Ashford cartoonist draws Eleventh Doctor Who Matt Smith

Jan 5 2009 By Russell Butt

Eleventh Doctor Who Matt Smith as drawn by Darren Lacey

On Saturday the BBC unveiled the new actor who will succeed David Tennant as Doctor Who in 2010.

Just hours after, the nuances of the young actor Matt Smith's face had been captured in digital caricature by a talented Ashford cartoonist.

Darren Lacey, 35, who moved to his London Road home two years ago, has been creating digital images, both commercially and recreationally, for more than 10 years now.

And when he saw the face of Matt Smith, the 26-year-old plucked from obscurity by the BBC to play the prized role, he also saw an opportunity to use the actor's prominent features, to put his own talents in the public spotlight.

"As soon as he came on TV, he looked like a walking caricature anyway," said Darren, "He has an odd-shaped head and little duck mouth, so I decided to make a version of him that I thought would be quite appealing.

"Maybe then, someone who sees it, might go to my website and see something else they like."

Father-of-two, Darren, worked as a period photographer in the studio at Thorpe Park for two years, but his personal life was shaken to the core when the birth of his second son, Cody, coincided with the decision of bosses at the leisure attraction to axe the studio in November last year.

Darren, who did art at college in his hometown of Nottingham, has relied his wiles to find ways to bring his work to public attention.

During 2005, his cartoons became popular and gained media attention, when he posted live cartoons on his website of the people appearing in the Channel 4 television show, Big Brother. At its zenith, his BBTOONS were receiving more than 2,000 hits every hour.

He even dabbles with popular website Facebook, offering free CGI caricatures, 'FACETOONBOOKING' as he calls it, to whoever responds first as a fun, advertising exercise that keeps him working.

And he had a recent commission, from Spelthorne councillor for Ashford, Marion Rough, resulted in her and her ward colleagues, Cllr Howard Thomson and Mayor of Spelthorne, Simon Bhadye, being 'toon'd' for a future ward newsletter.

Despite his knock-backs, Darren remains upbeat and hopes his Doctor Who cartoons will boost his chances of pursuing his dreams.

"What I really want to do is write and illustrate children's books. Ideally I would love to do that for my boys, so they can read it and know it's daddy's book."

All Darren's work can be views via his website http://darwiniantheory.co.uk