Nicola L Robinson: Art, Design & Illustration

2012 Year of the Dragon

2012-01-16T16:22:00.006Z

Happy New Year everyone, twice! We are already well into January so you would have to be particularly hung over to have not noticed the first new year, but there is a second celebration, on the 23rd of January Chinese New Year begins and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon...

I don't really need an excuse to draw dragons, they seem to pop up fairly frequently here as it is, but nevertheless I have taken the opportunity to mark the transition and welcome this New Year with an appropriate illustration. 2011 was the year of the Rabbit, and there are a few rabbits in this illustration making their exit on a little boat to the bottom left along the river, while the colossal red Dragon takes centre stage for 2012.

The Year of the Dragon runs from 23rd January 2012 through to 9th February 2013...

Bring on the Dragon...

Nicola

Chinese New Year links -

Chinese New Year on Wikipedia - Everyone's favourite web based encyclopaedia

Chinese New Year recipes on Rasamalaysian - A truly delicious website

Merry Christmas everyone...

2011-12-19T14:30:00.005Z

Well here we are, it's December and another year draws to an end. It is nearly impossible to walk through a shop without having to fight your way through crowds of people frantically buying things they probably don't really need. I have a large tree shaped object in the lounge bedecked with gold and red and silver and the booze cabinet is well stocked, Christmas is upon us once again!

So I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with a little festive illustration to mark the occasion... remember monsters like Christmas tree's too.

Happy Halloween...

2011-10-31T16:30:00.006Z

It's that time of year again...I'll soon be donning my cloak and pointy hat and climbing on my broomstick to go and celebrate Halloween but before I do here are are a couple of pictures to mark the occasion.

First a little experimental inking on some Halloween Totems, a bit retro perhaps, and I've kept the palatte limited, but don't let their vacant expressions fool you, these guys mean business...

Also, I spotted this character watching me last week in Canada, and he was happy to pose for a quick picture-

Happy Halloween everyone!

Cover Art - 'How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People)' by Alette J. Willis

2011-10-12T10:19:00.010+01:00

Edinburgh is probably my favourite city, I don't get to visit it as often as I'd like but I do have the pleasure of working with the excellent publisher Floris books who are based there.

I have recently had a lot of fun producing cover art for 'How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People)' written by Alette J. Willis. I loved the book, (I got to have a read of it before I did the cover art) it is very funny and it comes highly recommended.

This book was the winner of the 2011 Kelpies Prize and is due to be published on November 17th 2011.

Age Range is 8 - 12 years

For more info about the book and the author and to buy a copy when it is available go to Floris Books

(See larger images on my main site here)

Grizzly Vs Woodchuck

2011-09-27T14:47:00.005+01:00

A typical situation of mine here, something big and scary encountering something considerably smaller and more vulnerable. David vs Goliath if you will, or in this case Grizzly vs Woodchuck. But take comfort, the bear might not be thinking about eating the little woodchuck. He is smiling, so they might be best friends. Perhaps. Actually the bear might even be a lady bear.

See a larger version on my website here -

Grizzly Vs Woodchuck

dpi Magazine - Meticulous Art

2011-08-30T17:35:00.010+01:00

I don't often get post from Taiwan, but this morning I was surprised to see an elaborately decorated package on my doormat, after a few moments of wondering what on earth I had ordered from the internet this time I realised it was my copy of dpi Magazine.

Earlier this year I was invited by Vicky at dpi Magazine to contribute to a special edition of the magazine focusing on 'Meticulous Art'.

Dpi magazine is an art magazine in Taiwan, dpi stands for 'Design Popular Imagination' and it's catchy tagline for the regular magazine translates as 'Every designer should have a PC or a Mac, and a copy of dpi Magazine'.

On flicking through this special edition it is clear this is a beautifully produced magazine full of breathtaking artwork from artists, illustrators and designers from across the globe and I am honoured to have contributed to it.

Here are a few photos of my work inside -
Penguins! haha

Rough sketches for Downtown

2011-05-31T14:07:00.005+01:00

I usually only put finished examples of work on my blog as an extension of my main portfolio site but I've been sorting through some papers in my studio and thought it might be an interesting change to put some rough sketches up too, here are a couple from the most recent 'Downtown' project.

First rough idea sketch -
No, this isn't the result of spiders break dancing across my sketchbook page, but the first rough sketch or thumbnail if you will. This is actually fairly cohesive in comparison to other similar 'ideas' I have. I often annotate with words too. The text reads 'Monster city at night, dark alley's, iron bridges'

Pencil Rough -
A full size pencil rough of the eventual drawing, although for some reason I haven't added the little figures here.

Colour -
The finished illustration with inking and colour.

Downtown...

2011-05-18T16:17:00.011+01:00

And a closeup of the bottom right corner- (see my website to see the whole thing)

I have just added this new illustration to my website, titled 'Downtown', of a strange city at night. This one was a bit of a mission to complete, I hadn't quite anticipated how tedious it is drawing little windows when I initially sketched this out, but some time later here it is.

This is a city that watches you back, complete with it's own intelligence and awareness. To see the whole illustration visit my site - Downtown

Nicola

PS- This is nothing to do with the old Petula Clarke song by the same name, honest.

Twittering about...

2011-05-11T11:38:00.002+01:00

It's no secret I'm not a fan of social networks, I'm one of very few people I know who is not on facebook, but I have recently bitten the bullet and signed up to twitter, I'm not sure how good it is yet for me, but I have had some entertainment adding people and places of interest to stalk, I mean, follow.

This is mostly art, publishing, food and music related so far. Something which struck me when looking for people to follow was how many people I'd be interested to follow are already long dead. The likes of Oscar Wilde and Salvador Dali just aren't on twitter.

So rambling aside if you would like to follow me and get random tweets about things please do so here -

Hope everyone is having a good week,

Nicola

Easter Bank Holiday/St George's Day - Faster Kenneth...Faster!

2011-04-23T15:14:00.008+01:00

Hi all, another new piece today which seems to tie in with the recent hot sunny weather we've been having here in the UK over our current cluster of Bank Holidays.

Random trivia -
There are myths which say crocodiles don't have tongues, this is false, the crocodile does indeed have a tongue, but it is well attatched to the bottom section of its mouth which makes it unable to stick it out as I have drawn this one here. Given the improbability of the rest of the situation I think I can over look this detail.

To see a larger version see my site here

Happy St George's Day and Happy Easter!

Fox and Chickens

2011-03-22T16:48:00.007Z

Hi all,

It's been a really busy month here with projects for the upcoming Bologna Book fair, but I have managed to find some time for a few side projects, one of which is this 'Fox and Chickens' piece, which gave me the perfect opportunity to test out some new pen nibs I had found since moving house a few months ago.
This is fairly miniscule here, and the right half is cropped out but you can see a larger, full version on my website here -

Fox and Chickens

Chinese New Year - Year of the Rabbit! 2011

2011-02-03T09:15:00.007Z

Happy New Year again, today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, last year was the year of the Tiger and now we welcome the year of the Rabbit.

There is a lot of information around regarding what this all means and symbolises, but I won't go into that, instead I have drawn my own tribute to this celebration, the year of the rabbit -
Drawn in inks, dip pens and watercolours.

Thanks for reading, Ill be adding a larger version of this to my main site soon,

Nicola

AOI Monthly Themes

2011-01-07T13:14:00.006Z

I have been a member of the AOI for some time and also subscribe to their portfolio service, every month they select a number of illustrations to represent their monthly theme. I have been lucky enough to have been featured in both December and January's selections-

January - My Seamonster for the 'Monster's' theme.
December - My Mad Hatters Teaparty for the 'Celebration' theme.

Thanks AOI!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T09:46:00.005Z

Happy New Year to everyone! let's hope 2011 brings lots of good things...

Christmas shopping with umbrella and penguins

2010-12-01T10:32:00.007Z

December is upon us. People will be opening the first doors of their advent calendars for a chocolate hit before breakfast, unless you have one of the more traditional ones in which case just a picture of a star or a bauble for you. I don't actually have one myself, but I am starting to consider Christmas shopping and have this ink drawing to mark the festive occasion.

Given the current winter weather it may have been more appropriate to put snowflakes in this one, but who bothers with an umbrella then?

I am aware of the compositional similarity between this and the legendary work of Mr Gorey's Gashleycrumb Tinies, however by the time I had put much thought into this several of the penguins were already 'alive' so I had to finish it!

Pen and ink on paper...

'The Last Dragonslayer' Cover Art and App Illustrations

2010-11-08T12:35:00.014Z

Hi all,

I recently worked with the lovely people at Hodder and Stoughton on the cover art and title lettering for Jasper Fforde's new book 'The Last Dragonslayer'

Synopsis-

'In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7g.

Then the magic started fading away.

Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.

So it’s a surprise when the visions start. Not only do they predict the death of the Last Dragon at the hands of a dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer, and say something is coming.

Big Magic . . . '

There is an enhanced e-book edition -

I also produced some illustrations for the apple ipad and iphone app which expand upon the weird and wonderful world of Jennifer Strange.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T09:27:00.003Z

Happy Halloween everyone I hope you're all having a suitably gruesome time, and you remembered to put your clocks and watches back an hour. Everywhere I've been of late there seem to be pumpkins, witches and vampires and never one to miss the opportunity I thought I'd post something vaguely spooky to mark the occasion, so let me introduce you to my many eyed, many toothed tree monster.

He's delighted to meet you...

This one is drawn in black ink and painted in water colour with a little cosmetic dentistry to give him the perfect smile.

Moving House

2010-10-19T13:37:00.015+01:00

Another long time without a post, I am still here honestly! I hope everyone has had a good summer.

This has been one hell of a busy few months, with projects and moving house, and all the rest of the excitement and work that comes with it. haha.

I have now moved house and studio, and am posting an illustration of the event. This one is black and white, just pen and ink of my various critters and monsters moving house. There may be a few elaborations on the actual details but I do own at least that many books and I have bonsai trees, so it's as close to realism as I've been for a while.

The illustration is A2 sized so some of the details are hard to make out at this scale, I use a very scratchy fine pointed dip pen for my drawings. I have uploaded a few more of the details to my website portfolio which can be viewed here-

Monsters Moving House

More from me soon... thanks!

The Vengeful Lobster

2010-06-25T12:02:00.007+01:00

Perhaps the king of seafood, the lobster. A particularly mean looking crustacean inflicting vengeance.

Very tasty when it's good, but slightly less pleasant when you consider it is related to the humble woodlouse. Mmm.

Ink, watercolour etc

Old Sketchbooks 1 - The Doctor is Out

2010-06-17T10:05:00.006+01:00

Hi all,

I unearthed some of my old sketchbooks recently and have been entertained, embarrassed and disturbed as a result. I know there are artists who will happily draw something then discard it, I have never been able to do this and have a fairly vast archive of rough sketches, layout plans, lists and other odds and ends.

I had forgotten about a lot of the work in these books, but it is amazing how when flicking through the pages I remember what I was doing at the time like where I was when I was drawing or what music I was listening too.

This one (one of the safer ones to put up) was drawn whilst on the train to London, I've dated it on the back as 28th of January, but I'm not sure what year, or where the doctor actually is...

Featured Portfolio at HAI

2010-05-24T16:11:00.004+01:00

Monday again, and it is far too warm to be indoors working with computers and other heat emitting technology, no new pictures today I'm afraid (I am busy with lots of them though, honest) just a quick note to say my work has been selected as a featured portfolio this week at HireanIllustrator, so many thanks!

Collection of Creatures

2010-03-16T15:31:00.006Z

The sun is shining and it almost feels like Spring might happen sometime soon, as a result I'm feeling somewhat experimental, having been recently working on projects demanding a sense of realism and accurate renderings of things that actually exist (probably not obvious from my online portfolio) I've taken a little time out to draw some creatures, imaginary ones thankfully. Most of them are friendly though, I think.

This was drawn in ink and watercolour. Visit my site to see a larger image-

Creatures

Chinese New Year, 2010 Year of the Tiger

2010-02-19T11:35:00.005Z

Chinese New Year was on the 14th, so this is a few days behind, but we are now in the Year of the Tiger and this is an illustration of mine to mark the event, drawn in ink and watercolour on heavy paper.

The other 11 animals are as follows, rat, ox, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and boar, they are all there...

Chinese New Year
Chinese Astrology

2010 - Metropolitan Wasteland and a Happy New Year to all

2010-01-01T10:58:00.008Z

Happy New Year, 2010 has finally arrived... definitely time to add some more recent work to my blog.

This piece revisits a favourite topic of mine, architecture, drawn with my dip pen in black ink, and painted in watercolour and acrylic.

Happy New Year to all...

The Three Bears

2009-10-01T12:11:00.009+01:00

An illustration of an old classic, Goldilocks and the three bears. This was done a little while ago, but I thought the blog could use an injection of coloured work, so here it is. Having spent the last couple of weekends walking in Sherwood Forest this seemed fairly apt, although I didn't see any bears, I didn't even see Robin Hood and his Merry Men, haha.

Goldilocks has spied the inviting bears house with open door, while the bears are on their way home through the woods. This is pen and ink and watercolour.

Oliver Twist

2009-09-04T09:47:00.010+01:00

September already, which means it's back to school for a lot of children and teachers, mercifully this doesnt affect me, haha, however to mark this I am going to post a recent ink illustration of a scene from Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, Oliver is in the workhouse asking for some more gruel, whilst the other children look on aghast. School can't be as bad as this place can it?

This is drawn in ink with dip pen with a very fine and scratchy nib on heavy paper.

The Inventor

2009-08-18T09:29:00.008+01:00

Another new one today, the Inventor, busy at work... Watercolour, and pen and ink detail.
To get a closer look visit my website - The Inventor

Money Under the Bed...

2009-07-28T15:36:00.006+01:00

Money under the bed, perhaps not the most advisable place for savings but still...
This illustration is in Indian Ink and watercolours.

Seamonster

2009-07-01T09:35:00.008+01:00

Given the current 'heatwave' and abnormally sunny weather we have been having it seems appropriate to post this ink drawing I completed recently of a Seamonster visiting a small fishing port. Black Ink on paper.

To see more visit my website - www.nlrobinson.co.uk

Crocodile in Venice

2009-05-28T18:39:00.010+01:00

This is a small section of a much larger and longer illustration of mine of a Crocodile travelling along the waterways of a Venetian esq street. Lots of black ink was used in the creation of this one.

To see the full image please visit my website Crocodile in Venice

Happy Halloween...

2008-10-31T10:58:00.012Z

Another long month goes by without an update, however I have managed to take a little time out of various ongoing projects to do some drawings for my own amusement, pen and ink on paper to be specific, my favourite method.

This wasnt intended for Halloween, but as with so much of my self directed work it seems fairly apt. So here we have 'Clock' or 'Homicial Weather People' as they prefer to be known.

This piece is in black ink, and is A2 in size.

www.nlrobinson.co.uk

Vexatious Litigants Cover Art (and Talk Like a Pirate Day)

2008-09-22T16:43:00.004+01:00

Hello again to anyone who may be passing here, it has been a while since I last posted, I have not disappeared Im still hard at work from my ivory tower. Haha, the last couple of months have been particularly busy, but exciting all the same.

I took a short break from the mass of ongoing work to do the cover art for the New Law Journal of the week September 19th, so a nod to International Talk Like a Pirate day. Alas no pirates to be seen on the art though, just a vexatious litigant lurking around the front of the Royal Courts of Justice. Maybe next time? Who can tell.

The Animals Act 1971 - New Law Journal Cover Art

2008-07-08T12:46:00.006+01:00

This is a short update as I am currently snowed under with various projects and schemes but I wanted to add my most recent published piece, another cover for my friends at the New Law Journal, this is the 4th of July Issue with a feature article on Animal Law and issues surrounding the Animals Act 1971.

Sinister Caravan/Macabre Carnival Series

2008-06-03T01:32:00.008+01:00

Here is a preview of a series of Ink Illustrations I am currently working on inbetween other projects. It's a kind of sinister carnival/caravan of oddities and eccentrics. Each one is roughly A2 in size and this promises to be a long term piece, with many characters, creations and little odd details. Do check back to see how this progresses... See slightly larger images-
Nicola L Robinson - Black and White Illustrations

New Law Journal - Property

2008-04-21T19:39:00.005+01:00

Another cover this week for the New Law Journal, this one for the Property supplement-
More updates are on the way, Ive been very busy with numerous projects and schemes. The more observent may have noticed I have rebuilt my website recently, take a look -
www.nlrobinson.co.uk

Wills and Testaments and Family Tree's

2008-02-16T12:28:00.007Z

This week I have done another piece of cover art for the New Law Journal, this one for a feature article on tracing your family tree and genealogy.

So let me introduce you to the Drake family. Every picture tells a story, honestly. Ill elaborate with a brief history. Beginning at the top with the austere portrait of Thomas Ambrose Drake, who had two sons; Charles Thomas Drake- the eldest, a lawyer and a perfectly decent fellow, and his younger brother Lucas Horatio Drake, an artist of sorts, but altogether eccentric and possibly insane given his appearance. Lucas never married, but Charles took a wife, a fairly ordinary yet sweet natured creature Lucy Crawford.

Together Lucy and Charles had three children, the twins Flora and Louis (records of their lives have mysteriously dissapeared after their 12th birthdays and we are not sure what became of them) and their older brother the painfully dull Simon Walter Drake. Despite his inadequacies Simon married Eva Hawke, a passionate and determined woman from a fairly modest background. We suspect this marriage was one of financial benefit for Eva, who was constantly dissapointed by her husband and records (letters and photographs) suggest she had numerous affairs.

Eva and Simon had two children, one of whom is the father of the young crazy haired man sat at the computer whose research provided the details of his family.

Visit - www.nlrobinson.co.uk to see other work

Other Voices...

2008-02-11T23:58:00.000Z

Some time ago I made a number of paintings about apparantly empty, crooked, bleak interiors, the kind of places where if you were unfortunate enough to spend a night you might be woken by the creaking sounds of footsteps ascending the stairs, and on investigation find nothing.

One of these pieces has just been published by Elastic Press as a book cover for a new anthology of stories by Andrew Humphrey. Other Voices...

New Law Journal Cover Art

2008-01-22T00:17:00.001Z

A belated happy new year to all who may read this blog. It's been some time since I last posted, as ever I've been busy on various projects. There are a number of them in the system so to speak, but the most recent to reach publication (as of last Friday) is this piece of cover art I was commissioned to create for the New Law Journal to accompany their feature article.

Nicola L Robinson - Editorial Illustrations

New Welsh Review - Cover art

2007-12-07T15:30:00.000Z

My Illustration of 'Little Red Riding Hood' is the cover art of the Winter Edition of the New Welsh Review. (Issue #78)
The Illustration and a couple of smaller black and white pieces accompany the feature article by Jenni Williams - 'Stories to Make the Grown Ups scream', a piece exploring depictions of childhood innocence in fiction.

New Welsh Review- Website

Sharks in November

2007-11-16T13:58:00.002Z

Damn, I see I failed to post anything in October, despite doing a lot of work. Still, most of October's work is due to be published in some form or other early next year, (I will explain more nearer the time) so I am updating this blog with a personal diversion of my own invention.

This is a new painting of mine, it was good to be working on canvas again after the Summer spent working mainly on paper with ink. This one is in acrylic and measures 16" by 23", or 40.6cm by 58.4cm for those of the metric disposition.

I have been referring to this one as 'Shark', and occasionally 'Jaws' and so far this has remained its title. So, I give you 'Shark' As ever there is a narrative to this piece, a semi-dead shark, a handful of drunken characters, possibly pirates, although they might be considered a little cliche these days, so Ill also accept other career options for the little figures. A certain amount of detail is lost to the transferral from photo to computer, but still.

Architecture

2007-09-11T11:48:00.002+01:00

As anyone familiar with my work will know architecture is an important inspiration for me.
Most of the architecture in my work is totally imaginary, contorted and would be unlikely to stand up by itself in the 'real world'. Haha, not that that should affect me though.
In saying this there are occasions when I make drawings of buildings as they are, and today Im posting one such study of mine, of John Knox House, an impressive old building located along the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. (A favourite city of mine)

Nicola L Robinson - Black and White Illustrations

Avast!

2007-09-02T21:57:00.001+01:00

Avast! or indeed welcome to my blog, I have started this as an extension of my longserving website- Nicola L Robinson - www.nlrobinson.co.uk
Ill be posting new work as and when I update the site, so instead of trawling through the main site, you can keep track of new work as it happens right here. How convenient is that? It also allows me to throw some light on some of the slightly odd things I work on, possibly. As appears to be the tradition with these kinds of blogs I may also put some of my more experimental sketchbook pages up for scrutiny. Haha.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with my work and what I do, please take a look through my website which houses a range of my artwork from my paintings to graphic design, to concept art to illustrations of all manner of weirdness. In my efforts to throw some order to things I have built the site in two halves, so do make sure you see both sides and check back regularly for updates.

Thankyou!