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this northern boy
Illustrations for an imaginary age
Category: Robots
March 29, 2017
Updates…
It’s been a while since I blogged – work and holidays have both combined to keep me from doing so.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on getting some artwork ready to sell online as prints – should be ready to go in April – which is very exciting. I’ll be launching with five or six different illustrations, most of which will be available to buy at a couple of different sizes. When everything is confirmed I’ll post here about it.
I’ve also completed a couple of commissions and worked on some concept art for a couple of clients – I can’t share any of that just yet though.
For now, here are some of the sketches I’ve done over the past couple of months.
Flyers.
Orange Bots.
Bug Bots.
Orange ‘things’.
Jellyfish sketch.
Sci-fi sketches.
Sci-fi freighter sketch.
Orange Ships.
Sensor Bot.
Fish sketch.
Sci-fi haulers.
YelloBot.
Tick Bots.
Sci-fi freighter.
Flyers.
August 20, 2016
August blogfest – day 20
Tired.
Caffeine induced insomnia kept me awake until gone 3am last night, so today has been a bit of a blur. I don’t drink caffeine, but every now and again, if I need a bit of a kick when I’m busy, I’ll have a proper coffee. I always regret it later when I’m wide awake in those quiet, small hours of the night.
I did manage to draw a nice little robot today though.
Little orange robot
Drawn in a Field Notes Brand notebook, with Copic Multiliner, Copic Ciao Marker, Kuretake No8 brush pen and a white Posca marker.
March 10, 2016
Commissions
I’m now happily accepting a new round of illustration commissions. If you’ve ever wanted to own some original art – and like my work – now’s your chance.
Commissions
If you would like to buy an original drawing, email me at rob [at] thisnorthernboy [dot] co [dot] uk , and you can request one of the following:
A robot
An Astronaut
A Spaceship
An imagined place
Something else entirely
What you’ll receive will be a black and white pen drawing, on an A4 sheet of good quality, 220gsm cartridge paper. The artwork will be approximately 240mm x 160mm in size, centred on the paper so you can frame it easily if you’d like to. If you would prefer a colour illustration – let me know and we can have a chat.
You can also request for the illustration to be landscape or portrait in orientation.
Any other requests – type of landscape, style of robot etc. can be made, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to take this into account. I know this sounds a little strict, but I only want to accept commissions that I’ll enjoy drawing right now, and in return you get a lovely surprise when you open your finished illustration.
What will this cost?
I charge a flat rate of £60 including post and packaging for the UK, and £60 + post and packaging for the rest of the world.
When you email me to request a commission, if you can include the address you’d like it shipped to, I’ll work out the cost of postage and let you know. If you’re happy with the overall cost I can accept payment by PayPal.
When will you get your drawing?
I’ll aim to complete and post all illustrations within three weeks of receiving payment.
What might your commission look like?
Well, it could look a little like these…
The Day of the Dead. £40.
The City and the Tree
The Copse
The Astronaut.
October 19, 2015
Inktober update
If you’ve been following my blog, or my Instagram or Twitter feeds, you’ll know I’m participating in this year’s Inktober. For an explanation of what Inktober is, have a quick read of this blog post.
18 days in to the project and I’m part frustrated – that I haven’t made more progress using the brush pen, it still feels damn tricky to get the line quality right – and partly delighted to be producing illustrations every day that I’m (more or less) happy with.
Time, as always, is a big factor. I’m back working in London Monday to Friday now, and getting home at eight in the evening doesn’t leave lots of time to think or draw. I try to get out of the office at lunch time and do some sketching, getting some ideas together for things I might draw that evening or the coming days. This can really help, if I don’t get to my desk until after nine pm once I’ve eaten, having an idea ready to go is a weight off my shoulders.
I am still drawing each illustration with my Pentel Pocket Brush, although I am sneaking in a little detailed line work here and there with Staedtler or Copic pigment liners.
Today’s drawing is still yet to be done. I’ve one idea half finished, that I’m really not too sure about, and a bunch of doodles and notes scribbled over my desk that might become something.
Here are the first 18 drawings for this year. I’ll post another update for Inktober in a couple of weeks when it’s finished.
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- Day 1. The Inkbot.
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- The Spacedog.
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- The Island. £40.
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- The Stone. £20.
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- Day 5: The Reaper.
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- Day 6: The Forgotten.
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- Day 7: The Altar of the Moon.
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- The Lone Tree. £40.
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- The Deep Dweller. £30.
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- Day 10: The Pumpkin.
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- The Machine. £40.
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- Day 13: The Visitor.
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- The Moon House. SOLD.
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- Day 15: The Whale.
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- The Berg. £20.
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- The Old Town. £30.
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- The Android. £30.
September 11, 2015
New Commissions
I’m now happy to accept a new round of illustration commissions. Over the past few months I’ve completed over 40 commissions, so if you’d like some original, affordable art to hang on your wall, here’s how it works…
Commissions
If you would like to buy an original drawing, email me at rob [at] thisnorthernboy [dot] co [dot] uk , you can request one of the following:
A robot
A Spaceship
An imagined place
If there’s something in particular you’d like, that isn’t one of the above, just let me know – it might be something I’d be interested in drawing for you.
What you’ll receive will be a black and white pen drawing, on an A4 sheet of good quality, 200gsm cartridge paper. The artwork will be approximately 240mm x 160mm in size, centred on the paper so you can frame it easily if you’d like to.
You can also request for the illustration to be landscape or portrait in orientation.
Any other requests – type of landscape, style of robot etc. can be made, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to take this into account. I know this sounds a little strict, but I only want to accept commissions that I’ll enjoy drawing right now, and in return you get a lovely surprise when you open your finished illustration.
What will this cost?
I charge a flat rate of £60 including post and packaging for the UK, and £60 + post and packaging for the rest of the world.
When you email me to request a commission, if you can include the address you’d like it shipped to, I’ll work out the cost of postage and let you know. If you’re happy with the overall cost I can accept payment by PayPal.
When will you get your drawing?
I’ll aim to complete and post all illustrations within two weeks of receiving payment.
What might your commission look like?
Well, it could look a little like these…
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- Astronaut
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- Stilted City
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- Steampunk Spaceship
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- Spaceship
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- Island
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- Cityscape
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- Heavy Droid
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- Lighthouse
June 3, 2015
Commissions update…
Recent commissions
UPDATE: Due to demand, and the amount of time I’m spending on each commission, I’m increasing my prices. My standard commissions, as described below will now be priced at £60.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I recently announced that I’m accepting illustration commissions and the response was fantastic. I’ve completed over 40 illustrations so far, and still have a few more booked in. If you’d like to own some original art by me, here’s how it works…
I am now accepting commissions.
I’m keeping things quite strict though, so this is how it will work if you’re interested in owning some original art.
If you would like to buy an original drawing, email me at rob [at] thisnorthernboy [dot] co [dot] uk , you can request one of the following:
A robot
A Spaceship
An imagined place
What you’ll receive will be a black and white pen drawing, on an A4 sheet of good quality, 200gsm cartridge paper. The artwork will be approximately A5 in size, centred on the paper so you can frame it easily if you’d like to.
You can also request for the illustration to be landscape or portrait in orientation.
Any other requests – type of landscape, style of robot etc. can be made, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to take this into account. I know this sounds a little strict, but I only want to accept commissions that I’ll enjoy drawing right now, and in return you get a lovely surprise when you open your finished illustration.
What will this cost?
I’m going to charge a flat rate of £60 including post and packaging for the UK. And a rate of £60 + post and packaging for the rest of the world.
When you email me to request a commission, if you can include the country you’d like it shipped to, I’ll work out the cost of postage and let you know. If you’re happy with the overall cost I’ll accept payment by PayPal.
When will you get your drawing?
I’ll aim to complete and post all illustrations within two to three weeks of receiving payment.
What might your commission look like?
Well, it could look a little like these…
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- Imagined Landscape 1
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- Imagined Landscape 3
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- Spaceship 1
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- Robot 1
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- Robot 2
So if you’d like to own some original art, and support me as I work at being an illustrator – drop me an email now.
Thank you,
Thisnorthernboy
May 26, 2015
Some recent commissions
I recently started taking commissions, on the themes of robots, spaceships or imaginary places. It’s been a pretty good response so far, and it’s been really enjoyable creating work to order – but on subjects that I love.
Here are a few recent illustrations…
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- The Tree and the City
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- The Light on the Rock
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- Sky Town
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- Stilted City III
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- Droid 4
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- Robot One
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- Robot Two
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- Easter Island Robot
April 18, 2015
Return of the Robots
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, or following me on Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram, you’ll know that between August 2013 and August 2014, I drew a robot a day for a whole year. It was quite daunting committing to a daily project of that length, but it was something I felt I had to do to get me in to the routine of drawing every day – a skill or habit that I’d need if I wanted to become an illustrator for a living. I think it achieved its purpose – I now get pretty restless if I don’t draw at all for a day, and I’m currently work on my first book illustration project.
I haven’t really drawn robots since I finished the Droid a Day adventure though, and to be honest, I’ve missed them.
Today I’ve given myself the day off from paying work to rustle up another droid, and I’m pretty pleased with the way he came out.
Droid V.366.0
Initial sketch.
Final inks.
August 24, 2014
Tentacles
One of the recurring themes of my droids has to be tentacles. I don’t know why but I do love drawing a nice set of tentacles (no sniggering at the back). I quite like drawing octopus and squid too, so it’s not just droids.
There’s definitely a weird hybrid of jellyfish and octopus going on in most of these, with hints of The Matrix and The Empire Strikes Back.
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- Robot 2
this northern boy 