He became an illustrator for mail-order catalogues and for the Toronto Star, but studied in his spare time at the Ontario College of Art and then at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.
He went to New York City at the age of twenty-five as the pupil of Frank Vincent DuMond and Dean Cornwell at the Art Students League.
Consequently, in 1970, he was commissioned by the United States Post Office Department to design the six-cent buffalo stamp for their Wildlife Conservation Series.
Lougheed illustrated children's books such as the horse novels Mustang and San Domingo by Marguerite Henry and The Bell Ranch As I Knew It by George F. Ellis.
Outside of art, Lougheed was an avid tournament badminton player who won a number of regional and Connecticut state doubles titles.