Ken Houghton biography

Ken Houghton (died ?1980s)

Ken Houghton was the artist for 'Lorna Doone', the last comic strip to appear in Look and Learn magazine before it's sad demise with issue 1049 (17 April 1982), and so this was his only comic strip work in Look and Learn.

The first episode of 'Lorna Doone' appeared in Look and Learn in issue 1003 (30 May 1981).

Ken Houghton ran a comic artist evening class in the late 1970s at a school where artist and illustrator Russ Nicholson taught Art & Design.

Ken introduced Russ to the world of comic strip illustration and Russ writes "He was a lovely patient man, a very good teacher, who died too young, and is missed by those who knew him. One of his other students at that time was a very young 16 year old called Sean Phillips who has since risen to be a well known comic artist working these days for Icon, an imprint of Marvel Comics."

Much of his comics work seems to have been for girls comics, both ongoing strips such as “Castaways of Voodoo Island” for Tammy and Sally (1971) and complete stories for titles both Jinty and Tammy. These included contributions to the “Monster Tales” segment of Tammy and Jinty, published in early 1982, alongside strips from Mario Capaldi and others. He also contributed to DC Thomson's long-running girls title, Bunty.

Other art identified as drawn by Ken Houghton includes the following:
An advert in comic strip form for The Green Cross Code (1972)
'Rat Pack' in Battle Picture Weekly (mid-late 1970s)
some complete stories in Tammy (mid-late 1970s)
Tansy of Jubilee Street in Jinty (10 May 1980+)
Bessie and Her Barrow in Tracey from Jan 1981
Detestable Dinah in Tracy from Dec 1981 - ?1982
The Secret of Penny Farthing (inks; art by Sean Phillips) in Bunty from June 1982 - Oct 1982
Judy Annual 1980 (inks)
Judy Annual 1984 featuring several strips illustrated by Ken Houghton including The Time Machine, Simple Simon (inks)

Although he shares his surname with another comic strip artist, Stanley Houghton, they were apparently unrelated. It is thought that Ken Houghton died some time in the 1980s.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery; downthetubes.net

See KEN HOUGHTON ART.