Introduction: Doctor Who TARDIS Explosion Painting

I love this painting so much that I decided to paint it myself. Disclaimer: my only painting experience was one session of the Paint night so I basically know nothing about painting.

Step 1: Things You Need

A big canvas from the craft store or Walmart, I got a 2 pack for $14.

5 small Acrylic paint (Gloss) - I used Matte because it is half the price but Gloss would make it look a lot more like oil painting.

Apple Barrel brand

21474E Yellow Flame

20773E English Navy (Tardis Blue!)

21884E Snow White

20504E Black

Brown ....

Some paint brushes - value pack from Walmart $3.97

1 Foam Plate, some absorbent paper towel

1 mug/glass that you wont use for drinking anymore

a pencil (not shown)

Step 2: Sketch

I have the poster itself so I refer back to it and sketch the main structure - Tardis & big circles swirly things

Doesn't have to be exact, you can fix it while painting. The main thing we are looking for here are the proportions and placement of the swirly things.

Step 3: Start With Dark Blue

If you look closer to the painting, there are many layers - Blue on yellow, then yellow on white, then the white on dark blue...each stroke overlapping the other. We will start with dark blue background and work one layer at a time.

Squeeze the tardis blue on the foam plate, add a tiny dot of back, mix well and start painting. It looks quite a bit darker on the canvas then on the plate so keep that in mind.

Refer back to the poster/screenshots that you have, paint all the sky background.

Step 4: Now the Tardis

Since the blue paint is Tardis blue, just squeeze and paint according to your sketch, pay attention to the direction of your brush stroke to match the original. To create the oil painting effect, apply the paint generously so the paint would dry with texture and prominent brush strokes.

Next, add some white to the blue and finish the lighter part of the Tardis. Now the base layer of the major blue components should be completed, move on to the yellow.

Step 5: Start the Explosion

use the plain yellow to draw the yellow components, if the part looks remotely like yellow, paint it and we can correct the color on the next layer. it is a good time to practice on the direction of the explosion...

Step 6: Stupid Brown

I just can't get the stupid brown color right, it kept coming up beige....I used it anyway and cover it up with more yellow later on. Again, follow the poster or screenshots on where you need to paint. Basically a little bit here and there... Kinda random.

For the Tardis window, it is not exactly white, I used about 1 part yellow to 10 parts white to get the right color. same for the plaque. use the same color for the middle of the explosion, whenever you get a new shade of yellow, just add it on to the explosion and swirly lines.

Then just mix up different shades of blue and paint according to the painting. you will notice the strokes surrounding the swirly things are round, make sure you follow the direction the best you can.

Do the same for Yellow... basically I alternate between different shades of blue & yellow so it has some time to dry before I add the next layer.

Step 7: Use Your Smallest Brush to Write...

you can actually write whatever you want on there to add your personal touch, I like to keep it original so I tried to write as close to the original as possible.

Step 8: Now That You Almost Finished, Paint the Sides Too

Since you would be able to see the white sides of the canvas, it is better to paint that too. You just need dark blue and yellow+white for the sides, don't need to be too precise here.

And now you are done! It took me one afternoon to complete and I think it looks awesome :)

Can't wait to watch the season finale tonight, Capaldi and Gomez would be sorely missed!