drawing | this northern boy

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.

6 Comments

April 14, 2015

Fragment of Laputa

A floating island, or a fragment of one. Not unlike the Kingdom of Laputa described by Jonathon Swift in Gulliver’s Travels.

Fragment of Laputa.

Rocks.

Lonely tree.

Drawn with Copic Multiliners on cartridge paper.

Floating islands are a continued theme with my drawings, more here and here.

8 Comments

April 4, 2015

The Towers

I’ve been working on a couple of illustrations of medieval(ish) towers over the last couple of days. I have a little project that I’m thinking about – and these fit in to that in some way.

Drawn on cartridge paper, using Copic Multiliners and Staedtler Pigment Liners. Coloured using Copic Ciao markers.

The Towers

Sentry in clour

Watchtower in colour

10 Comments

April 2, 2015

The Giant’s Ring

The Giant’s Ring is a neolithic henge at Ballynahatty, on the southern edge of Belfast. The site dates from 2700BC – making The Giant’s Ring older than the pyramids.

The illustration below was inspired by a great photograph on Instagram by my friend Jonny. I’ve taken a few liberties with the landscape though.

This illustration continues my fascination with stones and henges.

The Giant’s Ring

Cloud details

Stones detail

2 Comments

February 19, 2015

Sketching by the pool

I’m currently on holiday, spending a couple of weeks in the Maldives, and enjoying the chance to get away from the day job for a while.

I can’t stop drawing just because I’m away though, in fact if I don’t draw for a few days, I get a bit cranky.

Here’s a little sketch that I did by the pool. The subject was suggested by my wife, and inspired by being surrounded by ocean.

6 Comments

February 10, 2015

Orange Fleet

As I’ve written before, I do love drawing spaceships. Here’s a whole double page spread from my Moleskine, full of little orange spaceships.

Drawn with Staedtler Pigment Liners and coloured with Copic Ciao Markers.

The Orange Fleet

4 Comments

January 24, 2015

The Street

The Street.

Continuing my doodles of odd little medieval/Tudor/olde/fantasy streets and buildings.

Drawn in pencil, inked with a Copic Multiliner and Staedtler Pigment Liners, coloured with Copic Markers. All in a Moleskine sketchbook. I do love Moleskins but I wish the paper was a little whiter.

Line work

Final Street

6 Comments

January 15, 2015

The Tower

An illustration based on the Guinigi Tower in Lucca, Italy.

Drawn with a 0.03 Copic Multiliner and a 0.3 Staedtler Pigment Liner in an A5 Moleskine sketchbook.

The Tower

Details…

January 9, 2015

Draw it, Post-It…

Post-It notes have to be my most used medium for doodling, often while I’m at my day job, waiting for my Mac to finish doing something. They’re great because they are so disposable. Sketching in a Moleskine, or on a fresh sheet of beautiful Bristol Board can sometimes be inhibiting. Scrawling ideas and shapes on a Post-It or a scrap of paper can be liberating.

Draw-it, Post-It.

4 Comments

November 24, 2014

A lone spaceship…

It’s been a while since I drew a spaceship, so it was fun to create this little one-man flyer. I think it’ll get some colour in the next few days – probably orange.

One-man flyer.

4 Comments

Tag: drawing