Nickillus's avatar

Nickillus

http://nickillus.co.uk
878 Watchers114 Deviations
50K
Pageviews
See All
JesterBenster
claudbrandamn
guy4men
ElenaArter14
cmtvable1
LevTai
grosseph
heretichenson666
PaintFeathers
astrolaborium
TheStrangeMage
Caboose6466
Boban-Savic-Geto
JohnSilva
BrianKesinger
Waldemar-Kazak
aljanny
e-soulu
EKukanova
TRlCKS
elsevilla
kaiserisms
LudoLullabi
JasonBrock
StMan
wildhaggisis
Ter-Jaiden
Nickillus is not a Group Admin yet
Groups they admin or create will appear here
Artist // Professional // Digital Art
Badges
Super Albino Llama: Llamas are awesome! (112)
My Bio
I've been knocking about the children's book publishing market as a full-time freelance illustrator since 1982, when I tunneled out of college. Switched from being a traditional watercolourist to digital about the turn of the century. Still learning and always will be.

Preferred software are ArtRage3 Studio Pro, Sketchbook Pro 2010 and Painter X. I still think in real media terms, and these are the closest to it I've found. The words old and fuddy-duddy definitely apply - dammit.

Some of my published work is listed here on Jacketflap -
www.jacketflap.com/profile.asp…

My website is here - nickillus.co.uk/index.html
My agent is here - www.beehiveillustration.co.uk/

Current Residence: UK
Operating System: Windows XP Pro & Windows 7 Home

Favourite Visual Artist
Edmund Dulac, J B Monge, Waterhouse, and a million others
Favourite Movies
Serenity, Kingdom of Heaven, Leon, Point Blank, L.A Confidential, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Lawrence of Arabia, Great Expectations (David Lean), Shawshank Redemption (of course), Hobson's Choice, The Yakusa, Mr Majestyk
Favourite TV Shows
Peaky Blinders, Heroes (series1), Utopia, Person of Interest, Later
Favourite Bands / Musical Artists
Orbital, Hybrid, Nine Inch Nails, Field Music, David Bowie,
Favourite Books
Tin Drum, The Flute Player, Dragonbone Chair, Toby Alone, Gormenghast
Favourite Writers
varies
Favourite Games
Don't play them - life's too short and there's too much else to do
Favourite Gaming Platform
-
Tools of the Trade
Sketchbook Pro, ArtRage, Mischief, Painter
Other Interests
art (and painting software), music, photography, film, sport
ImagineFX have stomped ahead and the vidcp for that SKetchbook Pro workshop is already loaded on their Youtube channel.  I've included a link to it in this journal entry, and have stored a more permanent link in my vidcap link box on my profile page.  The box has also been updated with the Fancy a Dunk vidcap link and another to one about creating a swirling effect in ArtRage done at the same time.  More to follow soon for those among you who have trouble getting to sleep . . . . . 'The Thrusters Should Be Pointing Down' A Sketchbook Pro 6 workshop done for ImagineFX 'Fancy a Dunk?' An ArtRage painting done in support of an entry in the Q
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
April issue of ImagineFx magazine saw another me lucky enough to have another two entires in the Q&A section on show.  I had time to cobble a vidcap together for each of these - and I use the word cobble advisedly.  I'm not your slick movie maker and you need to be prepared for a god deal of extraneous waffle, which reflects the way I tend to work anyhow.  May issue is already out on the shelves and one of the vidcaps has been released (or maybe it just escaped . . . ?) onto the the IFX Youtube channel.  It relates to the image shown here and is using ArtRage 3.55, in case any of you are interested or have a thing for waffle. Youtube link -
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Lucky enough to have been asked to supply another little workshop for my favourite magazine around Christmas.  It's in issue 93 which hit the shelves February 1st in the UK, but should be available elsewhere in download format if you inhabit more interesting places and fancy a look.  It's just me playing about to create an image in SKetchbook Pro which stands as my equal favourite software with ArtRage.  They each have different things to offer and are both great. Sketchbook Pro really is worth a look if you haven't taken advantage of the free trial already.  Don't take my word - track down the Bobby Chiu vidcap where he shows how he created
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

Profile Comments 236

Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Hello!
I have been a big fan of work for many years now, and had no idea you were on Deviantart! Your illustrations have been a personal inspiration across my childhood, and I'm excited to see what you come up with next. Thank you so much for bringing your delightful charm and characters to light for us, I can't say I admire you enough.
original scenes & special humor. very cool.
what you working on now Nick ;-)
You work is just overflowing with charm, and telling so many stories. You should totally do a visual novel app or art for a game!
Just watched the Imagine FX Artrage watercolor tutorial, really good tips there on workflow issues I've beeng struggling with lately, even for people using other software to paint like Photoshop. Thank you very much :)
Thanks for taking the time to let me know Hakepe.  Glad if it helped.  Love ArtRage software. 

Not for the watercolour so much as I'm using the the oil brush more, but there should be another couple of vidcaps for the Q&A section of the IFX mag coming in the month or so (issue 109 according to the commission).  Pretty waffley and not so instructional - talking more about the topic of the specific questions. Not allowed to say more at this stage until they're out unfortunately.
Thank you for the tip and for gathering the tutorial links to your DA site. Very helpfull :) Been trying to develop a solid illustration process from traditional scetching with a pencil to digital oil/watercolor. Still a work in progress but slowly moving forward.