Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Countdown: The Eighth Doctor

The Eighth Doctor was an effortlessly charming, romantic figure. He was unguarded about his background and was equally candid about what the future held for people he came into contact with. It seems ironic that so much about this open Doctor remains a closed book.

When the Seventh Doctor was shot on the streets of San Francisco he didn't immediately regenerate. He was whisked away to a city hospital where - despite his pleas - he was operated on by Doctor Grace Holloway. After a dramatic operation, in which his alien physiology confused and complicated the procedure, she thought her attempts to save his life had failed. But later that night in a creepy morgue the Doctor began to change…

It would prove another tricky regeneration. "I was dead too long, this time," he told Grace. "The anaesthetic almost destroyed the regenerative process." Perhaps because of this complication, the new Doctor initially suffered from amnesia. He could remember things about Leonardo di Vinci and reminisced about Puccini, but he couldn't recall who he was. Most strikingly, he somehow knew extraordinary facts about people around him. As he was happy to share this knowledge it led to several poignant moments. "…it was a childish dream that made you a doctor. You dreamt you could hold back death," he reminded Grace, before adding, "Don't be sad… You'll do great things."

The Eighth Doctor soon regained his memory and unlike previous Doctors seemed at ease when discussing his childhood, bewitching his companion with stories of a youth spent on Gallifrey with his father. Indeed, he came across as being incredibly open about who he was and his entire background, chatting about everything from his two hearts to his home planet. He was also a more romantic figure than previous Doctors and kissed Grace as fireworks exploded on New Year's Eve.

Yet just like the Third Doctor he could be a man of action - zipping across the highways of California on a motorbike and using a fire hose to drop down the outside of a building! He also demonstrated a gift for sleight of hand, dexterously stealing a policeman's gun at one point and later removing the ID pass from a man he was chatting to, without him noticing!

Most of the Eighth Doctor's adventures remain a mystery to us. We saw him battle the Master and save the world in 1999 before bidding farewell to Grace. She questioned how she could find him again and he replied "I'm easy to find! I'm the guy with two hearts, remember?" Moments later, he was gone…


Taken from the BBC.

Thursday: Sunnydale's Number 1 Witch

Yes, it really is Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Just like last week, my sketch doesn't completely 100% look like Willow, but I think you can tell who it is.

I think all of her proportions are correct, although her hair is slightly too long. I think this sketch of Willow is a lot better than the one I did of Buffy, but the face still seems odd. Much like the other Buffy sketch, the left eye is too big and the pupil is out of proportion with the rest of the eye. I really need to work on that!

Sorry there aren't any face emotions again this week, I'll tell you the reason why tomorrow...

Wednesday: The Queen of Evil

I love Maleficent, she is my favourite female Disney villain. I've been dying to draw her ever since I started this drawing project. I didn't want to draw her yet as I wanted to wait until my drawing skills had improved slightly. But after hearing about the Maleficent movie that's currently in production from last weeks D23, I thought I can't wait anymore!

I think the proportions of the face and Maleficent's hat thing are correct, it's her facial features that let the sketch down. I love the way I've drawn her eyebrows, they look really evil. The eyes aren't too bad, but they could be better.And the nose is ok, although her nostril is a bit too high. I really need to learn to draw lips properly, because the lips ruin this sketch for me.

Tuesday: I've Shocked Myself

Today's animal sketch really surprised me, it can fool people into thinking I can actually draw. I don't like drawing things from books, because it makes me feel like I'm not really that good. But anyway what has become traditional in my sketches, I've managed to mess some of it up… again. This time it's the beak, it is slightly crooked and longer than it should be. But other than that I really like it!

Monday: Hoping It Will Get Better

It hasn't been a very good week for me. I've been really worried about university, mainly because I don't know if I can progress onto the second year of my animation course. I love my friends, my class and everything about uni, so I hate the fact that I might not be able to go back. I only need twenty points in order to continue. I re-submitted some work for two of my modules, but I still didn't have enough points. I don't know if any of my lecturers recieved my work and I won't find out till September. The only thing that's stopping me from going totally insane with worry is my drawing project.

Sadly I couldn't go to the life drawing class in Birmingham this week, so it was back to random images from Google.

This week's and last week's sketches haven't been too bad, to be honest. But the above images were kind of easy to draw, I need more of a challenge. So hopefully the life drawing class in Birmingham will be that challenge and I will get better!

Thursday: Everyone's favourite Slayer

I know you can't tell, but it really is Buffy! I've really wanted to draw something from Buffy's world for a while now, because Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off show Angel are two of my favourite shows of all time. I decided to start with the main slayer herself… Buffy. Her hair is a bit weird and her left eye is too big, but it does look a lot like Miss Summers if you see it from the corner of your eye!

There won't be any face emotions this week, but everything will be back to normal next week!

Wednesday: Back to Disney

After hearing the news about Disney's latest movie The Pirate Fairy from this year's D23, I decided to draw two of the stars from that movie. The first character I have chosen is Tinker Bell, she and her friends go to a mystical island and get their powers switched. The second character I've chosen is James, who you should recognise because he will one day become Captain Hook!

I'm really pleased with these sketches, apart from maybe Mickey or Goofy, I think Tinker Bell and Captain Hook are the best Disney drawings I've done since the dwarfs. My Tinker Bell sketch is pretty much perfect apart from the right eye, it looks like its been stretched and so doesn't match her other eye. My Captain Hook sketch is great too, but there are two things that just aren't right. The first thing is his arm that is stretched out, it might just be me but it looks weird and I should've drawn it better. Secondly the way I've drawn the bottom of his jacket makes it look like he's wearing a dress!

Tuesday: Overgrown Face

I enjoyed drawing a guinea pig, because to  be honest it's quite easy. Although as usual I've managed to slightly mess it up. When I first started everything was going fine, because guinea pigs are basically big fluffy balls. It was great… until I added the face. The face is too big for its body, but for some reason the more I look at it, the more it grows on me. I kinda like it, but I think in future I should stay away from guinea pigs!

Monday: Slightly Better...

I'm quite pleased that my life drawing sketches are a bit better this week. The past couple of weeks have been stressful, I've to deal with stuff in my uni life and personal life, that's why I think my sketches have been really crappy. There are still major problems with these sketches (as usual): firstly the woman has a really long torso, weird boobs and don't get me started on the hands. Secondly the way I've drawn the next sketch, it looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame posed for me.

Hopefully this will be the last time I'll have to use random images from Google. With any luck next week I should be going to a life drawing class in Birmingham, as suggested to me by my friend Reg (make sure you check out his blog, he's an awesome animator).

Friday: Lets Face It

At best I'm ok at drawing. Most of the sketches I do every week are copied from a book and I'm very good at it. But to be honest I'm meant to be able to just look at something - wether it's a person, an animal or a random object - and draw it, however as I have proved many times on a Monday I can't really draw freehand.

The emotions I went with this week were disgust, because I have really disliked a lot of the sketches I've done (I really need to cheer up). And hunger, I chose this basically because I was starving! I think I could have done a lot better with the young boy, to me it feels like it's lacking detail. I love the way I've drawn the old man (I know makes a change, right?), the left side of his face is great but I think the right eye is too high!

Thursday: Captain America Saves The Day… Kinda

As Thursday is super sci-fi day, I wanted to do a sketch that would kind of make up for the atrocity that was Thor and Loki, a couple of weeks ago. This time I decided to go with the main man of the Avengers, Captain America. With Thor and Loki I just drew them straight away, but this time I blocked out the sketch using different shapes to build the head and body.

Although it most definitely is not perfect, I know it's a lot better than my attempt at Thor and Loki. This is because I took my time building it up instead of going straight for the detail. There are a lot of things wrong with this like the head, shoulder, lips and torso, but ignoring that it's ok. But I know I can do better.

Wednesday: Alice, Why Can't I Draw You?

I'll tell you why I can't draw Alice… it's because she's a human being. I was able to draw three of the seven dwarfs and the evil queen (when she turns into an old hag). I think this was because they weren't so much carbon copies of a human, but more like caricatures. Alice is the first really human Disney character I've drawn, she looks quite good for my first go at a 'proper human'. Apart from a few issues with her face, arms and hands, I'm quite proud of it!

And here to prove my point is the white rabbit. As you can see its not perfect but you can clearly see who it is meant to be. Most of my Disney sketches have been quite good, so I'm glad that Alice and the white rabbit haven't come out so well, they remind me that I have a long way to go!

Tuesday: Why The Long, Deformed Face

I only had time to do one sketch, because I spent a long and stressful day at uni sorting out grades and student finance! When I first started this sketch I felt good about it. Using basic shapes to build the horse's head and then adding leaf shapes for the ears and nostrils, it was looking great. But then came the eyes. I think most my sketch is fine, it's just the eyes that make it look weird…

I think this is one of — if not the — worst sketches I've done. To me it looks like a cross between a mutated hamster and demon possessed horse. Hopefully the next animal I choose to  draw will be better... fingers crossed!

Monday: Really Not Good

I'm getting worse! I really need to find a life drawing class, I feel like I'm slowly loosing my skills as an artist (not that I have many). If I do manage to find a life drawing class, I think I would really benefit from it. I just don't think my minuscule amount of talent will be able to survive till September.

So there you go, that was my depressing start to the week… it can only get better, right?

This Was A Very Short Week

Drawing wise I mean. I only managed to complete three days of my second drawing week, this was basically because life got in the way. But I am determined to stick to my plan next week.

 Next week will be better, I promise!

In other news… Peter Capaldi is the 12th Doctor!