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

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks Comix. I guess i managed exactly what I wanted to with the hood into/out of the paper like that. Many many thanks for the feedback!

Well, since I haven't any sketches from today, I'll post the watercolor I did this evening:

8x11 watercolor, goauche, and colored pencil on arches 140lb hot press



This still needs a little work. I need an eye bridge that leads from that dark land mass below to the rest of the pic. I'll probably just get some bright patches onto that grass. (just edited with the very mildly revised version)

c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[Mike Frank]

I agree that face is awesome.. and this last paint is great too. Man you got lots of great stuff! Keep it up.

[comixnut]

ok lets start by me making very clear that i could not even come close to what you did with that watercolour (and it reminds me of being back in the moutains of Portugal, so it's pretty damn cool).

What i first thought of when i looked at your trees though was 'oh that looks like algae' *S* sorry don't mean to offend at all, and like i said because it reminds me of those mountains i also had the feeling of what trees you were going for (what i imagine were pines.. i am also thinking of another tree that is decidious (sp?) but i don't know the name). i think maybe because in the post the trees look like they have broad leaves? maybe because of that, i don't know.

Also on the left corner the rocks seem to blend into the clouds. Just in case that is not what you were going for.

Can i reiterate that this is awesome? *S* great stuff man. Take what i say with a whole jar of salt.*LOL*

keep it up.

[Cyanid]

wow you have some great faces there!
I love that female anatomy study, its great

[Craig Houghton]

Some - thanks for the encouragement!

comix - i really appreciate the crit! I've taken a long look at the trees since then, and you really helped me notice some stuff. By the way, on the left, yep I wanted the rock and the sky to merge there. many thanks

cyanid - Many thanks!

If anyone wants to watch a replay of a tablet drawing i did over at that GE imagination application thingy, here's a link

http://www.imaginationatwork.com/Ima...lscid=73636210

I first sketched it in blue, but that erased when it ran out of 'ink.' So, the blue undersketch doesn't show up int he replay.

Hopefully I'll be posting a 'real' update later tonight.

Many thanks,
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all.

I've always used pastels so I never really saw a need to buy any, but nonetheless, the set of conte crayons I ordered came in today.

So, I gave them a test run. I think I'll like em. I used to use my semi-soft pastels to do the same thing, but these are thin, simple, and they've a peculiar texture that I could get used to. I wonder how they taste?

anyhow, conte try-out:



These past few days I've, once again, been busy doing a commission. For the curious, here's a poor quality (low-light/wet paint) preliminary pic (I'll get a better pic before shipping it out): here

I've just 4 commissions left before I get back to life/art as usual. Gah! I just wanna draw!

-Craig

[rodrigo!]

nice work man i like the commission

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks again Rodrigo!

Here's tonights work. I wrote down the working times, but these are not from life, they're from some large photos (suuuch a sweet book care of my mothers bookstore). The times are just for my own reference.



Oh, and this little bird? thing happened when I was testing out painting on the reverse side of some new prepared acetate I purchased.



i never use a tablet or cg, but i was playing paint chat and before i was kicked out of the room for not speaking japanese I made this semi-birdlike vultury mess here

c&c welcome as always

Many thanks,
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all. Here's what I was up to so far this evening.

From Life (my harmonica, the paper box it stores in, and a rubber band)



self-portrait using a MIRROR
Mirrors are great for quick anatomy checks while drawing out stuff, but it's such a challenge to sp from. Anyhow, I blame the static pose on the mirror. I had to ensure that I could keep the pose, so to speak. A non-photo ref expression/better pose could be the next self portrait challenge.



pretty soon I'm going to start doing some from-life conte portrait studies in preparation for sidewalk portraiture. I've little idea how to pull it off, but the first day I do it I'll be doing 15 min portraits for free. That way I get free models and they get to keep the practice. Hopefully after that I'll be ready? for the real thing.

Thanks for looking!

Many thanks,
Craig

[rodrigo!]

looking good man...u play a harmonica??

[feeesh]

Nice work, you've shown a nice progression even in the few amount of posts you've had so far. I especially like the life drawing you did in that 5 hour block listening to your class lecture. That's a beatuful piece of art right there!

-feeesh

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks feesh!

Rodrigo - Not well.

This evening I planned to do another charcoal study using that huge book as a ref and then a series of loose ink drawings. Unfortunately the charcoal drawing took way longer than I expected. Anyhow, if only you could imagine how much erasing it took for me to get this figure right (not that I'm saying it's perfect, and I'm very skeptical about those hands, but nonetheless). I'm glad I have an electric eraser.

Although the point of these is just to hone my ability to 'see' the figure and get it all down with proper proportions etc, eventually I got bored and wanted to make it at least sorta interesting. So, consider her the (cue fearsome music)... ladybug hunter? The model had a big flower hat and was looking at her hand like she'd just been given a valium. Now, she's the ladybug hunter. I think she eats them.. definitely



Thanks for lookin'
Craig

btw, today's the one month mark for my sketch thread.

[patternagainst]

Your work is great, Craig. Really, I like it a lot.
Some things I noticed...
I could very well be wrong here but just something my eye saw: On the watercolour sketch of the barn, it seems as though if you darkened the barn just a bit more, the texture, I mean, and the wood as well, it would stand out much nicer. Also it seems as though some of your linework is a hair dark. For example the gypsy woman with the cloth garment, under her chin where the cloth seems to be overlapping and what not, it doesn't seem to be as loose as it would be in real life because of the value of the actual linework compared to the value of the actual rendering around the line work. "Lines don't quite exist in reality." However you want to interpret that. However, you seem to have solved the problem in the portrait of the oriental girl in the hoody.

Great work.

[Zebz]

Craig, Craig, Craig... I noticed you're always postin' on Rodrigoz page so I thought I'd spread some love around over here as well.

You've got some great stuff! I love the latest life drawing and you're rendering them extremely well. Can't wait to see what comes of those sidewalk portraits you're gonna be doin'. You should take some pics of you out there doin' yer thang.

The landscapes are really nice too, some of your strongest. The lines are precise and the washes are very pelasing to look at. I wish I knew how to work with ink and watercolor washes. Mine just usually get crappy. I'll keep at it tho and you be sure to do the same! I'll be keepin' my eyes open for some more of your sweet progression!

[Craig Houghton]

pattern - Thanks! I appreciate the crits! And, you're right, that barn needs some darkening and some layers. And that scarf.. I never noticed that. You're dead-on. Many thanks for the well-thought out crits. I love getting crits.

zebz - Thanks for postin and for the comments. I'm looking forward to the portraits, but I still need to pin down my friends and force them to sit for some test-runs. I think I'll need a generic sort of face really down-pat before I try it.

I was away for the weekend with my gf on our 2nd year dating anniversary mini-vacation. But, here's what I was up to this evening.

i was just having some fun with prismacolors and drops of alcohol on the paper



and, there's these rapid gesture drawings from some domais, but they're not worth posting the images directly, so 1 2 3

Thanks for stopping by,
Craig

[rodrigo!]

i really like the last one man, really cool

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks Rodrigo. I always appreciate the support.

Today I finished up what I started last night. This is from a decent photo ref, but I did the face no-ref, so I'm a tad worried that it's off and I've just been staring at it too long to see the problems.

Oh, I 'aged' a stack of arches paper different shades using ink. I think I kinda like the look, though I wish I used a darker shade for this one to serve as more of a mid-tone. Anyhow



It's only mid-day, so I'll probably do another update later tonight.

THanks for looking!

c&c appreciated as always,
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

My brother went to the zoo and brought back wild tales of capybara. Well, they weren't that wild, but there were capybara.

colored pencil on ink-aged paper



Thanks fer looking.

c&c always welcome

-Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Hey all.

Her face, no ref again, came out more mature than what I had in mind, but I went with it as it evolved anyhow. The rest of her is based on a ref pose.



I'm liking using ink toned paper. I'll probably be making more sheets, especially some darks.

c&c appreciated as always

-Craig

[Zebz]

Very good! The progression is ON my friend, keep it rockin! I'm lovin' that last one a ton. And you've got stars! I never even got any stars! lol You're workin' hard and people are seein' it. Keep it up!

[Digby]

Hi Craig, can see your improvement throught this good stuff. Now for a proper compliment...


http://img40.exs.cx/img40/7214/4b-ladybug_hunter_re.jpg
This image here is brilliance. OUt of all your work so far, this captures the feel of the lady well, the look on her face is very very good, your practice, and experimentation with different forms is paying off.

One crit that i will say though, and not about this pic, but some of your linework is very heavy and using very short controlled shading strokes, try loosening up a bit and diff lineweights and i think you'll probably bring a little more life to some of your stuff. All in all good work man keep it up, you are displaying some true talent.

[arghmisfit]

hey man

Your sketches are looking good. I visited ur site, damn u got some nice paintings there! I really like that stamp one with the magnifying glass, looks real! keep it up!

-Argh

[-sideshowbob-]

hi there craig

c00l stuff O_o

ur pencil shading makes me... *stunned* especcialy the pic from -> November 18th, 2004 12:53 AM

ur females .. nice ! soft mood ! just lovely !

s0 c00l

keep it... !




*still stunned*

[jungsangchoe]

wow... i love all your WC work!! so nice...!!

pls keep them coming

i will work hard too ...

daily work on the way.. keep coming ya...

peace

[rodrigo!]

really nice work man!keep it up!!

[Craig Houghton]

WOW! I'm really take back by all the comments. Hey, and they're good ones too.

Zebz - Yeah, it's crazy, but there's stars. If people are diggin' it, that's awesome. Many thanks!

Digby - Thanks so much! Really, your comment means a lot to me. By the way, I usually use mechanical pencils. I break the leads _constantly!_ You're right, I'm often heavy handed. I'll try to get more loosey goosey. It's necessary.

Argh - Many thanks! ANd, thanks for visiting the site as well.

sideshow - I've stunned you. You may still be immobile. Many thanks. I'm thrilled to hear that I incapacitated you.

Jung - Many thanks! Yep, keep working daily.

Rodrigo - Your support is awesome. Thanks man.

Okay. Last night I did a figure study in oil.

Oh, it's small btw. 9x12 canvas. There's nothing like trying to take a picture of wet canvas in a dark room. But, here's the pic.



Thanks everyone! The support is very valuable to me.

c&c welcome as always.

Craig

[I_am]

Nice stuff, dude. Really like the profile of the girl wearing the hat. She has this fantastically disinterested expression on her face. They're all looking good though, keep it up man.

[Odds]

I love your work, Craig. The figure studies are very accurate and I like the style to them. I know lots of people comment without leaving any sort of critique, so, here it goes. Bah, nothing. Heh, just keep it up man.

[Craig Houghton]

I_am - Many thanks! Yep, I like that one too.

Odds - Thanks. Encouragement is more than enough!

Here's tonights attempt at the figure. Yep, it's another nude. I ended up working at this for way too long, but at least I managed to finish in one session. I seem to prefer marathons

This is also from a photo ref (something I'll remedy once sessions start up in january). praise be to the electric eraser and the watercolor paper that can handle it.

9x12 graphite on arches hot press watercolor paper



and a detail



Btw, i think the bridge of her nose needs some attention, but i just noticed that now. Also, the abs on the right side of the pic need to be toned down. She looks like she's been spending too much time doing crunches. I'll fix it tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!
Craig

[Craig Houghton]

Sorry to spam up my own thread, but here's a revision. She looked like a big-headed freak. I must have rushed her head late last night. Better?



Many thanks,
Craig