Charity Illustrations

Would you look at the size of that one, Doctor?

A few years ago, I had been asked by Christopher Samuel Stone if I would like to contribute some illustrations to a Doctor Who charity project that he was working on. He needed a few illustrations based on classic Who episodes, which also included the 1996 TV Movie. Here are the ones that I did. (Though sadly under-represented in my resulting batch here, are the Fifth and Sixth Doctor eras.)

All of these illustrations are vignettes in box frames. They're all done in my usual medium of acrylic gouache and ink, after which I scan them into Photoshop for clean-up and enhancement. They were a lot of fun to do, and they make me want to do more illustrations based on old episodes. (Hmmm. The wheels are turning...)

Planet of the Spiders

"Planet of the Spiders" was the last episode of Jon Pertwee's run on Doctor Who. The Third Doctor would eventually die of an overdose of radiation while on Metebelis 3 (the eponymous planet) and regenerate into Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor.

The challenge in this one was trying to make Jon Pertwee recognizable as seen from the back. I also wanted to make the Great One look more like a real spider, so I looked at a lot of spider reference. Fortunately, I'm not too arachnophobic.

...But then again, I don't live on Metebelis 3. Or Australia, for that matter. 

The Great One, a giant spider craving absolute power, wants the Metebelis crystal which the Doctor is holding. Needless to say, she does not succeed in getting it.

I usually tape the photocopied rough sketch next to the painting on the easel so I can consult it while I'm working.

I later added "sparkles" to the background of the picture, to represent more crystals in the spider's lair.

Also, I couldn't resist adding just a little bit of color for the blue Metebelis crystal.

The Second Doctor Running

The concept for this illustration was just to show "the Doctor running." It could be any incarnation, so I picked one of my favorites: Patrick Troughton.

"When I say run...RUN!"

This was inspired by Troughton's famous running scene in the serial “The Invasion,” in which he comically flees rampaging Cybermen.

I transfer my sketches onto vellum-surface bristol paper using a lightbox. I sometimes start by inking the drawing using waterproof  brush-pens; or even dark Prismacolor to trace over the pencil work. I then paint over that with acrylic gouache, working with inexpensive watercolor brushes. 

Trying to capture the scribbly energy of  my preliminary sketches can be difficult when I'm doing the finished illustration. It usually never works. I have to choose one outline as opposed to many. 

Because I couldn't find a good reference shot of the Second Doctor's shoes, I remember having to research Hush Puppies, the brand of shoes Troughton favored—specifically a pair from the mid-1960s! 

There's no color in this one at all. These days, I do like to keep color to a minimum, and usually just for highlights. Sometimes for atmospheric effects, I'll add some colored pencil or chalk to the mix. The paintings start very loose until I gradually sharpen up the line work.
                                                                      Leela

Here's Louise Jameson's fierce and cool Leela, the second of the Fourth Doctor's companions. As with the previous pictures in this batch, I chose to put the character slightly outside the frame. My idea was that the box-like frames look a bit like comic book panels. 

The jungle background here is meant to be reminiscent of the serial that introduced Leela, "The Face of Evil".

These episodes are especially notable for some brilliant dialogue by writer Chris Boucher which remains uncannily relevant even today:

"The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common - they don't change their views to fit the facts. They change the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs changing."

Once again, here's the working sketch next to the painting's progress. I go back and forth from drawing table to easel, depending on how the picture is looking. Sometimes you need to look at your work in a vertical position, standing back from it to see what needs adjusting. 

The Zarbi

Here's the First Doctor and a very early adventure. I've actually done a couple of pictures of the Web Planet, (also known as Vortis) and its various insectoid creatures. The challenge here was to try to make the Zarbi look less like people in costumes, and more like actual insects—so it was back to looking at bug reference again.  

I remember that I was working on this on New Year's Day, 2017, and I'd felt a pain in my right side while sitting at the easel. Thinking it was appendicitis, I ended up going to the emergency room that night. It would prove to be nothing serious but that had been my anxious first day of the new year as I was painting the First Doctor.

"You Zarbi are a real pain in the side, you know? Hmm?" 

Victoria and the Ice Warrior

The brief for this illustration was just "Ice Warrior" but I wanted to feature the Second Doctor's companion Victoria Waterfield as well. At that time, I hadn't done any pictures of her yet.

"EeeeeeeaaaaAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

Victoria is a displaced Victorian woman and here is being threatened by Varga, the Martian warrior. Either that or he thinks she looks cold and just wants to offer her a nice mug of  hot cocoa.

I've joked that I should use this illustration as a Christmas card. 

I think Victoria's superpower was her ear-splitting scream. If I was that Ice Warrior, I would have covered my ears and hightailed it back to the ship.
"No cocoa for you then!"

Ace and Karra

Most of the things that blew up in the Seventh Doctor's era were probably because of companion Ace McShane and her Nitro-9. Ace, played by Sophie Aldred, became an iconic companion for many people.

In the last episodes of the classic series, she encountered the deadly Cheetah People and most notably, the fierce Kara, played by Lisa Bowerman. Kara had tried to convince Ace to follow her wildest instincts and become a Cheetah as well. 

The background in this picture is the volcanic, dying Cheetah Planet.

Once again, I wanted to make Kara look a bit more like a real cheetah and tried to give her more menacing claws.


Later on, I couldn't resist coloring Ace's eyes in yellow to show the beginning of her own transformation into a Cheetah Person.







Eighth Doctor TV Movie     
(The Enemy Within)
 

The last two illustrations in this batch were both from the Paul McGann TV Movie, sometimes known as The Enemy Within. (Of course I saved the Eighth Doctor 'til last.)

In this first picture, the newly regenerated and very confused Doctor is trying to figure out "WHO... AM...I?" and he's looking for something to wear besides a morgue sheet.

.

I admit to being very fond of the 8th Doctor, as he was everyone's continuing lifeline to Doctor Who in the so-called "Wilderness Years" when Doctor Who was not on television. Instead, there were comics, novels and many, many Big Finish audios before Russell T. Davies officially rebooted the show

This is the scene right after his somewhat terrifying regeneration from Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor (still to me the scariest regeneration, with Patrick Troughton's spinning around in a void, shouting "No, no, no, no, no, no!" coming in at second.)

He's kicked the door of the morgue down with regeneration energy (I presume.)

My "Fob-Watch" Eighth
Doctor illustration. 

For almost a decade afterward, the Eighth Doctor kept the banner flying for Doctor Who in other media. And he's also one of my favorite Doctors because of that, I think.

In my opinion, he had the coolest TARDIS—all Jules Verne-steampunk and Lord Byron-gothic, full of books, statues and candelabra—and an observation ceiling above giant iron arches which opened to the vastness of space. So when I did my first version of Eight for my Fob-Watch Doctor series, I needed to get this TARDIS interior in the picture as well.

And last but not least, here's a somewhat more goofy illustration of Eight and brief companion Grace Holloway on a stolen police motorcycle racing through San Francisco on New Year's Eve, 1999.

I'm of a certain age when I remember everyone thinking the year 1999 would be so futuristic because it was the turn of the millennium. Instead, it was rather... meh.

I remember watching the TV Movie the first time that it aired on network television in the States. Plot-wise, it was a bit bonkers, but I still have fond feelings for it. 

However, we all had to wait until 2013 to finally see the Eighth Doctor regenerate into his next incarnation...


                          
...Who would become the War Doctor, played by John Hurt...

                         
                                       ...Who will be the subject of my next post.                              

                        See you then!