The Art Of Rachael Stott

The breakout young artist of trek/apes and doctor who talks to Stephen Kelly.

- Stephen Kelly

Earlier this year, comic book artist Rachael Stott got a piece of fan mail through the post. It was a drawing of Doctor Who walking among the stars, with a touching message telling her “what an incredible artist you are.”

“I opened it up,” she tells us, “and my housemate was like, ‘Are you... alright?’ I just turned and screamed, ‘I think I’ve just got something from Peter Capaldi!’”

And for good reason. Despite only two years in the industry, Stott has made a formidable name for herself as an artist on Titan’s Doctor Who range, especially when it comes to Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. She got her big break at London’s Super Comic Con in 2014, where a chance encounter with Chris Ryall of IDW Publishing – who happened to spot her portfolio – led to her being commissioned for crossover mini-series Star Trek / Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive. “It was the most insane example of being in the right place at the right time I’ve ever had,” she says.

Having just put the finishing touches to her issue of IDW’s Ghostbusters International (which follows the original ’80s characters) she sat down with Comic Heroes to talk Doctor Who, diversity, and her second biggest-fan: Ghostbusters reboot director Paul Feig.

COMIC HEROES: You’ve now drawn every Doctor from Paul McGann onwards. How have you found capturing them on page?

RACHAEL STOTT: I found Paul McGann the hardest one to nail, because I haven’t seen him moving around since the TV movie, so I wasn’t used to the way his face works. I was sticking so slavishly to one photo thinking, “No, his nose is more like this...”