Reviews: The Time Team Unearthed: The Art of Adrian Salmon

Adrian Salmon is one of the superb artists whose work has graced the pages of Doctor Who Magazine for decades now.  His style tends to be very distinctive: blocky angular shapes and vibrant colours combining in strange and interesting angles and viewpoints for the art.  Never moreso than in a long-running feature for DWM, the 'Time Team'.  In this feature a group of fans discussed and dissected a particular Doctor Who story as they watched it ... working their way through the series, and each entry was illustrated by a piece of art from Salmon.

Now Roundel Books have collected all these pieces togther, and along with some new offerings to 'fill the gaps' so to speak, have presented it all in a lovely new artbook celebrating Salmon's work.

Printed landscape format so as to give the best coverage and size for the art (which were mostly landscape pieces), the book puts them all in context with a detailed commentary from Salmon, and supplemented by comments from others involved with Doctor Who Magazine and the feature itself.  One thing which is a little strange is placing the commentaries in a long 33 page essay at the start, rather than having them alongside the art itself. This then makes you flip back and forth through the book as you read the commentary, wanting to see the finished items.

And there's a lot more than just the finished items here. The publishers have included early sketches and ideas too, so you can see the development from sketch to black and white to coloured final piece for many of the stories.

The book is completed with a section of other artwork from Salmon, 'Classic Art from the Archives' which presents a selection of other work by the artist. A favourite here is the second Doctor clambering out of one of the CyberTombs, but it's shaped like the helmet decal seen in 'The Tomb of the Cybermen' and with some Cybermats scattered on the floor for good measure.

As a record of a much-loved aspect of Doctor Who Magazine's history, this is second to none, and it comes highly recommended. Art, and Doctor Who art in particular, doesn't come much more imaginative and impressive as this!

The book was funded via Kickstarter, and there are now copies to buy, while stocks last, from the Publisher's website. There's a smashing hardback edition (£59.99. Which comes with a free DVD, featuring a video conversation with Salmon, audio of Salmon on a Podcast, and a video called Unnatural Born Writer: Kroton), and a paperback edition (£39.99). 

https://www.cutawaycomics.co.uk/publications/the-time-team-unearthed