BOOKS BBC BOOKS RRP £20 RELEASED 2 NOVEMBER
In December last year, Puffin Books launched a competition for Doctor Who fans – both amateur and professional alike – to have their art featured in 100 Illustrated Adventures, a guide to the show’s top episodes. Gabby De Matteis, the editor in charge of putting the book together, was overwhelmed by the response: “We had over a thousand entries,” she says, “far more than we were expecting, considering the effort we were asking people to go to! It took weeks to sift through them… For years I’ve wanted to publish a book that celebrates all the beautiful art Who inspires. There’s such a wealth of it out there and I love seeing people posting their art on social media; stuff that they put time and energy into creating just out of love for the show.”
From a list of 100 episodes, chosen for their range and popularity, fans were asked to interpret stories as creatively as they could. “We judged the pieces for how well they captured the feel of the episode or characters,” says Gabby, “rather than just choosing the highest quality or most professional-looking pieces. Some entries won because they’re beautiful pieces of fine art, others because they’re just joyous, colourful celebrations of Doctor Who, or because the artists have clearly put so much love and attention into creating them.”