A Man’s Best Friend? by Adrian Salmon

 

You can’t really fail to have noticed that I’m a bit of a fan zygons, and even more of a fan of Adrian Salmon.

This piece here, is Ade trying to make my attempt at a script look good – he’s done a far, far better job of the art than I did with the script!

I’ve always considered that the zygons were basically Doctor Who version of  The Thing From Another World, and this idea came via The Thing.

If  ‘Who had the time and budget, having the zygons infiltrate through the pub dog would have been far more effective, and creepy, than by watching on a hidden camera in a stag trophy. Thinking about this, and then wondering how could the zygons have captured the various people for body prints led me to this one page prequel. It’s hopefully going to see print in the FFI fanzine pretty soon, in full colour (with lettering).

So, for now, ignore the story, just swoon over Ade’s gorgeous visuals…

@AS1963

adriansalmonart.blogspot.com

http://ade1963.tumblr.com/

“Friend of yours?” by Paul Harrison-Davies

 

This is a fairly recent piece, based around a wonderful character called Astrodog. She is a pooch who has a an adventure in space.

The story started as an online comic, but transfered brilliantly to print. It is a virtually wordless comic that enables new readers to bring some of their own narrative to the story. It is a great way to introduce kids to the world of reading, or to build up uncertain readers’s confidence. It’s also a great little story with some nice little nods to the culture we love.

Can you tell I’m a fan? If you haven’t read it, I really do urge you to give it a go…

http://astrodogadventure.wordpress.com/comic/astrodog-page-1/

And then, when you’ve fallen in love with her, buy the book!

 

Paul is a great artist, and you can find more of his work, in various styles, in the following places

 

On Twitter @paulMHD

http://pmhd.tumblr.com/

 

The Seeds of Doom by Adrian Salmon

The last of the stories that gave me nightmares.

I first saw this story in black and white, and even now it seems funny to watch it in colour. It was on a rented TV, one of the old ones with the really big push in knobs, that came on slowly as they warmed up. Not quite valves, but not far off!!

The scene that gave me nightmares was where Sarah (still Sarah, she hadn’t mutated to Sarah-Jane yet) was tied up in the power room, and the green axon, sorry, krynoid was heading for her as the timer counted down.

 

Ade has done a grand job of capturing the bonkers Harrison Chase, and its like we are the Keeler/Krynoid that is waving the tentacles at him. I like the black and white version of this, much as I like the black and white version of the program. Memories….

Mummies Alive! by Adrian Salmon

 

So, here’s another Time Team from Ade, this one Marcus Scarman from The Pyramids of Mars. Again, it’s from the period when DWM were running two stories an issue, so there was only one illo per story. Fortunately (?) for me, Ade has picked an image that represents two of the scenes in this story gave me nightmares as a kid. The reverseplay shot of Scarman being shot, and the death of the poacher by being chased and squeezed to death my the large chested Mummies (it was years ’til Bond had the same thing). The other scene from this story that had me waking in the night, was when the Mummy had its foot caught in the steel trap. We had woods like that near our house, and I daren’t go in them for quite a while afterwards.

Ade has done a great job here, making the Mummy chase a heck of a lot more dynamic than it was in the programme, and it’s a fantastic portrait of Scarman.

Can you tell I love this piece?? Might have to go watch Pyramids again…..

Wirrn! by Adrian Salmon

The Ark in Space is Classic Who at its best. The story, acting, design, pretty much everything came together to create stories that 40 years later still hold up, and can still capture the imagination of my young son. Arguably, the model shot of the Wirrn swarming at the end isn’t that effective (however, it doesn’t get the same negative press as the rat in Talons for some reason).

Ade has given us some pretty mean looking Wirrn for this Time Team piece, helped no end by his usual strong use of blacks, and had the ones on TV been as mean looking as these, they would definitely have added to my nightmares. Ark is one of only three Doctor Who stories that actually gave me nightmares, and I’ll add the other two Time Teams over the next two posts.

The Sixth Doctor WiP by Andrew Skilleter

 

Something a little different. This is a working drawing, done on tracing paper, that Skilleter uses in the preliminary stages of the illustration.

I haven’t asked him, but I conjecture that this is where he works out the likenesses, the lights and darks and by virtue of being semi-transparent can help in reaching a final placement before the final painting.

This piece is for a painting of Baker alongside an hourglass, and I’m 99% certain it was called “Through A Glass Darkly”, but I’ve trawled the net and can’t find it. My books are all in storage at the moment, so I can’t get to them, either, to check.

Skilleter’s site is here, http://andrewskilleter.com/ and you’ll find links to his other social media sites there, too.

 

The Third Doctor by Andy Walker

 

A delicate little study of Jon Pertwee as The Doctor by the disgustingly talented Andy Walker. It’s a stunning little piece, and my scanner can’t capure just how this painting glows.

Andy has done lots of Doctor Who illustration over the years, I think the first time I noticed his work was in Doctor Who Bulletin way back in the late ’80s or early ’90s, where he provided some really memorable covers as well as some  internal spot illos.

Check out his website for more ‘Who and lots more non-Who illustrations, and if you want to own some of his paintings you can contact him there or search on ebay where he regularly auctions work

http://www.andywalkerillustrator.com/home.php

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/9497andy?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Black Orchid by Adrian Salmon

 

Here’s a rather nice piece of art based around the Doctor Who story ‘Black Orchid’.

 

For some reason, this story seems to be unliked by many, but I love it. But then, as a fan of Miss Marple and Albert Campion (amongst others) I suppose I would like it. I’m not saying every story should be like this, but as a break from the norm, its a highly enjoyable interlude. I love the Doc’ playing cricket, and in the Target book it really comes alive.

 

Anyway, back to the art, and I think Ade has done a cracking  job of representing this story in what is one of the smaller Time Team pieces. We have Nyssa and Ann Talbot, Cranleigh Hall, and is that the Doc or the unfortunate  George Cranleigh?

 

You can see the colour version on Ade’s blog now, http://adriansalmonart.blogspot.co.uk/

The Sea Devils by Adrian Salmon

 

A superb image based on The Sea Devils episode of Doctor Who.

I’m probably wrong here, but I seem to remember that this is a Time Team illo, and is based around a scene not shown on TV, but that must have happened within the narrative of the story. Ade has, typically, given us a hugely more dramatic rendering than we could have hoped for on TV. A simply wonderful piece of art.

Sil by Andrew Skilleter

 

 

Every now and then, an alien comes along in ‘Who that is a perfect creation.

Sil, to my mind, is just such a creation.

He is definitely of his time, the money grabbing ’80s where commerce was king. To some, at least. Sil perfectly captured the slimy, conniving idea the press gave us of traders. Sounds like a dry sort of ‘baddie’, but actor Nabil Shaban brought a humour and nastiness, not to mention THAT laugh thst made him memorable.

This artwork by Andrew Skilleter is from his “Monsters” book, and I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw it listed as for sale on his website. I just had to have it. There I go with my reptile fixation, again! Whats more, its even in my favourite colour, green.

 

More of Andrew’s art can be found (and purchased!) from          www.andrewskilleter.com