"Hartnell's Armpit" - The Doctor Who Gossip Rag

Here's some general Doctor Who related silliness for you. This is a cover for a Doctor Who gossip magazine I invented called "Hartnell's Armpit" (click to enlarge). It's basically my version of one of those trashy celebrity gossip mags for the Doctor Who world! I have done my best to ensure that it is as tasteless as possible. Watch this space for more of this stuff, folks!

Sontaran drawing (done in 1990)

This is a drawing I did in 1990 that I thought I'd scan in and post just for the hell of it. It's a Doctor Who related one featuring some bad dudes called Sontarans.

I drew this because I intended it to be the front cover of a Doctor Who fanzine, Cybernetix, I was doing as a teenager back in the late '80s / early '90s (pictured below). I'll post more about the fanzine at a later date, but basically I was a member of the Cardiff DWAS Local Group (or the CLG) and several members contributed articles and it ran for 3 issues and one "special issue" (which wasn't actually that "special" really - more of an attempt to use up the remaining material). This artwork was intended to be the cover of a 4th issue that I never got around to doing for some reason - probably because I was in sixth-form and had discovered pubs etc.

I remember that the "in" technique at the time with "Who" fan artists was to make up drawings from thousands of tiny ink dots. I suppose the main reason for this is that the artwork photocopies extremely well if it is drawn in this way (pencil drawings once photocopied always look rubbish). The other reason is this technique is quite forgiving in that you can conceal errors easily by increasing dot-density in dodgy areas. This drawing was one of my numerous attempts at the "Whofan multi-dot" style. I must admit that to draw things in this way is a bitch to do - it takes absolutely forever and it makes your hand go numb. I do however think that the results are quite nice.

Some Doctor Who fanzines I made during the late '80s/early '90s - 4 issue of "Cybernetix" and issue 1 of "CSO"

Sketch of the day: The Doctor and Martha

The Internet wasn't working so here's another DrGaz sketch of the day. This is the first time I've drawn anything Doctor Who related around 17 years! Strangely enough this momentous occasion has turned into bit of a piss-take with me doing characateurs of the Doctor and Martha. This sketch is actually a "DrGazzed" version of last Sunday Times's TV supplement (you can see the original in the pic below (click to enlarge).

I started this sketch last night at about 8pm and it took me around 6 or 7 hours to complete. I had to finish it off today. If it wasn't for my wife I would have been up all night finishing it off. These sketches can be so addictive.

I rarely attempt to draw human figures and generally prefer to stick with sketching inanimate objects. This is mainly due to my lack of confidence in drawing noses and lips (they are a sod to draw). That said, I'm rather pleased with how this sketch has come out, and I wouldn't mind trying to do some more similar sketches. I may even dare to have a bash at trying to learn some anatomical drawing in the future.

Cybernetix - A Doctor Who fanzine.

Cybernetix was a fanzine that I designed and edited in the late ‘80s when I was a fully fledged member of the Cardiff Doctor Who Local Group.

Please click one of the covers below to read more!

Since I began this blog I have realised that over the years I have produced plenty of material (graphics, artwork, written etc) that has sat in drawers for years gathering dust. Cybernetix is one of them, and not having seen the light of day for almost 20 years, I thought I’d attempt to put the material online. In the light of the recent resurgence of popularity of Doctor Who, it seems worthwhile, as I’m sure there may be plenty of people who might want to read it. As far as I’m concerned that’s great! I went to a lot of effort as a kid to make these fanzines. It was a real labour of love, and sadly there was limited outlet for them - only perhaps 15 or 20 copies were ever made of each issue. With the advent of the internet and the wonderful text recognition tools of Adobe Professional, putting the material online has been relatively easy.

A montage of fanzines that I designed & edited. Click to enlarge.

Anonymity of contributors
In an attempt to protect people who wrote for Cybernetix, who might not appreciate their work colleagues discovering they were one a Who-nerd, I have adjusted the names of the contributors (e.g. John Smith would be credited as J.S. If you were a contributor who doesn’t care about the anonymity I have given you, please get in touch and I will gladly restore your full name where applicable.

Ice Warrior / Jon Pertwee artwork

Well the Ice Warriors came out OK, but sadly Pertwee looks bollocks.

Doctur Huw: What Happened Last Week in the TARDIS (part 2)

Here's part 2 of Doctur Huw and "What Happened Last Week in the TARDIS". This is from Cybernetix issue 3 - a Doctor Who fanzine I designed and edited in 1989 when I was about 15 years old. Again, my apologies for it being slightly childish and a bit unfunny, but it was a long time ago! Click here to read part 1 and for more info on this strip.

Doctur Huw: What Happened Last Week in the TARDIS (part 1)

I did this for of Cybernetix issue 2, (my own Doctor Who fanzine that I did in the late '80s). Reading it now it's pretty childish and naive, and not particularly funny (c'mon I was only 15 when I did it), but I still quite like how it looks visually and the concept behind it.

The idea of Doctur Huw was to have a humorous Doctor Who comic strip where the Doctor is a Welsh valleys lager lout. Adventures would generally involve him chain-smoking, swilling pints of Skol and shagging his assistants. Generally the TARDIS would be parked up in the corner of a valleys workingmen's club or in a pub carpark, and when it wasn't there he'd be off fighting slightly incompetent Daleks on distant planets or getting lagered up with the Master. I think it could have have been really filthy. Maybe I should pitch the idea to Viz!

Cybernetix issue 2 advert.

This was the rear cover of issue 1 of Cybernetix. A complete space filler really as it serves absolutely no function at all. I quite like it still from a design point of view. The text makes me cringe to read though and that's one hell of a wonky Dalek I drew there! A.S. drew the Cyberman.