You Can Tell...

That I haven't drawn anything for three weeks!

Whilst I was at uni sorting out my life, I did manage to show my lecturer all of my sketches since July. She told me she could tell that I had improved since finishing my first year. But I should focus more on the human body and face, she particularly liked my sketches of Buffy and Willow. So from now on every day I will be drawing a character from one of my favourite TV shows or movies. And I will be starting with Buffy the Vampire Slayer…

This is Xander Harris, a member of the famous scoobies. Sorry my sketch doesn't really look much like him, there are two reasons for this. Firstly I can't draw men. I love to draw women because they have curves, but when it comes to men it seems like they're full of straight lines (if you know what I mean). Secondly, I haven't drawn anything for three weeks, so I've only got myself to blame! I'm not going to moan about everything I don't like about my sketch, but there is one thing that really bugs me. The shadow on his neck, it looks like a shitty beard. Oh well, onto the next one.

Back For Good! (I Mean It This Time)

Wow, can't believe I haven't posted anything in three weeks! But I do have a good reason, I've been sorting out my uni life. I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue on my animation course, but I'm glad to say everything is now sorted and I will be back at uni next week!

As this is my first post in three weeks, I wanted to talk about a certain show that will be celebrating it's 50th Anniversary later this year. That show (if you haven't guessed) is of course Doctor Who.

Firstly details were released about what will be happening across the BBC to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary:

BBC One

'The Day of the Doctor' - the 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who. Starring Matt Smith, David Tennant, Jenna Louise Coleman with Billie Piper and John Hurt, this special will be feature length - a whole 75 minutes of adventure on 23rd November.

BBC Two

In a special one-off programme, Professor Brian Cox will try to answer the classic questions raised by the Doctor - can you really travel in time? Does extra-terrestrial life exist in our galaxy? And how do you build something as fantastical as the TARDIS?

The Culture Show will present 'Me, You and Doctor Who' with lifelong fan Matthew Sweet exploring the cultural artefacts of modern Britain.

BBC Two will then wrap up its coverage with the previously announced 'An Adventure in Space and Time' written by Mark Gatiss. 

 BBC Three

'Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains Weekend' will countdown to the top Doctor Who monster as voted for by you.

'Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide' will introduce those less familiar to the show to a wealth of archive material and act as a guide to all things Who.

We also have one further exciting commission to be announced later this year which will see the celebrations finish with a bang.

BBC Four

Audiences will be introduced to the First Doctor, William Hartnell, with a special re-run of the first ever story, which marked the start of 50 years of history. The four episodes are being shown in a restored format, not previously broadcast in the UK.

There will also be programmes across CBBC including two live Blue Peter specials.

BBC Radio 1

A documentary will look at 'Time Lord Rock (TROCK)' as a genre of music inspired by the Doctor and his journeys through space and time.

BBC Radio 2

'Who is the Doctor' will look at the lasting appeal of Doctor Who and ask how much of its continued success can be attributed to its basic formula.

In 'The Blagger's Guide to Doctor Who', David Quantick will give the iconic Doctor the Blagger's treatment. He'll be finding out the answers to questions such as why do Americans think Tom Baker is still the Doctor? How many Doctors have there really been? And were the Daleks really named after an encyclopaedia?

Finally, Graham Norton will be broadcasting his weekly Radio 2 show live (Saturday 23rd November, 10am) from the Doctor Who Celebration in London.

Now seeing the way the BBC are going to be celebrating Doctor Who's 50th, it makes me wish November would hurry up and get here! But I am slightly disappointed at the length of the anniversary episode, I mean I think it should be at least 90 minutes.

Next came a rather epic looking poster for 'The Day of the Doctor':

I love this poster so much. It is the first in (hopefully) a number of posters for the special, but as ever I do have a slight problem with it. Bad Wolf. Why is it back, I thought that whole storyline was done? I hope it doesn't play a major part in the anniversary story, because to me it would feel like a celebration of 8 years rather than 50.

I think I'll finish with a theory I heard on Facebook. The theory is that the 50th Anniversary story is actually a three parter. This is based on the title of the latest episodes: 'Name of the Doctor' and 'Day of the Doctor'. They both end with 'of the Doctor', so a lot of people think the Christmas episode title will be '___ of the Doctor'. If this happens it would be a very clever move by the mighty Moff (Steven Moffat)!

Even though it doesn't sound like it, I am looking forward to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary and I hope you are too!

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!