all your ladies. You manage to make them all so pretty! There are some of your pieces that i dont care much for at all tho, they stick out like sore thumbs. (Well, more like mildly uncomfortable thumbs..) But these are the ones you stated were scribbles or fast sketches, so i guess its ok.

Keep rockin'!

[Craig Houghton]

hurricane - thx man. glad to have you watching!

glikster - many thanks hopefully that'd be better than ending up as a cow or something

clogik - thx!

Slash - Thx for coming by. I'm glad you like the ladies. Their are plenty more on the way and, you should see the scribbles i leave out!

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I wasn't able to work on it yesterday, but this evening I had a slice of time. I've been busy helping my gf out with her first booth at a art/craft fair. SHe's been selling prints and merchandise with her work (faery art mostly)



I've yet to tackle the main diagram, but I got the cutaway more or less in place.

Also, working on the text to accompany the IDM entry..

Natural Eye (working title)
The basic idea behind this is simple. People with devices meant to overcome problems generally want to look like everyone else, not a cyborg. Beyond that, a device can and should aim to be compact without large battery packs or interfaces stored elsewhere on the battery. Natural Eye attaches to your existing muscle structure allowing free movement, and the innovative junction connector allows for seamless unity between the optic nerve and the True Sight processor. Lenses w/ motors controlled by natural muscle impulses means focusing is as intuitive as ever. The cornea can be removed easily on an outpatient basis allowing for easy maintenance/recharge visits every ten years or so.

Thanks for looking!
Craig

[Kondor]

hey man, sorry i havnt posted on here in...7 months!!! hope you remember me
ive been really preoccupied with other things in my life, im in a hard-working heavy metal band, were gigging and recording and such, which although is a great thing, its been hard on my drawing, but i still am going but not much improvement on my part, but i see you've improved by an insane amount, your a true inspiration!! keep it up!!

[Craig Houghton]

Kondor - Great to hear from ya! I'm glad you're liking the thread too. Even if you don't get in any drawing time, I'm happy to hear that music is going great. So long as you're doing something you love, everything's good.

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closer, but still a wip. I'll just update this post once I get around to some fixes and finishing touches. I'm planning on putting the S.E.E. logo on the processor and fleshing out the batteries more.

Natural Eye by S.E.E.

The idea behind this is simple -- people with devices meant to overcome problems usually want to look like everyone else, not a cyborg. Beyond that, a device can and should aim to be compact without large battery packs or interfaces stored elsewhere on the body. Natural Eye attaches to your existing muscle structure allowing free movement, and the innovative junction connector allows for seamless unity between the optic nerve and the True Sight processor. Lenses w/ motors controlled by natural muscle impulses means focusing is as intuitive as ever. The cornea can be removed easily on an outpatient basis allowing for easy maintenance/recharge visits every ten years or so. Restore Your sight Without Setting Yourself Apart!



the entry thread is here

-Craig

[Jokisalo]

Aaahh lotsa goodies down here pal! Especially this last one, i like it
more please.

[glikster]

Flawless.
This is sheer brilliance!

[Craig Houghton]

Jokisalo - Many thanks

glikster - would you be willing to stand in a corner of my studio and wave pom poms? I appreciate the enthusiasm. Many thanks!

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My girlfriends been doing art trading cards to sell as quickies on ebay. they seem to have bids. for the sake of fun i tried to do some. they're small: 2.5 x 3.5 A site, ACEO seems to rule over the process somehow. i don't think I plan on doing anymore of them. my brain gets pissed at me when I try to do something half-assed. one of them is nothing more than the color sitting on my palette placed on the card in the generally order they sit on my palette. I was trying to limit them to ten minutes each, but I'm not so good at managing that.



Also, I worked on the S.E.E. image some more. I updated the image in today's earlier post. It's not all that different though

-Craig

[glikster]

I figure, if I like something, why not use as many exclamation points as possible to communicate the fact?




























Oh... all right....

[Craig Houghton]

Glikster - You're hired.

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I resumed work on an oil figure, but I've yet to photograph it. I also used up a good deal of paper doing some general drawing practice that I won't be bothering to post

here though are some mouth sketches done using a mirror


and a practice piece using painter. an eagle talon (harpy I think)


Thanks for looking,
Craig

[blankslatejoe]

nice stuff, like always, craig. I'm digging those art trading cards... and the mouth studies is a good idea! I might give that a go too!

[Craig Houghton]

thx joe - glad you like

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for everyone that had followed my IDM entry, voting thread is up

voting thread

this might be a shameless plug, but.. nm, no defense.. it's a shameless plug

-Craig

[blackswordsman28]

Damn....you sure do have mad rendering skills....

I liked the guy playing Magic...it looked like he was having a bad draw.....

[liam.c]

lookin good craig !your eye trurned out great man)!!!

[Craig Houghton]

blacksword - yeah i it was probably a mulligan. many thanks

liam - thx man

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I've been saving the paper towels I use to clean my watercolor palette, especially when staining papers. I tried scanning a bunch for texture use. I think I'm liking em'

revisited to add texture. still just fer practice etc


i spent most of the day at a picnic, but I did another _quickie_ art card
2.5x3.5 inches - the one that got away


Thanks for looking
-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Woke at 4am this morning. Did a digi watercolor in painter. It came out rather tame, but I might give it some more bite.



-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

I haven't posted in a couple of days, but I've this to show for it

wip in oils 36x18 inches -- lots of work still to be done on the underpainting. color will come later glaze by glaze

(photo taken in low light from a poor angle -- I'll take a better one next time )







I started this a year ago but stopped. I wasn't ready for it then. I've repainted the entire figure from head to toe. Lots more to go on this one.

Thanks for looking!
-Craig

[BlueMech]

I at first thought the first one was your ref photo. That goes to show how well it's done.I have to say you're my favourite painter at CA, and if I were an aspiring painter, i'd look up to you.

[Craig Houghton]

Blue - Thank you!

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hmm. that wip really didn't photograph very well last night. they'll be more of that to come though.

in the mean time, i was dicking around in Painter while procrastinating. it's a beaked baby something.. not sure what, not willing to find out either



Thanks for looking!

-Craig

[aesir]

that bird cracked me up

[Craig Houghton]

Aesir - gracias

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I've begun another painting to work on in between stages on the larger piece. This one is small, about 8x6.

wip



I'll also be working up from a grisaille with this one. It's acrylic though. Things might look fairly dark, but I'll work them up before glaze time comes. In the upper hand the contours are painted in. I've yet to do the hand below. I hate being tired, but I can't seem to keep my eyes open. So, I'll have to pick this back up tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!

Craig

[Craig Houghton]

my scanner is having issues so this is a screen cap from the friggin' preview window



i'll never try using fluid acrylics as an underpainting again. i can't stress how frustrating it is. I should have just used oil or full-bodied acrylics. Fluid acrylic is great for lots of stuff, just not this. It dries too fast too thin. Dry layer over dry layer just makes for crisp crappy edges and a mottled look where I can't even control the values properly. I'm sticking with them to the end though.

i think i'll try something different with this one

-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

another wip today

i'm going to be painting a frame right onto the canvas. the frame will have it's own seperate light-source etc. it'll be a bit of a visual illusion, trompe-l'oeil style. so, you can see the frame all measured off. I'll be painting onto the sides of the canvas as well



-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

once i started glazing i realized i wanted it muddy muted and purple. halfway through i was going to just chuck this/re-gesso the canvas, but i stuck it out





trompe-l'oeil box frame



painted frame isn't perfect, but I only need it to look like an actual from from across the room anyhow

Thanks for looking!
Craig.

[BlueMech]

That' awesoem to see how you worked form the basic outline to the finished. I'm again, jealous. I'm gunan try painting during the school year, you'll be one of mu muses.

[rodrigo!]

those hands look really good man, i prefer the b/w version personally. keep up the great work!

[Craig Houghton]

BlueMech - Thanks Blue. I'm looking forward to checking out the paintings when they come.

Rodrigo - Thx. yeah, the color version is a bit odd, and somewhat personally distasteful to me. i'm glad it wasn't a failure, but it ended up as the sort of painting I wouldn't be drawn to myself, were it something someone else had done that I came across in a gallery. ah well. there's plenty more to come!

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I spent today learning about bird morphology. I researched, read, and made studies all afternoon. I'm approaching them in the spirit of Teigrob's animals 101 thread. It was a fun break from all the piles of quick ref-sketch-then-memory-test human studies I spent last week doing.



-Craig