Target Artwork Origins

I was really interested to find this, the blog of Paul Scoones, whose currently putting the final touches to his Who book, 'The Comic Strip Companion 1964-1979' (tip of the hat to Combom once again!). Now I love the early comics, and have a nice collection of scans of many thanks to the online Who scanners and uploaders. And I also dig the artwork, another one of my interets.

So I was pleased to find this cool graphic, illustrating Target artist Chris Achilleos rather direct influences for his first cover, The Daleks.


I'd known about this before, and even mentioned it on this blog way back towards the end of 2009 (here), where I posted:

"The now classic cover illustration was by Chris Achilleos, who has acknowledged the influence of Ron Turner's artwork for The Dalek Chronicles comic published in TV Century 21 (more about that soon!), in particular the two Daleks were modelled from Issue 60 (The Rogue Planet, part 2) and the title graphic from Issue 76 (Legacy of Yesteryear) onwards."

So a bit surprised to find that Paul didn't know about this, or indeed many folk at all. Now unfortuantely I can't even remember where I got this information, but when I find out, I'll update and link on this post. I obviously had more info, as I promised a follow up post on it!). I guess it must have been an old interview with Chris, probably in DW Monthly or some other mag of the period. (Anyway, I'm looking!).

I see nothing wrong in Achilleous being inspired so directly from the comic artwork of Ron Turner, or his strong influences from Frank Bellamy. I think it continues a proud and original style of artwork which became a huge attraction in itself, and a huge part of the early magic of Who for many.

Here's the Day of the Daleks cover, again with Daleks inspired by Ron Turner's artowork.


Thanks Paul for the images, and can't wait for the book...

Princess Amy

I tend to ignore fan based stuff on this blog (OK, with the exception of 'Daleks with legs' and a few other obsessions) and stick to the offical Who stuff, but this one's just too good to ignore...

Image by by Tryblue. Original source here, and the now standard nod to Combom here.

Radio Times Genesis of the Daleks

Just an excuse to post this great piece of work by Frank Bellamy, from the Radio Times (20/12/1975 - 02/01/1976) - used to promote the rerun of the story.

Image grabbed from here (there's a Tom pic also).

All Bow to Bellamy

And lets not forget the Daddy of them all, Frank Bellamy, who inspired the Who style of graphic illustration.


The image above was used for his Radio Times cover, which in turn inspired this mock up RT cover for a proposed Terry Nation Dalek project which never materialised. Illustration by Brian Williamson (from DeviantArt, here) commissioned by DW Magazine.

Achilleos Art

And we shouldn't forget the artist who inspires most of these designs, Chris Achilleos. Here's a couple of recent designs which throwback to his early Target book covers.

Rose


Doomsday


And a recent(ish) working for Tomb of the Cybermen, following it's rediscovery.


Don't forget to visit Chris's site, here, where you can still buy original prints of his amazing classic Who work.

Return to the Web Planet

Here's another Anthony Dry image, from the Big Finish audio story Return to the Web Planet.

Art of Anthony Dry

I'm enjoying tying up this artists work - I knew a lot of the pictures, but not that they were all by the same guy. He's linked to Doctor Who Magazine, which I haven't bought for years, so I guess I'm the one catching up! Here's some more of his work

8th Doctor and (I'm guessing) Lucie Miller.


9th Doctor and Rose, from 'Dalek'


10th Doctor and Rose, from the Christmas Invasion.

Series 4 Doctor, Donna, Davros and Daleks artwork

I missed this at the time, but the illustration for Series 4 DVD boxset, by Anthony Dry was auctioned on eBay in August for the ART FOR HEARTS campaign. It sold for 85 quid. Someone got a bargin.

The Specials artwork

Here's another design by Anthony Dry (Ant1975uk on DeviantArt), for the official BBC Specials boxset booklet.

Fake Christmas Invasion!

I think I'm going to have to set up a label for 'fake Target covers' as I'm enjoying these. Here's one I found on DeviantArt, here, by Ant1975uk (Anthony Dry).


There's a wealth of artists showing off their Who stuff on DeviantArt, well worth exploring...

Laser Disks!

Back when video was king, there was a strange invention called laser disks, which were the size of your 33' vynal record, yet all shiny and metallic like on one side (the base was typically white plastic). They were the future apparently. Yes, clumsy DVD's the size of frying pans, which needed special equipment to play them...

Well, somewhere along my internet travels I found these three images. Their labelled 4, 5 and 6, which sort of suggests that maybe there were another 3 issued first, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the main interest for me is the artwork, which I think is pretty cool. No idea who the artist is, as I don't actually have any more information about these at all. Anyone else?

Off Target

Here's another mock early Target cover, this time a rendition of Warriors of the Deep but with a Troughton Doctor, so following on from the other Silurian stuff I posted here.

The image is by Daryl Joyce, whose online galleries can be found here. Daryl's done a lot of official Who work, see the TARDIS wiki for more info. There's more of his work on DeviantArt, here.

I think this is a great image, and even more interesting to think of Warriors as a Troughton story. Would it have been better? Probably not - even Troughton and team would have stuggled to make this story work. But it couldn't have been any worse.

The Art of Who (Part 3) : Andrew Skilleter

Andrew Skilleter became ´the´ Who artist of the 1980s and early 90´s, illustrating over 50 Target book covers, twenty-four video covers (including the limited edition collector’s Tardis and Dalek Tins), and becoming widely known to Who fandom through his Doctor Who Monthy special edition posters and independently produced high quality print portfolios.

His work included the iconic 'The Five Doctors' Radio Times cover (above), one of only two artists to illustrate Who RT covers (Frank Bellamy being the other).


In the 1980s he founded Who Dares Publishing. In addition to producing Who calendars (between 1986 and 1989) and other merchandise, he published a number of book titles for the UK and USA, including the classic 'Cybermen' by David Banks and ´The Radio Times Doctor Who Art of Frank Bellamy´.

Andrew´s work has just got better and better over the years, and his mastery of airbrush techniques gives it a unique feel and atmosphere.

´Blacklight : The Art of Andrew Skilleter´, a large format, colour hardback written by the artist was published by Virgin in 1995, showcasing his Who and other work.


You can find Andrew´s personal site here, including an excellect sample gallary, and you can see an example of one of his most recent limited edition portfolio´s here. The best online collection of his work can be found here.

List of Target cover illustrations


Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
The Dæmons (1980 reprint)
Invasion of Time (1980)
The Stones of Blood (1980)
The Androids of Tara (1980)
The Power of Kroll (1980)
The Nightmare of Eden (1980)
An Unearthly Child (1981)
The Cybermen (1981, reprint)
State of Decay (1982)
Warriors' Gate (1982)
The Keeper of Traken (1982)
The Leisure Hive (1982)
Full Circle (1982)
Logopolis (1982)
The Sunmakers (1982)
The Crusaders (1982, reprint)
The Auton Invaison (1982, reprint)
Day of the Daleks (1982, reprint)
Pyramids of Mars (1982, reprint)
Planet of Evil (1982, reprint)
Meglos (1983)
The Five Doctors (1983)

more to come soon...

List of Virgin new Adverntures cover illustrations to follow

Timewyrm: Genesis
Timewyrm: Exodus
Timewyrm: Apocalypse
Timewyrm: Revelation
Iceberg

List of BBC Video cover illustrations to follow


List of other book cover illustrations


The Adventures of K9 and other mechanical creatures (1979)
Doctor Who: The TARDIS Inside Out (1985) - cover and internal illustrations
Doctor Who: Cybermen (1988) - cover and selected illustrations
The Gallifrey Chronicles (1991) - cover
Doctor Who: The Monsters (1992) - cover

List of Doctor Who Magazine special poster issues (and covers)


No 85 - February 1984 - pullout poster - The Master
No 87 - April 1984 - pullout poster - Five Doctors - Cybermen on Gallifrey (above)
No 107 - December 1985 - cover illustration of Tom Baker and inside interview
No 175 - 10 July 1991 - cover illustration (Timewyrm: Genesis)

Summer Special 1995 (inside covers, back and front, reproduce Andrew Skilleter's artwork used on the spines of the BBC Video release of the Key to Time series)

(and probably few more to add to this?)

The Art of Who (Part 2) : Frank Bellamy

During in the early seventies, one of Britain´s most successful comic artists provided Who illustrations to support the program listings in the Radio Times. Frank Bellamy´s work was made famous to a generation through the Eagle and TV21 comics, among others.

His first Radion Times Who contribution appeared in 10 April, 1971, a two and a half page comic strip introduction (two of which were in full colour) based on episode one of the story ´Colony In Space´ (main frame of which below).


From January, 1972, Bellamy started an intermittent run of small illustrations to accompany the episode details in the magazine, the majority of which were only slightly larger than a postage stamp, appearing throughout the rest of Pertwee´s portrayal of the third Doctor.

However the highlight of this period was his full colour cover illustion for ´Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks´ (RT 1st - 7th January 1972) and now a very collectable issue, if you can find one. He is one of only two artists to illustrate Who covers for the RT (the other being Andrew Skilleter for the ´Five Doctors´ anniversary issue)


With the beginning of Tom Baker regin, larger illustrations accompanied the start of some stories, the last being 'The Planet of Evil' in July 1976, the year in which he died.

His work as 'the' Dr. Who artist was reprinted in a book edited by his son David in "Dr. Who Timeview: The Complete Doctor Who Illustrations of Frank Bellamy”, published by Who Dares in 1985.


You can find listings of his complete works here (from which the following list is edited), and a detailed blog here. There´s not much of his work available online, although a gallery of his dalek illustrations can be seen here.


Doctor and Dalek, for episode 2 of Planet of the Daleks

I haven´t found full page scans from any of the Radio Times issues showing Frank Bellamy´s work in context. It would be a nice collection to have, especially for the larger illustrations, so if anyone has them...

Frank Bellamy Radio Times Doctor Who Illustrations Listing

Colony in Space (10 - 16/04/1971) Page 14 one quarter page B&W comic strip, Doctor, Jo (“What is it?”) & shadowy figure. Pages 53-55 Two full colour pages, Dr (“We´ll just have a look around and then I´ll try and get you back to earth”) & Jo and two-thirds B&W illustration

The Daemons (22 - 28/05/1971) Page 15 B&W Doctor and Jo Grant in Bessie screeching to Devil's End with Miss Hawthorne

Spearhead from space (03 - 09/07/1971) p.41 B&W Doctor
Spearhead from space (10 - 16/07/1971) p.43 B&W Doctor [Reprint of 3-9/7/1971]

The Daemons - omnibus edition (18 - 31/12/1971) p.75 B&W The Master and Doctor

Day of the Daleks (01 - 07/01/1972) Colour cover - Doctor and Daleks

The Curse of Peladon (29/01 - 04/02/1972) p.17 B&W Aggedor
The Curse of Peladon (05 - 11/02/1972) p.15 B&W Alpha Centauri
The Curse of Peladon (12 - 18/02/1972) p.17 B&W Izlyr, the Ice Warrior
The Curse of Peladon (19 - 25/02/1972) p.17 B&W Arcturus
The Sea Devils (04 - 10/03/1972) p.19 B&W The Master
The Sea Devils (11 - 17/03/1972) p.15 B&W submarine
The Sea Devils (18 - 24/03/1972) p.20 B&W Sea Devil
The Sea Devils (25 - 31/03/1972) p.5 & p.19 B&W Doctor [repeated image]
The Sea Devils (01 - 07/04/1972) p. 15 B&W Jo
The Mutants (08 - 14/04/1972) p. 15 B&W spaceship
The Mutants (15 - 21/04/1972) p.17 B&W Jo
The Mutants (22 - 28/04/1972) p. 15 B&W Doctor
The Mutanta (29/04 - 05/05/1972) p.17 B&W The Tardis
The Mutants (06 - 12/05/1972) p.15 B&W guard
The Mutants (13 - 19/05/1972) p. 17 B&W Solonian mutant
Time Monster (20 - 26/05/1972) p. 15 B&W Doctor ¨[Reprint of 22-28/4/1972]
Time Monster (17 - 23/06/1972) p. 17 B&W The Master [Reprint of 4-10/3/1972]

The Sea Devils [Omnibus edition] (16 - 29/12/1972) p.82 B&W Doctor (“The whole place will go up in approximately ten minutes, enjoy your revenge”), the Master and Sea Devil

The Three Doctors (06 - 12/01/1973) p.15 B&W Patrick Troughton
The Three Doctors (13 - 19/01/1973) p.17 B&W William Hartnell
The Three Doctors (20 - 26/01/1973) p.17 B&W Jon Pertwee
The Carnival of Monsters (03 - 09/02/1973) p.13 B&W Pletrac (guard)
The Carnival of Monsters (10 - 16/02/1973) p.15 B&W Drashig
The Carnival of Monsters (17 - 23/02/1973) p.15 B&W Doctor
Frontier in Space (24/02 - 02/03/1973) p.17 B&W Draconian
Frontier in Space (03 - 09/03/1973) p.17 B&W Ogran
Frontier in Space (10 - 16/03/1973) p.15 B&W guard
Frontier in Space (17 - 23/03/1973 p.19 B&W the Master
Frontier in Space (24 - 30/03/1973) p.17 B&W Draconian
Frontier in Space (31/03 - 06/04/1973) p.15 B&W Doctor
Planet of the Daleks (07 - 13/04/1973) p.15 B&W Tardis
Planet of the Daleks (14 - 20/04/1973) p.14 B&W Doctor and Dalek
Planet of the Daleks (21 - 27/04/1973) p.15 B&W Jo and Dalek
Planet of the Daleks (28 - 04/05/1973) p.17 B&W Dalek
Planet of the Daleks (05 - 11/05/1973) p.16 B&W Doctor
Planet of the Daleks (12 - 18/05/1973) p.15 B&W Doctor
The Green Death (19 - 25/05/1973) p.17 B&W Doctor
The Green Death (26/05 - 01/06/1973) p.17 B&W of Jo in miner's helmet
The Green Death (02 - 08/06/1973) p.17 B&W maggots
The Green Death (09 - 15/06/1973) p.15 B&W Doctor and exploding mine mechanism
The Green Death (16 - 22/06/1973) p.17 B&W Jo and maggots
The Green Death (23 - 29/06/1973) p. 19 B&W Doctor and Bessie

Ark in Space [Omnibus edition] (16 - 22/08/1975) p.34 B&W landscape illustration, small snip of Doctor (Tom Baker), the ark, and the Wirrn

Terror of the Zygons (30/08 - 05/09/75) p.6 Two-thirds page colour illustration of the Doctor (“Whe´re dealing with a monstor of no ordinary flesh and blood”) and Loch Ness monster. p.17 B&W Oil Rig illustration to accompany the programme listing

Planet of Evil (27/09 - 03/10/1975) p. 19 Part reprint of Ark in Space 16/08/1975 - 22/8/75

Genesis of the Daleks (20/12 - 02/01/1976) pp 60-61 B&W Landscape comic tryptic - Doctor and Davros and Daleks (below)

The Seeds of Doom (31/01 - 06/02/1976) p. 55 B&W Sarah Jane and The Doctor

The Planet of Evil (03/07 - 09/07/1976) p. 26 B&W landscape illustration

The Art of Who (Part 1) : Chris Achilleos

Growing up with the Target novelisations of the original ´classic´ Who meant that one artist was synonymous with early Doctor Who stories - the one and only Chris Achilleos. Highly styilized, and yet increadibly accurate, often with a pointilist style black and white portrait of the Doctor, Chris´s covers jumped off book shelves and were almost as exciting as reading the books themselves.

Between 1973 and 1977 Chris illustrated the covers of 28 of the first Target books, some of which included back cover illustrations, and a few also included black and white illustrations inside the books as well. Some of these covers were replaced on later reprints and editions (criminally in my view - no disrespect to the subsequent artists).

He also illustrated covers for some special non-fiction books, most noteably the ´Doctor Who Book of Monsters´ and ´The Amazing World of Doctor Who´, both of which feature great colour portraits of Tom Baker with an assortment of monster enemies. The latter title was an annual-style title produced as part of a 1976 TyPhoo Tea promotion, and special boxes also featured his art - now highly sought after by crazed collectors of all things Who. I certainly wish I had an example (I´ll stick up some pics when I get the chance).


You can see all of Chris´s covers, including some special limited editions (for example a 20th Anniversary Five Doctors commorative print and other one-off paintings), on his website. Chris is now a well established fantasy artist, having published several solo books and becoming rather well known for his fantasy female figures. And very nice they are too.

Sadly, some of Chris´s original works where apparently stolen some years back, including Day of the Daleks, the Tenth Planet and The Cybermen. As a result Chris can´t offer prints of these images for sale, which is a great shame not only for him, but also us.

I´ve copied the main illustration on this post from his site, and I sincerely hope he doesn´t mind (I´m writing to him to request his permission for its use in this context, but acknowledge his copyright in the meantime). What I didn´t realize until I first browsed his site is that Chris sells high quality prints of his work. He has even done new commissions, including a special ´Tomb of the Cybermen´ cover and a couple of New Series prints.

Sometime back in the 1980´s (I think - I´ll update this when I get more time!) a portfolio of six of his covers was released, of which I am a proud owner, and I did manage to pick up a signed print of his tribute to the New Series with a 9th Doctor and Rose illustration, complete with Autons and Dalek.

If you can´t afford to get yourself a print from Chris yourself (but it must surely be worth saving up the pennies), or if you´re not loaded enough to commission your own personal painting, then it´s well worth hunting down early editions of these books just for the covers. They can still be found secondhand at reasonable prices, and must surely be a good investment. Check out ebay or greenmetropolis.com (a secondhand book site which donates to The Woodland Trust).


Doctor Who and the Daleks (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Crusaders (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Zarbi (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Dæmons (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Sea Devils (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Cybermen (Cover)
Doctor Who - The Three Doctors (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors (Cover)
Doctor Who - Revenge of the Cybermen (Cover)
Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Web of Fear (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Space War (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Pyramids of mars (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Ark in Space (Cover)

Non-fiction

The Making of Doctor Who (Cover, Target Books edition)
The Doctor Who Monster Book (Cover)
The Second Doctor Who Monster Book (Cover)
The Amazing World of Doctor Who (Cover)
The Target Book (Cover)


Thanks Chris, your work is a great addition to the world of Who, and an inspiration to aspiring artists.