Robin Boyden illustration

Ping Pong

2010-03-16T22:32:00.004Z

Its Gold Cup week in Cheltenham (the posh donkey derby event) so I thought I should post an entirely unrelated picture.
Ping Pong has got me through some tough times, namely, P.E lessons in school (it was an option) and the third year of my degree.

These days I have a game as a warm up to football on a Sunday to ease into 'sports mode'.

So, as I am developing the new Night Draws In style, here is a wee Ping Pong sketch.

Endpapers

2010-03-10T14:15:00.004Z

To mark the occassion of a new sketchbook, I have created endpapers featuring the little rascal from my 'NIght Draws In' series. I'm trying to work more freely on this cartoon so these were good practice.

When I reach the end of the sketchbook I will do the same for the back endpapers and see how much progress I've made (which I'll post at the time).

Materials used included: Pentel Brush and calligraphy pens, Kurecolor Markers and a pot of black acrylic ink.

Widgets

2010-02-27T17:23:00.003Z

Check out this little rascal for the upcoming Paperfox Press website. He's a little illustrated fox to go with the twitter feed widget. More details on this project coming real soon.

Flat on the Floor

2010-02-12T21:32:00.004Z

If only I had somewhere to go this Friday evening. Very hard and satisfying week and I'm deliberately winding down for the day now.

I've been working on some little characters for a quarterly e-newsletter I plan on sending out to promote myself so here we go.

Other adventures include a stack of greeting cards created, preparation for the Paperfox collective website, 10 pages of the St. Georgia comic drafted up, a 5th dummy book of a kids started, a new Night Draws In comic strip almost done and I finally got to grips with InDesign.

Clap clap me. I'm going to go see if anything lives inside a tree (gnomes, hattifatteners etc).

Renmen Project

2010-02-11T21:52:00.006Z

Hallo there,

Yesterday, I created a piece for The excellent Renmen Project, artists in support of Haiti.

Its a pencil.... with birds on it.

Here is some blurb about the project...

'Renmen' is the Haitian word for Love, the bird in the logo is the Hispaniolan Trogon, the national bird of Haiti. 'The Renmen Project' has been brought together by the team at Thunder Chunky and Ben The Illustrator in order to raise funds for UNICEF's Haiti Appeal.'

So we can see the birds, having a canoodle on top of the pencil, as birds tend to do. The pencil itself is in the colours of the Haitian flag and then we have the name of the project down the side. The 4H is a nerdy touch and can mean "for Haiti". Yes!

Then we have a little heart where the exposed pencil usually is.

To all you artists and illustrators, go send your support.

(Greeting card design)

Paperfox

2010-02-04T19:39:00.001Z

Messing about with the logo earlier...

Lint in stranger's pockets

2010-02-02T06:01:00.003Z

I've never met, or spoken to Nick Dewar but he has been an artist who frequently revisits my attention and his passing has come as a shock at his young age. Along with Paul Blow, Stephen Collins and A.Richard Allen, he had become one of my favourite contemporary editorial illustrators, with work that demonstrates an admirable intellectual passion that stands out above even his excellent line and colour skills.
If any Illustrator ever wonders if their work will make a lasting impression then take this as an example. Nick's work demonstrates real dedication and love for his craft which has been inspiring to me over the past few years as a young, developing Illustrator. This is a man who I only know through his work, and his passing has still managed to have an effect on me.
We should all honour Nick as fellow Illustrators, and do him proud, by making sure we put as much thought, creativity and heart into our work as he did.

Pipwhizzi,Its a new decade!

2010-02-01T18:07:00.005Z

To coincide with my latest website update I thought it best to update the blog. I don't have a lot to say thus far so here are some recent pictures of work.

Time is spent currently realising that Sartre wasn't as grumpy as I first thought and that Joe Sacco is still great. Brief.

In sad news, Nick Dewar has passed away and I urge you to have a good look at the smart editorials he left behind.

All Towards The End

2009-09-26T22:18:00.002+01:00

An editorial illustration commenting on Bipolar disorder.

Punching Biscuits

2009-09-24T20:55:00.004+01:00

The first of the illustrations for my editorial overhaul. My aim is to use cliches and symbology responsibly to communicate the message of the picture. This piece is is about guilt and it following you around.
Looking forward to end of the week, things are beginning to settle down in Cheltenham and will hopefully get into an exciting routine in the next couple of weeks.

Return of the Dead Eye

2009-09-22T19:46:00.002+01:00

Its been a long time since I've updated this blog, I will be attaching it to my website soon enough which should keep my on my toes to update it.
The past 2 weeks has brought about a relocation to Cheltenham and some exciting new opportunities.
In terms of work, I am completely redoing my editorial section as I'm changing the style and content in that area. This should be up and running in the next couple of weeks.
Now that I have setup something resembling a studio, productivity should go way up and I hope to release an entirely new body of work under a pseudonym (may have promised this before).

In other news, St. Georgia is progressing nicely, I will hopefully get a few pages finished soon but I think I may keep it under wraps until completion. Please check out Digital Arts next month as I'm in the 'Showcase' section and go back in time to last month and buy Mac User where I'm interviewed.

If anyone wants to do some collaborating then let me know as I would love to get some sort of Illustration faction going. We could get some sweet tats'.

Omar goodness

2009-06-30T00:51:00.003+01:00

A bit of a departure but I've been working on a picture of Omar Little from The Wire for a friend. It's been a nice little exercise for me so it's incredibly frustrating when my posh Epson R2400 decides to be a dick and have a mind of its own. Either that or the screen is all off, meaning more money shall be shed on a colorimeter. Here is a snippet of said image...

As for other news, a second wave of postcards is on its way later in the week. I've ordered some custom made stamps from the English Stamp Society to smackdown on the envelopes so as soon as they arrive from the Stork they will be forcefed to the postbox.
Robin Boyden Illustration will be continuely changing in content over the next couple of months as it fast becomes the stuffy older brother to its bratty new (and still nameless) sibling.

I've been working on a lot more narrative work recently and producing a lot of inking heavy landscapes which have been pleasantly enjoyable thus far. Expect a post soon.

That's about it. It's incredibly muggy so I might sleep in the fridge tonight.

Betty's Back

2009-06-24T18:51:00.003+01:00

Never seen the show but couldn't resist that goofy face.

Twitchy Scribbles

2009-06-19T01:55:00.004+01:00

I should be asleep by now but I stayed up to watch Nick Cave on BBC. However I missed it by perusing scribbles on the internet. Here we have the result of one of the roughs below and a rehash of an old piece about Scotophobia (fear of the dark) which is now in it's third incarnation.
Over the next few months I will be creating a new portfolio to run alongside my current one. I've been caught in two minds for a while now about the content and visual style of my portfolio so I've decided to produce two and become a schizophrenic illustrator. RBI will shoot off into a more 'mature' realm that will be focused more on editorials and publishing with the style reaching for a 'faux' woodcut finish (faux in that it will be heavy and thick penmanship that strives for that look).
The nameless portfolio 2 will focus on more commercial work, mainy looking for prospective advertising clients. This will be bolder in colour, vector based and *gulp* devoid of outlines. It's also a quicker method of working for me and a good space in which to confess childish and ill informed ideas.
Now all I need is a name for this portfolio and maybe a physical disguise.

Maybe a trunk.

Whether the Weather is wet...

2009-06-11T01:53:00.000+01:00

Pleasant bit of thunderstorm today. Ozzy the cat has war wounds and several stitches in his neck and bandaged legs to stop him scratching them. He's not allowed outside because of this so the weather outside may have been some comfort to him. Stay put Kitty.
In other pet news, Jasper the cowardly puppy is afraid of caged gerbils.

My Moo postcards arrived today and looked awesome, just waiting on the character stickers I ordered to use as a seal on the back of the envelope then my paper ship shall sail.

Getting on with reinventing my currently lacklustre editorial section which will then spawn even more postcards. Currently scanning the internet for suitable animation MA for 2010 (unless I can sneak into somewhere this year).

Todays pictures are a couple of roughs. Number 1 is an editorial on thespian nudity and number 2 is a response to some comment from Clement Freud about "Having a name but no horse".

Uuuhh...that's it. I like Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash's "It Ain't Me Babe" cover, it's a mood changer.

Ho Hum

2009-06-02T00:03:00.000+01:00

Going home was pretty good, saw a shooting / falling star (or aliens as I stubbornly call them) and played xbox till the wee hours.
Decided to go for an MA in 3d animation in 2010 so I shall buried in that for a while now which is great news.
Just got back to London and my room smells of old shoes after leaving my sourdough to ferment for 4 weeks. Forgot about that. I've got as far as placing it in the garden and will call in the bomb squad for a controlled detonation tomorrow.
Plans include wading through the Cinema 4D manual and watching something with dinosaurs in. Also maybe some crude childlike crayon drawings that I will tell friends my clever dog has drawn.

Off Home

2009-05-06T13:24:00.000+01:00

Time for a ride on the train today, going back home where no Photoshop and Illustrator exists so some valuable sketchbook meditation shall be occurring.
Here's my new desk setup, I got as far as sanding the top down on. Underneath the wear and tear it's a very nice desk.
The garden/ allotment is looking good too.

Back In Time

2009-05-04T19:28:00.000+01:00

I recently won the Little Mr Worst Blogger award for services to anti-blogging. I won't make any promises but I hope to update this far more often.
The last month has brought about a website update at http://www.robinboydenillustration.com
which I'm pretty pleased with. Also a few 'zine adventures and cartoon strips.
I'm thinking they're a little rusty at the moment but with practice I'm sure they'll get more coherent.

Spring Clean

2009-01-12T17:23:00.000Z

I'm growing the imaginary beard and hiding in a sketchbook cave for the time being. The target is to have a brand spanking new portfolio of work for March, which hopefully will reflect a more natural and coherent body of work for the public to stretch their sore eyelids to.
I'm jumping down the garden path of narrative work at the moment in a bid to punch some soul back into my illustrations which was absent through most of last year. Therefore there should be far more pic n' mix induced storytelling and excitement to gawp at come the Spring.

Latest piece finished is an editorial image that takes a look at that financial scoundrel Bernard Madoff, who made off (titter- how many times has that been told) with around $300 billion of investors money.

I hereby promise to post more regularly (see you in six months).

Jiminy Cricket its Charley Harper!

2008-10-27T10:28:00.000Z

"When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."

Gone but not forgotten (August 4, 1922 - June 10, 2007)

Look! It's Chris Ware!

2008-10-08T15:25:00.000+01:00

First Entry

2008-03-22T12:22:00.000Z

Hello everyone.

This is my informal illustration site showcasing my recent work. I will included development of projects and news about what I'm up to and working on as well as what I'm wasting my time on in my breaks!
Currently I am working on a range of greeting card designs and storyboarding for a new short animation that I'm self-producing.

If your interested, my full, formal portfolio can be seen at www.robinboydenillustration.com, any suggestions would be welcome as I made it myself but looking to improve in the near future.

I've also been represented by Advocate Art Agency in London since November 2007 so you should drop by there to: www.advocate-art.com