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Behind the Scenes at Designworks - The Making of Doctor Who action Figures

Exclusive Interview with Edmund Barnett-Ward, Director of Sculpting at Designworks Windsor, the company that sculpts Character Options
Doctor Who Action Figures

This interview took place in Windsor, England on the 27th February 2008 and is Strictly
Copyright © doctorwhotoys.net, All Rights Reserved; may not be reproduced in full or part.
All images are for the exclusive use of doctorwhotoys.net approved by and copyright © Designworks Windsor, Character Group plc and the BBC

Part 1 Behind the Scenes at Designworks
Part 2 All About Ed
Part 3 A Little History
Part 4 The Making of Doctor Who Action Figures
Part 5 Traditional Sculpting
Part 6 Sculpting Materials
Part 7 Approval
Part 8 Digital Sculpting
Part 9 The Sculptors
Part 10 The Story So Far

Welcome to Part 10, the final part of a multi-part 10,000 word series describing in detail the making of Doctor Who Action Figures and including 63 exclusive new images of the figures in various stages of production.

"We've done, so far," reflects Ed "over 100 Doctor Who sculpts (not releases)."

Clockwork Man 12 Inch Brain - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and BBC

Clockwork Man 12 Inch Mask - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and BBC

Clockwork Man 12 Inch Brain & Mask - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and the BBC.

"Loads are yet to be released. Of those there are only two which have not been sculpted here. One of those hasn't been released yet and the other was the Krillitane original version with open mouth, which were done by other design houses. Although we did do the revised Krillitane with closed mouth."

"The bigger objects like the Lift Cage, Genesis Arc and the Tardis are also done by Designworks. But they are done using a program called 'Solidworks', a 3D CAD design software application, and then prototyped. In fact, Designworks have more or less done all the toys and figures in the Character Doctor Who line apart from the 12 inch K9."

"In terms of the Classic episodes, no one was thinking about making action figures when these programmes were made."

Rose Tyler Version 2 Original Sculpt - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and BBC

Rose Tyler Version 2 Original Sculpt - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and the BBC.

"Much of the reference material we needed to produce some of the classic figures, the BBC no longer have in their archives."

"Although they don't necessarily realize it, wider Doctor Who 'fandom' has been invaluable as a resource for photos of the Classic Series characters and creatures."

Where episodes are archived we have used image capture from DVDs taken from the original VT tapes. Even in the case of the 'missing episodes' there are fortunately still enough pictures out there for us to be able to sculpt from."

Tenth Doctor Original Sculpt & Rose Tyler Version 2 Original Sculpt - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and the BBC.

"Fans should be assured that no level of detail is being left out for the classic figures although we have deliberately shied away from some 'obvious' figures."

Almost all of the photographs on the backs of packs as well as the PR shots released after approval from Character are done by Ed in his mini studio above the sculptors workshops.

Ed has an approximately one metre cube-shaped light box by a large window for this purpose. Taking the shots here helps speed up the all important lead times to get the figures out as efficiently as possible.

"I always try to be sympathetic to the character by looking at reference materials to try and match the camera angles for example."

Mickey Smith Pre-Production - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and BBC

Mickey Smith Pre-Production - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and the BBC.

Thanks Ed - Thanks to Edmund Barnett-Ward, Director of Sculpting at Designworks Windsor, for sharing in such detail the incredible story of Doctor Who Action Figures and for providing such a wealth of amazing photographs.

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This interview is Strictly Copyright © doctorwhotoys.net, All Rights Reserved; may not be reproduced in full or part. All images are for the exclusive use of doctorwhotoys.net approved by and copyright © Designworks Windsor, Character Group plc and the BBC

Face of Boe Approval Deco & Production 10th Doctor - All images exclusively approved for use only on doctorwhotoys.net by Designworks, Character Options and the BBC.

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