Self Initiated Work

Self initiated projects are an opportunity to draw something I do not normally get commissioned to do.  It’s good to fill gaps in my portfolio and expand the breadth of what you can do as an illustrator.  If its not in the folio a client will not commission you do do something similar, so its important to keep the work fit and healthy by adding new things and trimming the fat.

Their is no reason it has to be a chore it can be fun and you can get to draw things that are interesting.  I love dinosaurs and all things prehistoric from lost lands long ago, I've quite bookshelf on the evolution of life, fossils and lovely glossy picture reference books on the subjects too.  It is a wealth of material for the mind to imagine upon, so I decided to get prehistoric.

The below images show the Tyrannosaurus and horned Triceratops placed in a dummy layout to give them a bit of context. Both pen and ink illustrations are the kind of illustration that I hope is attractive to children’s book publishers.

The line art illustration is created from pencil sketches and then coloured on the computer.  For the Triceratops illustration I worked from the fossil remains shown in books only as a challenge and then put flesh on the bones and skin and patters from reference images of animals that exist today.

The mighty Tyrannosaurus, for this I placed my illustration in  a dummy  page layout  to  give it a little context.

The horned Triceratops in dummy layout.

You can see these images and other commissioned work by visiting my website 

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Recent projects

I’ve been fortunate to work with a great deal of talented people, producing images for advertising Children’s book illustrations, Educational illustrations, Comic book artwork, Storyboard and conceptual art for television, web, client pitch images and even illustrated maps! 

Thorpe Park 2009-Present  Large artwork for the amusement park’s on site map both display and carry fold out version.  The challenge was the fit in all the rides and buildings in a way that you could see the dramatic scale of the main rides and still be used as a functioning map.  The park is always being updated with new rides so the illustration needs to keep up with the new developments. Client LMC Design, London

From project brief to final artwork, I hope to impress and do my best, communicating my ideas discussing with you the most interesting way to turn your brief to an exciting visual. Collaboratively we can develop sketches and I will send those concepts on for your input, to help push the image forward to the final artwork.

My work is all rendered in pen and ink, my line art illustrations have evolved and developed as I’ve improved my craft.  When the ink is dry the final artwork is scanned, colored and tweaked, images can be vectored or saved to the file format you need.

It’s fantastic to see my work in context and I get a great deal of enjoyment seeing it in print.  For over a year on a weekly basis I contributed illustrations for The Guardian Newspapers Saturday edition.  My work has appeared in the London Underground and on Billboard posters in Italy for Piaggio’s urban scooter campaign , Artwork for Aids awareness literature in New York for HB4 Chelsea and recently an illustrated story, The Girl With Green Eyes for Oxford University Press aimed at an older readership to name but a few examples. 

The Girl With Green Eyes, 2011 For Oxford University Press’s Bookworms series, the above shows two images taken from the main location of the book, seven images in total featured this setting.  The challenge was to show the main characters in the same place but from different angles to keep the visuals interesting.

Recently I was fortunate to work on a project for the Northern Ireland Chamber Of Commerce (NICC), producing illustrations for their 230^th Anniversary brochure.  The brief required me to research on the developments in science, business and industry in Northern Ireland over the past 230 years to render interesting visuals to sit with and compliment the brochure’s copy.

Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce Interior artworks (NICC) 2012 A selection of interior artwork for the NICC 230 brochure, expanding on the history and innovation the Chamber has passed through and helped influence.  Interior artwork needed to blend around the copy hence the rough edges and sat on the page couter edges.  Brochure Design by Pink Inc, Belfast.

Double page art for the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce (NICC), 2012  Interior cover imaged for the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce’s 230 brochure.  The artwork was to show the progression of Belfast from NICC’s foundation 230 years ago to present day.

Please get in touch if you would like to find out more, 

visit http://www.dylangibsonillustration.co.uk