Doctor Visits

In my last post, I showed you my Doctor Who sketchbook drawings of all thirteen Doctors. I've gradually been trying to finish them all, one by one, in my favorite media of acrylic gouache and ink.
I have five done at the moment, with the others in the works as we speak. Unlike the sketchbook drawings, I'm not doing them in numerical order at all, just to mix it up a bit!

I'm giddy to report that a few of the actors who played the Doctor have actually seen and commented on a few of these sketches and finished art. More on this development below.

As the Second Doctor would say, "Oh my word!"

I started with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) this time around for my super-Whovian friend Sandra Franklin, who lives in the UK and always seems to run into Doctors around every corner. (She has met every living Doctor, including the current one.) David Tennant is her favorite Doctor and I would never hear the end of it if I hadn't started with him!

Tenth Doctor (David Tennant)
I chose to do all the Doctor portraits in monochromatic greys, with the
exception of  one or more accent colors. And the hour of the clock in
the corner of each picture indicates the number of each Doctor.

Sandra has also been kind enough to supply me with all sorts of magazines and collectibles and was even able to show my sketches to some of the actors at conventions I couldn't possibly get to!
She is also a brilliant photographer who has taken lots of beautiful photojournalistic shots at conventions and even Season 8 filming in Cardiff. (Take a look at her amazing work here.)

Time War Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann)

I wanted to finish both versions of the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) for the Phoenix Comic Con (which was this weekend) but was only able to have Time War Eight done in time. Here the accent colors are the Doctor's eyes and the red of the sonic screwdriver and the Dalek saucer lights. You'll notice the clock in the corner of this one has been broken to symbolize the coming of the War Doctor.

Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton)

Here is a mischievous Two and the snow of Anarctica makes this look a
little festive, especially since we all know Two has an ingenious plan
behind his clownish facade to defeat those creepy
old-school Cybermen. 

Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)

I could not not have made Three's beloved car Bessie yellow, since she has as much of a personality as the TARDIS. Yes, those are pterosaurs menacing London. And Big Ben had to be synchronized with the clock in the corner.

Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi)

My favorite comment about this picture came from a friend's small son who carefully counted the TARDISes behind Twelve. "There are twelve little TARDISes! No-- THIRTEEN!"
And of course Twelve had to dramatically flash the red lining of his coat. (This is when all the Doctors are rushing to save Gallifrey.)

Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker)

Frobisher is a character only in the Doctor Who comics and audio dramas: he's a shapeshifting private eye penguin. Yes, you heard that right. He traveled with Six, whom he called "Doc".
Here, I wanted Six's trademark cat pin to match the TARDIS. This is the most recent of the Doctor pictures I have finished so far, and it was the lovely Colin Baker who became the very first Doctor I ever met in person! (This weekend infact! Read on.)

I have seven more Doctor pictures to finish (and a bonus Eighth and War Doctor, making fifteen portraits altogether.) But some of the actors have seen various stages of the portraits already.

What started this ball rolling was the challenge of drawing fan art of a new Doctor before he had even picked his costume. A collection of Twelfth Doctor fan art was sent to Peter Capaldi last Christmas (2013) by the awesome fan site fuckyespetercapaldi, and some of mine was included with it. (You remember this post and the silly Dalek cartoons?) Well, three months later, I got this in the mail!

Which just proves what everyone was soon to find out (who hadn't known already!), what a sweetheart and an absolute  gentleman Peter Capaldi is. He sent these out to everyone who contributed to the scrapbook and yes, he drew little Daleks and planets on each of the cards for each person. (And yes, I have these framed on my wall.)

It's a tradition that all the Doctors picked for the part are lovely people, as I continued to find out!

Back to my friend Sandra:
Sandra attended an event in her hometown in which actor John Hurt was appearing. (Apparently he hangs around Norwich a lot.) She absolutely surprised me by showing Mr. Hurt my sketch of the War Doctor afterwards, which she said he loved and then he asked if he could have a copy!

Sandra told him I was drawing all the Doctors in order and he wrote "Keep going!"
So there was no going back now. John Hurt commands it.

Next, Sandra attended the London Film and Comic Con where she ran into two more Time Lords...

My friend Sandra with the wonderful Colin Baker and my sketch of Six.

And here's Paul McGann signing my sketch of "Butterfly Eight" (the one I hadn't finished in time for this weekend.) THUD.

Photograph by Sandra Franklin.

And later in the year, there was the one sketch, for some reason,  I was the most nervous about its subject seeing...

(He loved it)

But it was finally this weekend when I got to meet my very first Doctors in person and nervously show them my artwork... (I was very very very stupidly nervous, I might add.)

I needn't have worried.

Now every time I look at this picture and this signature, I'm going to hear this voice in my head saying, "Take deep breaths, my dear!" 

I met my very first Doctor on Friday and it was the lovely Colin Baker!! It was at the Phoenix Fan Fest/ Comic Con and  he was a gentleman and a sweetheart and very patient with my extreme nervousness. (My hands were shaking so badly when I gave him a copy of his portrait to keep. I had made photo prints especially for the convention.)

"What FUN!" he said. "And there's Frobisher! And the hours on the clocks change for each Doctor's number. Oh, how very clever!"

Thank you once again, Mr. Baker.

And then there was this...

This needs a bit of an explanation:

When I met Paul McGann, I was terrified. I kept fumbling with my portfolio because my hands had still not stopped shaking (despite Colin Baker having told me to take big breaths). But Paul was super-friendly and signed my picture (I gave him a copy as well)...

...Then I asked if I could take a photo with my iPod and pulled out my stuffed wombat (this explains the wombat), telling him, "You're going to think this is silly, but today is Wombat Friday..."

Apparently nothing is too silly for Mr. McGann and he pulled me into the picture with him, shouting, "IT'S WOMBAT FRIDAY!" And then I got a big hug and a big KISS. Never in a million years did I see that coming. I hope it's because he liked his picture...
And by that time, I pretty much had to be scraped off the floor.

I  walked around the rest of the con pretty much in a pleasant daze. "Did I just get kissed by the Eighth Doctor? At this point, really, who hasn't--?"

Neil Gaiman called the Eighth Doctor "the Pre-Raphaelite Doctor" and so it was fitting that he got to pose with the wombat. (Again, see my Pre-Raphernalia cartoon blog post, "Celebrating Wombat Friday") I had wanted to take a photo of Colin Baker with the wombat as well but decided I had already made of a fool of myself enough in front of him.

I will continue on with the Doctor portraits (along with my other projects, of course) and will post them as I finish them.
                                         
                                                       I will leave you with this:

Yes, I have Doctor Who toys and I do play with them...