pen and ink | this northern boy

July 31, 2015

Steampunk Spaceship

My most recent commission was for a spaceship, with some steampunk influences. I wanted to keep it very much like one of my spaceships though, so it’s kind of an amalgam of my asteroid belt clippers, and some weird alt-history Victorian airship.

I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, it was one of those rare illustrations that just flows nicely all the way from initial doodles right through to the final ink.

Finished Steampunk Spaceship.

Work in progress.

Initial sketch.

4 Comments

July 20, 2015

Imagined Places

I’ve drawn a fair few cityscapes and imaginary places over the last few months, some of them purely personal, some have been commissions, some have been posted here before, some haven’t, so here they are collected in one place.

The first, City on the Edge of Nowhere, is one of my favourites.

City on the edge of nowhere.

: Stilted City

: The City and the Tree

: The City and the Tree II

: The Light on the Rock

: Stilted City II

: Sky Town

: Two Sides of the Street

: Stilted City III

: Stilted City IV

: The Island. 4788 likes on Instagram.

: Sky Town II

: Nobody Gets off this Rock

: Fragment of Laputa

: The Giant’s Ring

: Slater’s Bridge

: Stilted City (coloured)

8 Comments

June 17, 2015

Astronaut.

I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut, and even now at 42 years old, I haven’t quite given up hope, so when Jeremy Marshall commissioned an illustration and said “… is there any chance of an astronaut featuring?” I jumped at the chance.

The astronaut.

Details.

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 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

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

October 27, 2014

The Stones…

Inspired by Linda Thompson‘s song “Nine Stone Rig”…

I’ve been drawing standing stones. Part neolithic, part Lord of the Rings.

Nine Stone Rig

The Stones

3 Comments

September 14, 2014

The Lighthouse in the Sky…

Finally finished and coloured an illustration that I started a few weeks ago. Vaguely inspired by the work of John Evelyn, Conrado Almada and Hayao Miyazaki, it’s one of those illustrations, that as I draw, takes on a little life of its own. I can’t help but wonder who lives there, what the lighthouse is for, what kind of ships need warning of rocks in the sky…?

I think there’s definitely a story to be told here. By somebody.

The Lighthouse in the Sky

Inspired by the lighthouse, I thought I’d add some more…

Village in the Clouds

5 Comments

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.