Sketches and Studies by Craig Houghton

Craig Houghton August 21st, 2007

Here’s my submission for Clay Sisk’s Motel Project, a clever way to promote his new film, Motel. Click here for the trailer.

MOTEL is starting to hit the festival circuit…So to celebrate I came up with a interesting little project. It all starts with a blank piece of Palms Motel stationery

(Based on the fictional motel in my film).

Artists have the freedom to draw on it..write on it…(Pretend that you stayed there…anything goes)…

So, here’s my little motel stationary submission (I recycled an older sketch, but I think it found a proper home). He may have had the coffee, but I don’t think he’ll be back.

• graphite , digital , markers , illustrations , movies
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Craig Houghton August 18th, 2007

The Cheshire Town Council…

800 x 445 (smaller)

1024 x 569 (larger)

I started with a pencil sketch

added a scanned ink-stained paper

and threw in a few highlights using Painter IX

• graphite , digital , figures , women , illustrations , men , portraits
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Craig Houghton July 5th, 2007

Women of all ages across mediums and styles.

• colored pencil , graphite , charcoal , pastel , acrylic , pen , digital , figures , women , watercolor , illustrations , oil , portraits , ink , vids
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Craig Houghton June 17th, 2007

some sketchy junk and idle time spent with a fashion mag

in the service of spiders (work in progress) (yes, she’s quite happy about the whole affair)

and, I found more packaging. It seems that I’m on their product booklet insert thingy as well (news to me ).

Thanks for looking!

• colored pencil , graphite , figures , women , illustrations , published , crap
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Craig Houghton June 5th, 2007

I’ve discovered the ASIFA - Hollywood Animation Archive. And, not surprising, that led me to John Kricfalusi’s blog, all kinds of stuff. I’ve spent about a week and a half roaming the halls of the Archive and attempting to wrap my head around John K’s classic cartoon wisdom. There’s so damned much to learn from the Archive, and John K is one hell of a tour guide.

To start things off I’ve been doing a crash-course version of the archive’s (free)$100,000 Animation Drawing Course. I stress crash-course since I haven’t been drawing each and every example in the lessons, and I’ve not been checking my work against the originals using the computer as they/John advise. I think that means I fail, but I like to pretend that I’m unafraid of failure. Actually, it’s only because I started out casually — I’ve since been sinking further in day by day. John K knows his stuff.

Each lesson has a wrapper post on the Archive’s site that references the corresponding lesson on John K’s blog and provides additional links or necessary source materials. I’m including the links to both grouped along with my homework.

1: Construction/The Head | archive / john k
2: Squash & Stretch/The Head | archive / john k
3: Proportions/Check Your Work | archive / john k

My work from the first three lessons has been piled together on this page. I’ve left out some of my studies, but they weren’t worth posting.

4: 2 Legged Characters/Full Body | archive / john k

5: Line of Action/Silhouttes | archive / john k

6: Advanced Head Construction | archive / john k / GIANT MOUTH…post at Funny Cute with Katie Rice

The studies for lesson six come from Katies blog. These two drawings are my clumsy copies of Katie’s awesome work and are in no way my own.

7: When Generic Is A Good Thing | archive / john k

I was supposed to stick with something extremely generic in this lesson, but I ended up drawing from a disney model sheet. Nonetheless, I get the point that studies from simple generic subjects can really slingshot your learning process.

8: Proportions Affect Design / Contrasts | archive / john k

9: Hands- SImplifying Complicated Things | archive / john k

It literally took me days to complete this page, but I managed each and every hand from the lesson.

• techniques , cartoon , graphite , other artists , figures , women , illustrations , animation , animals
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Craig Houghton April 22nd, 2007

I think I’ll turn one of these squirrels into a pen and ink, but I’m not sure which.

• graphite , illustrations , animals
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Craig Houghton March 29th, 2007

just some tom-foolery

• graphite , women , illustrations , portraits , creatures
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Craig Houghton March 22nd, 2007

This is another work in progress. So long as I don’t abandon him, I’ll opaque over this w/ digital color (for now he gets a pinkish ribbon because, well, it’s this fellow’s favorite color).

• cartoon , graphite , digital , figures , illustrations , creatures
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Craig Houghton February 25th, 2007

a no ref slightly caricatured acrylic sketch using Bob Kato’s techniques from his gnomon painting vids.

and a bunch of sketchbook crap that I wouldn’t normally post, but it’s been a busy week

Here’s a detail of the acrylic sketch. Kato’s method involves a very loose underdrawing and then a series of easily digested setps. It’s a good time.

Thanks for looking!
Craig

• cartoon , graphite , acrylic , figures , women , illustrations , men
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Craig Houghton January 27th, 2007

just playing around with some fungal shapes this evening..

-Craig

• graphite , illustrations , plants
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Craig Houghton January 22nd, 2007

This is a just get-it-on-paper concept for a side-character in a webcomic-ish project I’ll never get around to completing. In other words, this probably isn’t going anywhere, but I might use it as a prelim to paint or properly render.

-Craig

• cartoon , graphite , figures , women , illustrations
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Craig Houghton January 18th, 2007

Yesterday night, after doing the mockingbird, I needed a break from the avian stuff. Tonight I’ve been working on an illustration for a local paper.

scrap of hot-press watercolor paper

playing around with a quick sp

Thanks for looking!
Craig

• graphite , self-portrait , figures , markers , women
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