Painting Space (Acrylic Process)

A while back a friend introduced me to this glorious thing called Doctor Who, a whimsical British television series resurrected from the 60's and reintroduced in 2005. Though, as far as my knowledge stretched at the time, the main character's name was 'Doctor Who', and it was some crazy show about this alien man who traveled around space in a telephone box... didn't make much sense to me honestly, and it didn't sound very appealing.

However, I somehow found myself watching it.... and slowly enjoying it.

Turns out, it IS a crazy show, but the good kind of crazy (kind of like Pop Rocks, they're pretty crazy, right?) The deep characters and the enticing plot line actually drew me in, so I figured I owed my friend a little favor, kind of 'thank you for introducing me into this awesomeness' gift. What better to paint than the most iconic object from the show; the T.A.R.D.I.S. (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space)? So I grabbed my brushes, a canvas, and some paint and got started.

The actual T.A.R.D.I.S., just so you can base my painting off of something. The Process of Painting Time and Space 1) Space - I started off with a dark blue canvas, and used a sponge to blotch in black, then blotted in some gold glitter. From there I used a toothbrush and dipped it in white acrylic paint and ran my finger along the bristles towards me. The further away from the canvas the brush is, the larger the patch of stars will be. The closer, the more controlled and condensed the stars will be. 2) Stencil - I already had cut out a TARDIS stencil, so I went ahead and carefully held it down and painted over it. (I used a brush, but a sponge or a mini roller work well too) 3) Stencil (cont.) - I continued to paint around the stencil with a brush leaving purposeful streaks. 4) Details and Text - With the same white brush, I simply added more paint and pulled the streaks out and swirled them a little bit to look like an aura of light. I then took a metallic silver sharpie and followed the swirled streaks to define them a bit more. I used a fine brush with black to (painstakingly) paint in the letters, and then used a permanent thin Sharpie to add the words around the edges. 5) Final Touches - From there I added a few more details, touched up places I missed, and added gold marker to accompany the silver swirls (also added gold dots around the big star patches). I also (at the last minute) decided to mix red and black paint and sponge a tiny bit of the tinted black randomly to help make the nebulas. That's it! - Seriously, it's finished now. :)

    I gifted it off, and I think he really liked it! Either way I had fun making it. The lines aren't completely uniform and accurate on the perspective end giving it a stylish distortion.

    I have to say, I generally don't paint 'fan art' unless it's of something I really enjoy almost as much as art, so Doctor Who definitely has to be up there with my favorite shows. Honestly, some people might think the first few episodes to be a bit strange, but ultimately stick through it and you won't be disappointed (that is, unless you dislike British men flying around in blue boxes while changed the fate of the universe itself).

    Doctor Who really is fantastic if you ask me, so I say GERONIMO, just go watch it! So, allons-y everyone, come along gather around the TV here, and remember - don't blink. You don't want to miss a thing.