SYLVESTER McCOY

A fair while ago I went through a phase of drawing portraits just to keep my eye in whenever work was slow or non existant and this is a pencil drawing of Sylvester McCoy. I know what youre thinking here: 'Please, not another Dr Who!'

Sorry about this. I've always felt that one good way to learn to draw is by drawing the things you're really keen on and I've been a bit of a Dr Who anorak since I was about 5. And as a young man it was easier to get hold of pictures of Dr Who than it was to get hold of pictures of girls I liked. Sadly.

This drawing has been cropped because he was wearing a hat and that turned out to be a disaster. I'm ok with faces, more or less, but hats are a right pain. Especially straw ones.

PATRICK TROUGHTON

I must of done this around ten years ago and I'd completely forgotten about it until today when I saw one of my favourite actors ever, Patrick Troughton guest as a villain in an old episode of The Sweeney. So I fished the drawing out and thought it didn't look too shabby for something I did that length of time ago so I'm posting it.

Done in HB pencils, I think some of the drawing is a titchy bit crude here and there in comparison with the way I'd do it now but every drawing is a valuable learning process and that's why you should never throw any work away.

I've always liked Patrick's wistful pose in this drawing and I think he was supposed to be looking directly at you but I went wrong somewhere along the way. Y'know, as usual.

ELISABETH SLADEN

I did this pencil drawing way back in the heady days of August 1992, a month before I started my degree at Camberwell College of Arts. When I was a boy, Elisabeth Sladen would make my heart go goosey whenever she was on the telly in Doctor Who and I did this portrait for her when I met her in London at a signing session. She was so lovely and complimentary about the drawing when she accepted it, my heart pumped up to Goose Factor 9.

Sometimes I wish I did but I don't often do drawings like this anymore because they're so time consuming and although I still have the patience, I'm always too busy illustrating books and stuff.

Other Dr Who drawings can be found on my website.

THE BOY KING

This is an A3 pencil portrait of Elvis Presley as a boy. Elvis grew up poor and there's a distict sadness in his eyes here. The drawing itself is quite loose and sketchy and although I don't know how long it took to do (I did it about 4 or 5 years ago), I don't suppose it took longer than an evening.

There are other drawings of Elvis which can be found in the portfolio section of my website.

YODA

This is a pencil drawing of Yoda and which took a good 2/3 hours to do. With pencil portraits I used to start with a 2H and gradually build up to a 9B for the darkest areas. I don't know if I still do that as I've not done a pencil portrait for some time.

I'm prone to making mistakes and if you look at his left (your right) ear you'll see where I made one which I had to take a putty rubber to. If I remember rightly, I originally did the ear too long and I didn't correct it properly so the picture looks messy there, around the tip of the ear.

The full sized version of this drawing can be found in the portfolio section of my website.

SKETCHING ANIMALS AT THE ZOO

I like animals and I enjoy drawing them. This is taken from my sketchbook from when I went to the zoo with my little girl. I drew these pictures quickly because it was cold when we went and drawing quickly draws your mind from the chill and warms you up. I also drew them quickly because I had to keep one eye on my daughter to make sure she didn't try and get in with the monkeys again.

I don't like her going in with the animals unless I'm supervising.