Doctor Who Character Concept and Drawing

Thursday and Friday, 18th and 19th of April

I started out by writing out the general character descprition.  This was the first one:

"The alien race is originally in form a lion-like beast which can walk on legs or all fours for extra speed. When it lands on another planet it changes into the same form as the local dominant species. It can still change into its own form at any time. In the episode only original and human forms will be shown.

The race is an aggressive conquering race and have sent numerous people to Earth to plant parts of a massive attack weapon on the planet. When the weapon is completed and activated the human race will become uncapable of own-thought and turned into a slave race.

When the Doctor arrives on Earth with his assistant there are headligns everywhere warning about animal sighting and the possible dangers connected to them. The Doctor is contacted by the main Army base about one of the creatures (the race in lion form) having been seen in the base. This is how the Doctor is introduced and confronted by th race"

I had a look at the existing Doctor Who Characters to get a general idea of what they're aiming at.  For comment on age-gap and fear factor see image below:

I then wanted to do a more general research of creatures in film.  This was more to look at how designers tackled concept design in different ways.  It really does differ a lot.  There are pencil sketches, highly detailed digital paintings, quick sketches, watercolour paintings etc. The Concept Deign can be tackled just as much in your own style as any thing else and certainly doesn't nee to be sacrificed.  Looking at the clay models or maquettes to use the correct term, these are either painted or unpainted probably with the majority unpainted.  Colour seems to be tackled more in the 2D element.  I don't really think it will be necessary for me to paint mine either as it's more about the forms created by the transformation but we'll see.  I discovered a really blog/website while doing this research: http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com/ It's got loads of interviews with designers on it and loads of tips and tricks for character design. 

I then did one of my mind-maps: 

I then did some portrait sketching to see what kind of look he would have based on the different indeas in that came up in the mind-map.  The first I thought too ancient and wooly.  I really wasn't sure about the second and then when I drew the third one I thought that was probably about right.  Of course it has something to do with the lighting I used in the picture but I think a more gaunt look would be good for the human form to make him look a bit more seedy.  I don't really feel I need to perfect this as it also has a lot to do with casting in Film/TV but this was just to get the general idea of what I was aiming at.

After having drawn these portraits and reassessing my mind-map I had a rethink about the character. I was mainly thinking about what time it should be set in due to the link between the lion theme and Richard the Lion Heart.  Also the idea of the character disguising itself as a Knight's Templar interested me more than any old random person.  I decided to rehash my original character details to combine it with these historical characters:

"Second Version – Additional Description

The creatures come to Earth during the time of the Crusades, Reign of King Richard I (r.1189-99), a.k.a. Richard the Lionheart. The alien disguises itself as a Knight's Templar fighting alongside the King. (The Knight's Templar did assist King Richard I in battle, I looked it up.)

When the Doctor arrives he is excited and wants to show off to the assistant and manages to speak gain an audience with King Richard by using the Psychic Paper. The King tells him about a strange beast prowling the camp at nighttime. He is getting nervous as a lot of the men see it as a bad omen, some demon premonition of what's to happen in battle. The Doctor reassures him and says he'll help to rid them of the beast." 

I did sketch out a Templar Knight but I haven't done it in colour yet.  I'll just do that when I get a free moment.  I feel I can use my time a lot better working on the lion creature.  The project was meant to be a creature design project and the templar is more of a job for a costume designer as it has to be historically accurate.  I will make a colour version and tidy it up a bit later to make it a general illustration :D