Thursday, January 26, 2012

Five Doctors Who



In the early 80s I hung out with a number of comic book and British TV fans who had ambitions of creating a little media conglomerate in the Boston area. They conceived of a number of semi-pro fan magazines ("zines") which would cover their favorite subjects as well as show off fan fiction. They commissioned me to illustrate lots of interior illustrations, cartoons, and covers for these publications. Among them was this illustration of the five Doctors Who for their British TV fan magazine, "Fantasy Empire." This was my first color cover and I was thrilled. You can see the famous faces of the first five Doctors, in order of appearance in the series: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, John Pertwee, Tom Baker (my all-time favorite), and Peter Davison. There have been six more Doctors since then but I confess I am not at all familiar with them.

"Fantasy Empire" ran for a few issues, and then faded away as did the rest of this media enterprise. You have to give them credit for their ambition and good intentions, all on paper with ink in a time before blogs, sites, and social media.

"The Five Doctors Who" is ink, watercolor, and gouache on illustration board, 8" x 11", March 1981. Colors extensively restored in Photoshop.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

Wow, never knew you did any Dr Who work!Nice! I love Dr Who and still watch it today! We are on Dr number 11 actually.