"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!

Organism Consciousness

This is another one of my experimental weird sketches done over the Christmas period when I was a bit bored one day. I know it’s a bit wacky, but don’t worry – I’m not on drugs or having a nervous breakdown or anything (or at least I hope not). This drawing follows the same rules as my Mechanics of a Damaged Mind drawing I did a few months ago. I am of course referring to the “make it up as you go along and just draw anything that pops into your head” rule. I drew this one in pencil instead of pen, the idea being to try to create a bit more texture and a 3D feel that my Mechanics pic lacked. I also added some highlights to the big swirls afterwards using an eraser to try to make them more 3D.

Purple bally thing in space

This is something I did ages ago in 3D on Autodesk Inventor 9, that I just found on my PC. I thought I'd just give it a quick Photoshop job (add some stars and stuff) and bung it on here.

Mechanics of a Damaged Mind

This is an experiment that I've been working on sporadically for a few weeks and I finished it today. I set out to draw a completely random picture - just anything that came into my head. I stared in the middle of the page and progressed round and round until I got to the outside, aiming to cover every inch of the page with some sort of design.

During the process I realised that is that if everything is completely random it is not so interesting to look at - the eye is not drawn to anything specific. Therefore, as I progressed to the extremes of the page, I tried to work in more geometric designs and bolder patterns. I think that they work much better. I suppose that even chaos needs a few rules.

Queen tribute band tickets (2000)

I designed these tickets in 2000 (bloody hell, that 7 years ago) for a Queen tribute band that played in Aberdare, South Wales (I worked near there once upon a time). They are business-card size and I based the design of the first one on the colour scheme for Queen's Greatest Hits 2. The second one is is pretty much the same design but with a different colour scheme and diffrerent effects. I used CorelDraw8 and Corel PhotoPaint8 for these. These days I am using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop CS2 (far superior!)

Hi-fis, Daleks and smoke alarms - 3D modelling (1996)

Here are two images that I created in 1996 on 3D Studio version 3. The first two images are based the hi-fi that I owned at the time. It was a nice easy one to do as the geometry was relatively simple to model. The third image is of some Daleks. They are slightly inaccurate because I modelled them completely from memory without a visual reference. More recently (about 2 years ago) I modelled a much more accurate Dalek using a 3D package called Autodesk Inventor 9. I used the Dalek Builder's Guild plans for reference so the new model is faithful to the original props. I never completed the model (it is about 80% finished), but I will shortly post some images of my "virtual Dalek build". The final image is a wireframe of a a smoke alarm moulding that I modelled for some reason.

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: Kitchen stools

Another sketch from when we were in Central Asia in 2005. It's just a quick scribble, and not too exciting to be honest, but I like it because it reminds me of the flat where we stayed. Click to enlarge.

Sketch of the day: Dining table

This is actually from 3 years ago (July 2004) when I spent a couple of months in Central Asia. It's a quick 5 minute scribble but I like it because it helps me to remember things in a way a photo cannot.

Sketch of the day: Through the window.

No - I'm not actually banged up! This is just a quick scribble of the view through my window and I thought that adding some imaginary bars would compliment the grimness of the scene. Incidentally the council building outside is the worst building that I've ever seen in my life! Who designed it? How did it get of the drawing board?

Sketch of the day: The telly

This is just some nonsense I scribbled earlier for a laff (click to enlarge). It's the telly and some random stuff that was lying around (I really need to have a tidy-up). I thought I'd annotate the sketch in the hope that it might actually make some sense to anyone.

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.

Sketch of the Day: Nosferatu

This was something I drew way back in 1989. I was 14 then, doing my GCSEs (click on the image to enlarge). The woman and her right hand came out a bit dodgy, but I was quite pleased with the Nosferatu chap himself and the woman's left hand. This is a copy of a photo I liked in a "Monsters of the Movies" book that I had at the time. I found this image on my hard drive and thought I might as well post it. This is a photo of the A3 original that I binned during a de-cluttering session a couple of years ago just before I moved house. I beleve that this image comes from a 1970s remake of the classic horror film "Nosferatu".

I really should do more drawings. I always enjoy doing pencil sketches, and could probably get much better with practise. I get so absorbed doing them that I forget myself. Sadly I never seem to find the time.

Sketch of the day: Shelves in our room

Here's a sketch I did the other day - Sunday night in fact. It's the shelves in our room which since we've just moved in are in a bit of disarray - plenty of kitchen cupboard overspill there at the moment. I only intended to do a quick 10 minute scribble, but got carried away and was still shading away 3 hours later!

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.

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.