The Ribos Operation

I was, of course, going to post 'The Web Planet' this week, but as that has been delayed by a couple of weeks I decided to knuckle down and get 'The Ribos Operation' finished off - paradoxically, the last and the first of the Key to Time covers, for those who have purchased the region 1 boxset.

I was also keen to get this one done before the release of 'City of Death', before too many people could work out where I got the picture of Tom from. It's a pose I've not seen anywhere else (only similar ones), so I had always planned to use it. Similarly I wanted to attempt 'scaring up' that shot of the Shrivenzale, giving him sharper fangs and claws just to make him a little less cuddly than he appears in the show. I'm pleased with the result, and while it's taking a small degree of artistic licence (it's not as if I had blood dripping from his mouth), the original really isn't frightening in the least!

It was what to do with the rest of the cover that was holding this one up for so long. And once again, as with 'The Armageddon Factor', it was the fantastic DWM Complete Fourth Doctor that came to the rescue, finally giving me a usable shot of the Graff Vynda-K (and, as it turned out, Sholakh). But it was only now, when I determined to get this cover done, that a way to unite all the elements sprang to mind, namely the stone archways. A sprinkling of snow and the whole came together pretty sharply.

So at last, the Key to Time is complete. In fact, I've been on a bit of a roll, and both 'The Web Planet' and 'City of Death' are done already! (Users of the Velvet Jacket OS X Dashboard widget should watch out for a sneak preview.) However, I want to wait until I have the 'Web Planet' disc before posting as I hear there are a couple of colour photos from the serial on there, from which I want to see how accurately I've coloured my Zarbi and Menoptra.

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