Doctor Who: Celebrating 100 Adventures with The Doctor
It’s a Whovian’s dream come true! When Doctor Who, one of our most beloved television shows, called for submissions to illustrate The Doctor’s most notable adventures, we knew we were in- and even more excited when we were selected. This piece pays tribute to probably the most overlooked villain in Who-niverse, The Clockwork Android from “The Girl in the Fireplace.”
IT’S ALWAYS MORE FUN
TO SHARE WITH EVERYONE
THE SCOPE
Illustration
PUBLISHER
Penguin Group UK
So Many Options- How Could We Choose?
100 episodes and we needed to choose one to illustrate. I mean- there’s Daleks, and Weeping Angels- Adipose! Our co-founder and illustrator, Nathan Owens, already had a Cyberman and TARDIS on tap, but well, when your business partner and wife’s favorite episode, “The Girl in the Fireplace” is on the list, the decision’s pretty easy. Happy wife, happy life!
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Doctor Who Cyberman Illustration
Doctor Who TARDIS Illustration
THE PROCESS
Creating the Reference Photo
Time to search the Googles! There was no perfect, camera-facing image of the Clockwork Android with no crops on the hair, so several images were pieced together in Photoshop before being brought into Illustrator.
Line Work
It’s all about the hair! Linework started with outlining the shape of the curls, which were then filled with thinner, tapered lines using the blend tool.
Color and Gradients
The color and gradient is subtle, but much time was spent finding the right gradient and applying each gradient to each line of hair (yes each line of hair, to make sure the angles were correct.
Adding Texture
That’s a face only a mother could love, and since it’s an android- this guy doesn’t have a mother. The final step was giving dimension to that mug by bringing it into Photoshop. The illustration was combined with a transparency of the original image and a blurred layer. A cracking texture, along with shadows and highlight, were applied for maximum creep factor.
The Final Product
It’s unbelievable to be alongside so many talented artists in the Doctor Who: 100 Illustrated Adventures collection, both young and old. Thank you so much to everyone at Doctor Who and Random House Publishing for allowing us to be a part of this journey.
READY TO JAM WITH US?
