this northern boy

I posted my weird tentacled creature illustration a couple of weeks ago, and the original was sold to a graphic designer and illustrator from the Netherlands, Martijn Rijven. Martin is a great illustrator, and you should really check out his Instagram page. Today Martijn asked me if it was OK to post his digitally coloured version of my drawing – once I saw it I was blown away and was more than happy to share what he’s done. If my drawing was a four out of ten before, I think the colouring job Martijn has done on it takes it to eleven! The side-by-side image shows just how much the colour added.

My original ink version.

Side-by-side comparison.

Martijn’s fantastic colour version.

I recently ran a competition over on Instagram to win an illustration commission from me. I had over 150 entries – a lot more than I expected, and there were some fantastic suggestions of things for me to draw. The winner was Joseph Travis who asked if I could draw a steam powered fishing boat. How could I resist. Joseph didn’t mention if he wanted his fishing boat to be flying – but that’s what he got (hope he likes it).

Here’s the process, from sketch to final inked illustration.

Initial sketches.

Pencil sketch.

Final sketch on cartridge paper.

Initial inks.

Trawler inks finished.

Details.

Final, finished, illustration.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. It’s through Instagram that I got my first book illustration job, it was responsible for me being featured in a book of sci-fi illustration, and Instagram has got me lots and lots of commissions.

So – to celebrate the wonder that is Instagram, I’m having a little competition. Head on over there to join in.

All you have to do is:

• Like the post
• Comment on the post – telling me what you’d like me to draw for you
• Tag a friend that you think might like to enter too

I’ll pick the winner on June 7th, and that person will get their suggestion drawn and sent to them – wherever they are in the world.

Remember – this is an Instagram only competition, comments here won’t count. Sorry.

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.