DOCTOR WHO #9, March 2010

From Comics Continuum and, UPDATED: the info can also be found on the IDW Publishing site as well;

DOCTOR WHO #9

Written by Tony Lee, art by Blair Shedd, covers by Paul Grist and Shedd.

"Don't Step On The Grass" Part 1 (of 2): When The Doctor is called back to modern-day London by Martha Jones and U.N.I.T., the last thing he expects are the Enochian Angels of Elizabethan magician John Dee, the secret underground library of Greenwich Park, and an army of angry living trees!

32 pages, $3.99.

If you follow the link, you can get a peek at the cover by Paul Grist. I'll post my cover when it's revealed.

Can't wait to read this issue!

...oh

...wait.

Right.

Back to it then!

Dalek the Halls

Just simply a happy holidays to those who celebrate, and a peaceful time to everyone, regardless of beliefs or if you were created by Davros.

(No, the Daleks don't appear in my Doctor Who run... hence why I thought it'd be fun to draw one now.)

Be good!

New Worlds, New Civilizations

Chom'Pazz, an original alien creation from my first IDW submission. He is NOT appearing in my upcoming Doctor Who stint.

Just finished up a page, so I'm taking a break from hunching over the Cintiq, to stare into my other monitor and type.

While there are long nights and little sleep during this little adventure (though it's forcing me to come up with new ways to speed up my process without compromising my quality), so far, this job has been a blast. It's almost weird to think of it as a job (but, Denton, if you're reading this, I still would prefer to get paid for my work ;-) ).

One of the cooler moments for me so far was designing the "creature" that appears in the story. I can't say anything about it at this point, so we'll skip that. But writer Tony Lee wrote into the script a deceptively simple description of it, and a few things it does, and it was up to me to realize it.

I doodled my first few designs in a sketch book I keep near my computer. My "tighter" roughs were then drawn on the computer, as I needed to break down how this creature would "work" (I'll explain later, Jo). I also did turnarounds on the computer, and other reference drawings for my own benefit. I assembled it up into two clean JPEGs, and emailed them to my editor, who in turn forwarded them to the writer for his input. Both signed off on it, so my design is set.

What's neat about this is the fandom out there, the Whovians. Sites like the Doctor Who Wiki -- [link] -- and others keep track of just about every person, being, ship, and alien that pop up on Doctor Who, be it TV, audio, book, comic, and beyond

I've made my somewhat unique contribution to the history of Doctor Who, and while it is tiny in comparison to many other entries into the mythos, it's an accomplishment to me.

The Big Project: When Is Fan Art Not?

So here we go. I've gotten the full go-ahead from my editor to mention this ("tell it on a mountain" he said :-) );

When is fan art not fan art?

When you get paid to do it.

I will be illustrating a four issue arc of DOCTOR WHO for IDW Publishing (www.idwpublishing.com).

Issues are #9-#12, due out starting in March of 2010 (though run out and grab current issues to get down an idea of the storyline).

Written by Tony Lee, Illustrations by Me, and colors by Charlie Kirchoff (www.charliekirchoff.com). I can't say too much about plot, but if Tony Lee can say it in his Twitter, I can say it here; It has Martha Jones. And U.N.I.T. And Angels. And pissed off trees. WHY AREN'T YOU READING THIS SERIES? :-)

A big thanks Charlie for putting in a good word for me when he saw and liked my work. Thanks to my editor Denton Tipton and Editor-In-Chief Chris Ryall for giving this newbie a chance.

Thanks to my parents for never saying "that'll never happen" when I was a kid. And the biggest thanks to my beautiful wife Sarah for putting in so many long hours to help me get this this point.

We're still a little ways out before I can show you any artwork from the book, but if you peruse my website (www.oneGemini.com) or this very dA page you can find some Doctor Who artwork that'll give you a taste of what I'll be bringing to the project.

I've already seen some of my work colored by Charlie Kirchoff, and let me tell you, it's going to be brilliant.

So thanks all for hanging in with my cryptic posts and the like.

Now back to work for me. I'm gonna kick this script's ass.

~Blair Donald Shedd