Here’s a peek at the first three days of my Inktober challenge. I’ll probably post an update in a week or so. Even just a few days in I think the practice is making a difference. The brush pen is pretty tough to control, so it really does pay to use it a lot.
If you don’t know what Inktober is, have a look at my last blog post.
1. The Inkblot.
2. Space Dog.
3. The Island
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…
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.
A little one-man speedster, based on 1930s aerobatic planes. Had to have a nice bright orange paint-job obviously.
Sporty Flyer
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.
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
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.
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.
this northern boy 