Review: Evolution by Andrew Skilleter

I'm a sucker for lovely art books, and this is partly why Telos has been dipping into publishing them over recent years.  Andrew Skilleter is an artist whose name is almost synonymous with Doctor Who. He has done so much over the years, creating cover art, posters, books, bookmarks and many other visual expressions related to the show.

He has published several artbooks himself, collecting much of his Doctor Who output, and you'd perhaps think that there wasn't much left for him to publish. However. Andrew is still working and has been creating new art for this book he calls Evolution. Partly because it showcases an evolution in his style to a more fluid form, and encompassing photography as well: basically making full use of the tools currently available to artists to create new and interesting work.

And that's what this book is: new and interesting. From the impressive gold embossed cover with a part fabric spine overlap, the book screams quality. It's been produced in limited numbers, all signed by the artist, and here we find the opening pages presenting new imagery of the Doctors.

Each spread is accompanied by a quote from the show, which Andrew explains, acts as a jumping off point to new adventures and ideas. So here we have companion Peri Brown reimagined as a 'space adventurer' in a red skirt and cape, wearing white gloves and holding a Star Trek-like phaser pistol. There's River Song in a very Jim Burns spaceship, an exploding Cyberman, a painting of Nyssa of Traken as some flying fey being, the Rani: all aloof and with another flowing red cape ... the imagery is impressive and it works. 

Following a central gallery of commissioned work and pencils showing a different side to Andrew's art, and presented as being 'The Under Gallery' presided over by the Curator, we have more fantastic imagery: Leela swimming underwater; Arizona Amy striding through the desert; Romana mk1 wearing a shiny blue catsuit and beside another Burnsian space car; while Romana Mk2 is flying through the air in a black catsuit and boots. 

There's a section on the Daemons, with new imagery of the Master and Azal, followed by other daemonic forces like the Malus and the Fendahl, the Haemovores and the Destroyer.

Andrew's classic 'poster prints' are reimagined as Radio Times covers next and they work very well indeed in this form, and then we're onto Jamie against a Highland background; Ace as a battle-suited marine, and Sarah Jane as a 'Spacegirl' dressed in another shiny spacesuit; Cybermen; Zoe; Missy; Captain Jack;  and finally of course, a Dalek.

The whole book is a joy! 

It's available from Andrew's store at https://andrewskilleter.com/store-gallery/doctor-who/drwho-books/evolution-doctor-who-arta-new-dimension/