My Drawings from the '80s

[Poemsapennyeach]

Nice for you to be able to put them up

[RobNorthampton]

@Poemsapennyeach Yes. Thank you. The folder has moved house with me three times, but rarely been opened. After 30 years, I noticed the paper was beginning to yellow a little, so I scanned them before they got any worse.

[whistonlass]

Brilliant sketches, Rob. If you were broke and depressed you did some very good work! My favourite was George Burns :)  Thanks for sharing your talent with us once again. x

[RobNorthampton]

@whistonlass And thank you for watching, Jacquie! So nice to hear from you again! I hope you're well. Regards to David. x :-)

[SteeveeStrange]

Great drawings! I recognised almost all of them before realising you made a list of who they are.

You'll need plenty of lead in your pencil if you ever draw me! <3

[RobNorthampton]

@SteeveeStrange And not only if I *draw* you, I'll bet! ;-) LOL

[RobNorthampton]

Thanks, by the way! :-) x

[fehquig]

These are very good... I even recognized a few :)

[RobNorthampton]

@fehquig Thanks Andy! Sorry I've lapsed on my video viewing recently. I must be about 50 behind by now, and that's just the fehquig channels! LOL

My best wishes to you and Cindy. :-) x

[fehquig]

@RobNorthampton No worries, Rob. Life gets it the way. I understand. My life keeps trying to do the same thing... Now I have to get back to watching some videos and doing some editing :P

[TheLunarmonkey]

just read your response to TheraminTrees, really glad you made it through it all, it always best to be honest to yourself and find people who support you, well done.

[RobNorthampton]

@TheLunarmonkey Thanks very much. It was a different time back then, and growing up gay in a small market town made me feel like an alien. I soon met other gay people in my nearest city, and then my life began!

:-D

[TheLunarmonkey]

@RobNorthampton

did you hear about the gay couple that were gonna stay at some hotel, but when the owners found out they were gay they wouldnt let them stay, then the gay couple sued them.....

sicken them i say, you dont open a business to the public then start refusing people just because you dont like what they do with their own bodies in private. people like that need good kick up the hole

[RobNorthampton]

@TheLunarmonkey I did read about that, yes. Using religion as an excuse to discriminate is no longer a legal excuse in the UK, so the couple got the judgement they deserved. The Xtians are saying "But it's their home - they should be able to decide who they invite in!" Erm, no - once you start charging money to stay at your "home", it ceases to be a private dwelling and becomes a business.

[RobNorthampton]

In the '60s and early '70s, some seaside landladies used to post notices in their windows saying "No Blacks". That was obvious discrimination, and is of course, no longer allowed. I see no difference with this couple, except they want to use religion as their reason to be bigots...

[strikenetter]

 Quite the artist! Thanks for posting.

[RobNorthampton]

@strikenetter And thanks for watching! They are an odd bunch of sketches, aren't they? I never courted rhyme or reason though. And yes, I know, it shows! :-D

[TheraminTrees]

What a treasure trove Rob — you were prolific! Loved the huge range too — you often get one theme coming through with portraitists don't you, but this collection's so diverse. Beautiful work! ;8)

[RobNorthampton]

@TheraminTrees Thanks very much, Link. It was a strange time for me. I had my first major depression when I was 18, and considered ending it all. I was dating girls, and just dipped my toe into gay nightlife by the time I was 21, but it took me some time to get used to saying "I am gay", and coming out to *myself*. I became quite insular, and drawing was a distraction for me. It was the late 70s, and I wondered how I would ever fit in to the homophobic, hetero world. But I made it! :-)

[TomSawyerLush]

Wow Rob I love you're drawings :) 

[RobNorthampton]

@TomSawyerLush Thank you Tom! :-)

[tinySpectacle]

These are great. What fun it must have been to rediscover them--thanks for letting us in on it!

[RobNorthampton]

@tinySpectacle Thanks Lo. Yes, I knew they were languishing amongst my old books somewhere, but they hadn't seen the light of day for a great number of years. The paper was beginning to yellow some, so I thought I'd better scan them if I wanted to keep a record of my boring nights as a single 20-something! :-)

[genmama1955]

It was exciting to see some of your work, Rob. I had no idea you were an artist.

[RobNorthampton]

@genmama1955 Thank you Lee Ann, but I wouldn't consider myself an artist. I think I always drew stuff as a kid, and it just kind of progressed. I was rarely happy with the end results, and ditched as many as I kept. By the 90s, I started painting instead, and that kept me occupied for a few years. Link to my paintings in the description. :-)

[coolsteven2]

WOAH! Rob...!! You didn't tell me you were THIS talented! Is the pencil your third arm? Frekkin amazing!!! How long did it take you on average to do one?

[RobNorthampton]

@coolsteven2 Hi Steven, and thanks for the glowing comment! I guess each one took a couple of hours or so, with a lot of erasing and correcting sometimes! I only kept the ones I liked. I suppose I threw as many again into the bin! :-D

[tonightwefly]

1:04 your dad? looks very simmilar if not :-)

[RobNorthampton]

@tonightwefly Well spotted, but no, it was Bing Crosby. There was a resemblance between the two which had been noticed before, many moons ago. My mum used to fancy Bing, so I guess that's why I did that one. Thanks for the comment! :-)

[dooshahn]

Seriously Rob, upload your paintings and drawings to deviantART ! ! ! ! !

[RobNorthampton]

@dooshahn Good idea. I may just do that. Thanks :-)

[dooshahn]

@RobNorthampton I think you won't regret it. You'll get more appreciation for your work and also huge inspiration :)

Let me/us know if you put yourself there.

[mku17ra]

Glad you kept them. Thanks for sharing

[RobNorthampton]

@mku17ra Thank you. The iconography seems a bit dated now, but I guess it was a snapshot in time

:-)

[dewinthemorning]

You ARE a really good portraitist... and artist, in general! Have you done something for a career with that talent?

4:17, This looks like a photo. I admired the eye, 4:43, most!

[RobNorthampton]

@dewinthemorning Thank you very much, but no, my drawing and painting has only ever been a hobby. I think I prefer it that way, because I only ever do what I fancy, and I'm not under any pressure to perform :-)

[Perroquet51]

What fun! On one of my cleaning rampages, I tossed out every one of my drawings and deeply regret it. Of course, they didn't come close to being as good as yours.

[RobNorthampton]

@Perroquet51 Thanks Marc! What a shame you threw out your work! When I split from my ex, I was walking by our old house one day and found a bunch of my paintings in a dumpster ourtside. I'd forgotten I'd left them in the loft, and he had tossed them out! I retrieved what I could, but I know some have gone forever. 

[Perroquet51]

@RobNorthampton It's sad that when couples split, they seem to forget all the good times they had and dwell only on the bad parts of their relationship. How hard would it have been to simply contact you and ask if you wanted your stuff? People capable of that kind of vengeance are best kept out of our lives, anyway.

[AncientAtheist]

Very talented, bud. 

[RobNorthampton]

@AncientAtheist Thank you John! I hope you're well. I have been so bad at keeping up with my YT recently

:-(

Must try harder...must try harder

[AncientAtheist]

@RobNorthampton Hardly the most important thing in life, my friend. Just stop in when you can!

[timido66]

Those were all lovely. You were prolific

[RobNorthampton]

@timido66 I have often found that after a bad case of depression, I would suddenly find that I had a rush of creativity. This was one such time. Weird, isn't it?

[hemeanseverything2me]

2:54 the craving kicked in.

Those are some spectacular drawings (I'll try and suppress the feeling of jealousy!)

I imagine those aren't all of them though. I'm sure there's a few that would be flagged as inappropriate :P

Tom

[RobNorthampton]

@hemeanseverything2me Thanks very much, Tom! I spent many evenings in my local pub, drinking and smoking myself silly! :-)

This just kind of encapsulated those times for me.

I did try a few...ahem...anatomy sketches at the time, but they somehow got lost along the way :-)

[peepeevagi]

Great stuff. And if you never went to an art school, Outstanding stuff :D

[RobNorthampton]

@peepeevagi Thank you very much! No, I didn't do the art school thing. I was too busy trying to earn a meagre living! The sketches just helped pass a lot of evenings spent sitting in my bedroom.

:-)

[peepeevagi]

Well, they are seriously above the bar. I mean, i had a sibling that went to a prestiged art academy(Fort worth academy of fine arts) and your art, by their standards, would definitely be above the bar. Draw more!

Heck, become a cartoonist and get famous lol.

[christine13black]

great work!!!

you're really talented!

post more if you like i sure like them a lot!

keep up the good work

peace

[RobNorthampton]

@christine13black Thanks Christine! Unfortunately, these were the only ones I kept. I sometimes used to do a sketch of somebody's grandma or kids and trade it for the handsome payment of 20 cigarettes! :-)

[christine13black]

@RobNorthampton haha at least you got smth out of it i mostly do it for free so far!