Andrew Skilleter’s cover art for The Power of Kroll is missing – can you help? The book was published in 1980.
Doctor Who artist Andrew Skilleter is on the hunt for artwork he created for Target Books in the 1980s that was never returned.
The whereabouts of four of his artworks created for the Doctor Who novelisations – The Invasion of Time, The Power of Kroll, The Web of Fear and Meglos – is a complete mystery to Andrew, who would dearly like them back.
The Invasion of Time, published in 1980. Cover by Andrew Skilleter
The mystery of where these paintings might be aside, to make it worse Andrew feels the four covers – three featuring Tom Baker – are probably some the strongest he painted for the series.
“I’m particular fond of Kroll,” he told downthetubes.
“I last saw Invasion of Time at Virgin Books when I was working with them on Blacklight,” he reveals, “and let them hang onto to it for the book and then forgot about it.
This Meglos cover was published in 1983
“Someone has these,” the Dorset-based artist feels. “Does anyone know anything about there whereabouts?”
“I’m not interested in chasing anyone legally,” he emphasises, “but they are my property and I haven’t even scans to reproduce them from.”
Andrew Skilleter who lives and works from the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset has a fine track record spanning decades using both digital and traditional techniques. (I worked with him myself a number of times, back in my days as editor of Doctor Who Magazine).
His illustration experience ranges from book covers, books, audio visual media, magazines and beyond have worked for many of the main UK imprints including the BBC and the Radio Times. He is publicly known for his long professional association with Doctor Who, providing artwork for many departments of the BBC and he recently returned to illustrating Doctor Who books for the US publisher Quartous Publishing.
In October 2015 he reinvented himself professionally using DoxyDiva as the moniker for the his new stylish, graphic artwork encompassing portraits, lifestyle, fashion, retro, hand made lettering, and wordplay – “a smart design approach”, as one of his many clients called it – which combines analogue and digital techniques working primarily with the feminine face and form.
“Publishers and commissioners come and go but Doctor Who will never let me leave,” he says. “My professional involvement began in 1979 with the legendary Target imprint and I went on to complete nearly 50 Who covers for W H Allen, the publishers.
Andrew Skilleter’s cover for the 1983 edition of the Second Doctor story The Web of Fear
During this period I set up Who Dares to publish my own Doctor Who art, was commissioned by Radio Times to provide the cover for The Five Doctors and worked on special projects with the BBC. Working on the BBC VHS covers and with Virgin Publishing on covers and books, including Blacklight, The Doctor Who Art of Andrew Skilleter, took me into the mid 1990s.”
While Andrew maintained his link with Doctor Who through regular private commissions, he was surprised when he was suddenly brought back into working with the Doctor professionally again in late 2013 with a call from US publisher Race Point to provide illustrations for The Who’s Who of Doctor Who. This was followed by his most extensive illustration project since the 1990s when he was commissioned to illustrate the entire Doctor Who: The Big Book of Lists by the same publisher, published March 2015.
• If you can help Andrew recover his art, contact him via andrew.skilleterATgmail.com | Check out his current work at http://andrewskilleter.com
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Doctor Who, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Television
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I bought the original Dalek Invasion Of Earth artwork that Chris Achilleos did for the Target Books, it was stolen thru the postal service here in the USA a few years back, I wanted to let everyone know that it is also missing, any help recovering it would be appreciated, thank you, Dale J Santos.