Doctor Who Series Nine - Modern Book Covers

One of the problems doing those faux Target book covers for series eight and nine of Doctor Who was the lack of visual material available for them prior to the actual broadcast of the episodes. I argued that if the covers were being done in the 70s/80s, then the cover artists would be in a similar situation... And they were. Check out the covers for Destiny of the Daleks and The Five Doctors. 

Now with the episodes well and truly in the past (and the threat of a new series - and new covers (!) - mere weeks away now), I thought it would be fun to revisit the last two series and take advantage of the plethora of photographs available across the Internet to produce them. 

I also wanted to hone my Photoshop skills to produce something a little more modern and commercial. As such, I've designed them to look like modern novels - of the kind currently produced by BBC Books. And just to put my own mark on them, I've given them my own logo of sorts. Well, it's just letters in a fancy font really... but you get the gist.

Those Other Exciting New Spin-offs from BBCtv's Dr. Who!

With the online premiere of ClassDW looming in the middle distance of this Saturday, the royal we decided it would be a good (and kind of topical) idea to take a look at some the of the Doctor Who spin-offs from the last season we won't be seeing this Christmas. 

Like K9 and Company, they have at least been given the chance of an Annual for their troubles... 

The 2017 TV Annuals - now available!

It's that time of the year where the shelves of WHSmith become cluttered with collections of kids books with large print, colourful pictures, desperately unchallenging puzzles and enough content to fill a medium-sized thimble,

Yes, it's the annual "Annual" season!

Here's this year's choice selection from the House of Andydrewz! 

You can get all these titles from your local Poundland or charity shop from January 2017.

The Twelfth Doctor's Target Adventures...

I made a decision early on not to include Peter Capaldi's face on the cover of my Target book designs. It was certainly not dues to any antipathy I have towards the actor. On the contrary, I love him - the best thing to happen to Doctor Who in at least a decade. No. The idea was to homage the period during the publication of the original novelisations when the current Doctor's face was absent from them for legal reasons (apparently resulting from a misunderstanding between the publishers and the BBC at the time regarding the lead actor's permissions). 

The recent exhibition of original Target book art at the Cartoon Museum in London has prompted me return to these covers - in particular the one for 'Genesis of the Daleks' which also adorned the cover of issue 499 of Doctor Who Magazine. 

Based on 'Genesis of the Daleks'

With nothing much happening over the May Day bank holiday, I thought it would be nice to create some more covers based more obviously on these classic designs. I did three and might do more but as always, it depends on the material and whether I can get it to look right. 

I hope you like them.

Based on 'Revenge of the Cybermen'

Based on 'Doctor Who and the Cybermen'

Target: Capaldi - part two

With Doctor Who series nine now complete, here is the full run down of all of my Target book designs from the past 12 weeks. 

Click on each image for larger.

Doctor Who and the Heaven Sent - Target book cover

As many of you probably know already, one of my little rules for the Peter Capaldi novelisation covers is not to include Peter Capaldi on the cover. This is nothing to do with any dislike of the actor - I think he's a great Doctor and have liked him as an actor even before he was cast in the title role of TV's Dr Who. His omission from the designs purely stems from that period in the 1980s when Colin Baker's agent allegedly put the kibosh on using Baker's face on the Target covers back then. Since my covers are supposed to echo that period, I decided quite early on to follow that lead.,,

So we come to the episode Heaven Sent in which only Peter Capaldi appears... This presented a few problems as to what should go on the cover. The paucity of pre-transmission images that didn't feature the Doctor also added to the headache...

I hope you like my solution... with it's handful of spoilerific hints...

Doctor Who and the Raven - Target book cover

Here's the cover for episode ten of Doctor Who series nine - Face the Raven. 

I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by the use of titles that can't be adapted into the traditional Target "Doctor Who and the..." style. 


Luckily - despite the production team's best efforts - next week's still can... 

Stay tuned for 'Doctor Who and the Hell Bent'

Doctor Who and the Space Sandmen - Target book cover

Here's episode nine of the current series of Doctor Who.

I did toy with - given the nature of the televised episode - not doing a cover for the book and just beginning with the first chapter... but that would probably be taking things a bit too far. 

In the end, you've been warned not to read this book... and you all follow warnings don't you...!

Doctor Who and the Zygon Inversion - Target book cover

Episode 8 of the current series of Doctor Who and the second book of the two-part trilogy in two volumes.

Doctor Who and the Zygon Invasion - Target book cover

Sorry for the slight delay... but I've been replaced by a Zygon replicant. 

That's the truth. 

You'll have to face the consequences. 

(See what I did there?)

"And you can see the next episode of Doctor Who..."

...at the slightly earlier time of 8.15 next Saturday evening. 

"Next tonight - more medical mayhem in Casualty."

Doctor Who and the Knightmare Child - Target book cover

I make no apologies for the altered title of 'The Woman Who Lived' Target novelisation. 

It was too irresistible not to use... 

And far too apt to ignore...