Archive for the 'birds' Category
A Fish Crow, A Turtle, and Some Girls
Craig Houghton April 5th, 2007
just some idle sketchwork… I’ll be starting something bigger to start and finish over the long weekend, but I’m not yet sure what.
paint is Painter IX over the sketch
Testing Colored Pencil w/ a Wash of Alcohol
Craig Houghton February 14th, 2007
Last night I watched the Carlos Huante Gnomon Creature Sketching and Design Video. He demonstrated a drawing technique that included colored pencil, marker paper, and rubbing alcohol. Once he had the basic forms down with some selective detail and value, he splashed alcohol on a cotton square and rubbed out the work. He then lifted out the lights with an electric eraser and reapplied the darks. From there he used the mid-tone to help him carve out a creature. I tried out essentially the same technique, but I did make use of a white colored pencil as neeeded.
I apologize for the marker tree there. This started out on my scrap page of marker paper — I didn’t expect to go anywhere with it, but the technique felt comfortable enough to keep me going. I didn’t expect the colored pencil to be so forgiving (in terms of getting things initially hammered out), but when you wash out the light lines using the alcohol, it cleans it right up.
-Craig
- birds , techniques , colored pencil , other artists , figures , markers , women , plants
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Mockingbird à la Liew
Craig Houghton January 17th, 2007
Keeping with the Birds across mediums and styles project, last night I tried a mockingbird in the general style of Sonny Liew (worth checking out!). I imagine that I should have done it in pencil and then colored the pencil lines digitally in order to get his particular sketchy style, but I felt like using pens.
Thanks for looking!
Craig
- birds , cartoon , pen , digital
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Cedar Waxwing
Craig Houghton January 16th, 2007
I’ve been working on a carving of a bluejay all the long weekend, but that’s definitely not photo worthy. Well, yet (first real wood carving, so read that as ‘maybe never’). So, as I continue the birds across mediums marathon, here’s a Cedar Waxwing in acrylic.
Cedar Waxwing, Acrylic 9×12
Thanks for looking!
Craig
Tongues and Bills
Craig Houghton January 9th, 2007
I was going through the photos sitting on my camera from over this last balmy January weekend, and although I didn’t manage to get any ‘keeper’ shots, I found these two pics interesting enough to share:
I never had a chance to see a Northern Flicker’s tongue before. It’s much, much longer than this, but all I managed was a delayed and blurry shot.
And, notice the bill on this Downy Woodpecker? The barring on the bill may only be from the shadows cast by the suet feeder, but that beak looks damned good in stripes. I think it suits their outfit. Since there’s a lighter cast shadow there, the striped might actually exist, but it’s not bloody likely. Either way, I’m still hoping some fashion-based Darwinian selection bias kicks in and the striped bill look takes off.
-Craig
Turkey Vultures à la Nakano
Craig Houghton January 8th, 2007
In the spirit of continuing to cycle through a variety of styles, here’s a colored pencil in the general style of Hikaru Nakano. I couldn’t find a good (read any) link to him on the web, but he’s featured in Japanese Comickers.
5×7 colored pencil on hot press watercolor paper
-Craig
Egret à la Bell
Craig Houghton January 8th, 2007
Before forcing myself to bed, here’s a great egret à la Bell. It’s mine, but I did it in (to whatever degree of success) the general style of Andrew Bell’s fantastic drawings.
-Craig
White-Throated Sparrow in Colored Pencil
Craig Houghton January 7th, 2007
I’m sticking with the birds for another night, but it’s only because I decided to cycle between a dozen or so styles and mediums. I was originally going to take one particular drawing and walk it through, but around the time I did the cowbird I decided to cycle through the project with different subjects — I need to keep excited about it or I’ll end up moving on to some other project.
So, here’s a small 5×7 White-Throated Sparrow in colored pencil on hot press watercolor paper. I’m not much of a fan of working with something waxy, but it’s good practice. By the way, I hate watermarks on paper. Since the scanner picked it up, I removed the Arches imprint and label using Painter.
-Craig
American Goldfinch
Craig Houghton January 6th, 2007
Here’s a goldfinch in the blue, the basics, and the render. I couldn’t get myself to do the bg. For those who haven’t seen my old sketchbook, I usually do the initial drawing first and correct until I’m happy. Paper permitting, I then do a light underdrawing for the final over my own sketch. When things need a lot of correcting, I sometimes do this several times over until I hit the final.
American Goldfinch, HB pencil on hot press watercolor paper
-Craig
brown-headed cowbird
Craig Houghton January 5th, 2007
Blog’s open.
Last weekend I was impressed with a floral from Susan Dorothea’s book, Draw Like Da Vinci. I tried her technique, using a pastel pencil in place of the goldpoint. I built up the whole structure with the gold, worked over the darker values with a charcoal pencil, and used a General’s white charcoal to finish it off. I think I’ll revisit the technique. I’m looking trying out some of the book’s silverpoint suggestions as well.
brown-headed cowbird, 4×5 pastel and charcoal on ink-stained hot press paper
I originally had some text there, but my handwriting is awful. I cloned it away in Painter afterwards.
-Craig
- birds , techniques , charcoal , pastel
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