this northern boy

I’ve revisited one of my favourite illustrations – The Island. It was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, China Miéville and my love of deep sea creatures. I decided to tackle the same subject again because I think I’ve improved as an illustrator in the 18 months or so since I first drew it. Not wanting to produce an exact copy, and as I’ve spent much of the last couple of weeks drawing houses, I decided to swap the village from the original with some weird stone, crystal-like protrusions.

After a couple of little thumbnail sketches I drew the whole thing out, in quite a bit of detail before inking. As ever, I added a nice thick line around the edges, and around foreground elements to add some depth. Delicate, but brooding clouds in the background – plus a few birds – finished it off. I’m really pleased with the result, particularly the tentacles.

The original A4 artwork is now SOLD. Contact me for commissions.

Here’s the finished image, and below are some shots of the process.

What lies beneath. Finished illustration.

Initial thumbnail.

Sketched out and the inking started.

Rocks just about done.

Finished.

Rocky details.

Tentacles.

Details.