Water Beggar - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle and is one of the supporting pieces for the Gallionic Gallowglass. I present to you a Water Beggar. You may recognize one of these poor beings from the Gallionic Gallowglass illustration, as there are a number of them in the piece. Sadly, these beings were not prepared for life beyond their lands, and they have not adjusted well to being in the Grand Bazaar. They spend their days begging for water - water that, if ingested for long enough, will eventually kill them. I present to you with the Water Beggar.

Water Beggar
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
8 x 10 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - Contact me if interested
© 2025 Christopher Burdett

 

Water Beggar - Drawing 

8 x 10 - Pencil on paper
© 2025 Christopher Burdett

 

This is a prime example of how my working process results in a more complex story. These guys were not meant to be in the next book, but as I worked on the Gallionic Gallowglass illustration, one thing led to another, and the Water Beggars joined book two. Now they are getting their own spot illustration and a little story about them. If I had the power to instantly make things, these hapless fellows would not exist. Again, this is evidence that the slow way of making things is the best way to make things. More life and detail emerge as I spend days, months, and years working on my stories. Here is a look at the sketch for the Water Beggar to show where it began.

 

Water Beggar - Sketch 

 Digital 

 © 2025 Christopher Burdett

As a bonus, I have a single image of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of the piece image taking shape. This one came together very quickly, and I forgot to take more photos.

Water Beggar - Process

© 2025 Christopher Burdett

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

ANOTHER Water Weird Miniature

I have another miniature for you that is based on my work on Dungeons & Dragons. In June, I shared with you the first time this particular monster got turned into a mini, and now it has received the treatment again. Now, jump ahead, and at some point since June, a pre-painted version of the Water Wierd has been released to go with the previous unpainted version. Here is my final design for the Water Weird.

Water Weird - Redesign

Digital over pencil on paper

Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

This particular monster has evolved a bit since it left my hands, but I think it looks great for it. I always pictured this monster as being a bit... smaller. But big monsters are great. I imagine my belief that they are smaller monsters comes from the illustration for them in the original Monster Manual all those years ago. Here is the new painted version... and it is a more blue than the unpainted version.

The unpainted Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures - Water Weird

 That is all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Recent Magic the Gathering Artist Proof Art

Today, I have a collection of recent Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added art to their backs. And when I say recent, I mean December 2024. As some of these were traveling internationally, I wanted to give them time to reach their destination before I shared them. All available artist proofs and art options can be found on my store. I present my art on the back of two Magic the Gathering cards.

A little sailback for all your sailback needs.

A Stinging Lionfish, as they are always popular.

I am always impressed with how popular the Coveted Peacock has become because at the time of its release, I didn't get that feeling.

ANOTHER Stinging Lionfish that should not be confused with the OTHER one that I made.

Lastly, here is the giveaway card that I made for the Black Friday event last year.

 That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

A Second Look at Older Work - The Dragon Ambassador

This coming June will mark twenty years for me in the gaming industry, and this is also my twenty-sixth year as a working artist. I have made a lot of work over these years, and as I focus on larger projects with multi-year timelines, it is hard to keep this blog updated regularly. I have kept this thing going since 2009, and I would like for it to continue. To that end, I thought I would look back at works I particularly liked, enjoyed making, or seemed to fall through the cracks and went unnoticed.

Today, I have for you another miniature design that I did for the now long dead miniatures game, Dreamblade. Dreamblade will always be near and dear to me as it was the first game I ever worked on and one of the times I felt most free as an artist working in the gaming industry. This is the "Dragon Ambassador" design that was created for the fifth set of the game but was unfortunately moved to the never-produced sixth set. It would have been big and awesome. I wonder to this day if they had started any of the sculpts for these and if somewhere there had been or still is a prototype of it out there.

Unreleased Dragon Ambassador - © 2006 Wizards of the Coast

Dragon Ambassador turnaround - © 2006 Wizards of the Coast

This was slated to be one of the 'hero' pieces of the sixth set. It was selected to be on some of the packaging for that ill-fated set. The late William O'Connor even completed his painting of the packaging art. I am still incredibly proud of this design. I feel the pose still has a lot of movement and feels like it is just about to take flight. I am still amazed I went here with the wing design and that WotC approved it. I am not sure I would do something like this arrangement today. I really had hoped that this ended up getting made. I bet it would have been a fantastic miniature.

That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Pensacon 2025 Recap

There and back again. Our ninth Pensacon is in the books, and so marks the completion of the first convention of 2025. As with most Pensacons, it was a blur of folks and fun. This year,3 things were a little different. The impending threat of bad weather required a complete reorganization of the guests and artists. This meant those outside the convention center needed to be moved into the center at the last minute. And when I say last minute, there were three of us who had just arrived to set up and were told to wait while everything changed. In the end, the outside people moved into the area the guest artists usually held, and all of the guest artists got an upgrade down to the celebrity floor. They were able to fit us in, and we received more room, better lighting, and a chance to rub shoulders with some of the celebrities. We were in the room with two actors from the Mandalorian. Here is a look at my larger, better-lit booth from this year!

The Grand Bazaar at Pensacon 2025!

 

With all the changes, it was hard to gauge this year's Pensacon to the previous few. Sales were a little down from last year, but last year was a crazy, fantastic year, so I am not considering this year as a step-down. Our average sale amount for most of the con was up overall. Even though we were in a different place, on a different floor, people found us, and we saw so many familiar faces. The big hit of the con was the Mystery Print Bundles that sold out early on Sunday. I could have sold many more if I had them. I couldn't be happier with how they were received. I will definitely need to dig deeper into the boxes and see what else I have. 

I didn't have any panels this year, and we kept things quiet for the most part after hours. We enjoyed meals with friends and with just the two of us. There were a lot of laughs and a lot of fun to be had. Needless to say, I returned home NOT exhausted, which is a welcome change. I am already hard at work on the next piece for book two and looking ahead to the rest of my conventions this year and Pensacon in 2026. Here are some photos from Pensacon 2025.

Another shot of the booth with over 15 linear feet of monsters and art.

The new retractable banner was a dream, and I am so happy it arrived in time for the show.

 I drew on the backs of a few Magic the Gathering artist proofs this year.

This was a fun commission at the show. Their only request was that it needed to be a monster.

This was my big splurge of the convention, to get a commission from Mr. GI Joe himself, Larry Hama.

I commissioned a drawing of my first GI Joe figure, Flash, and I could not be happier. It is now framed and hangs just to my left as I type this. It makes me SO happy!

This was the big event of the show.

This is the largest piece that I have ever created for the books and one that was a personal challenge to complete. I am thrilled it is going to a good home where it will be loved.

We couldn't go to see the droids, so the droids came to us.

There may have been a war criminal among them.

This Jawa was PERFECT! No notes!

I finally remembered to get some shots of the room we spent the weekend in. At times, it was utterly packed, and they had to limit the number of people coming in at any one time.

Another shot of the room from the corner of my booth.

The most excellent Allan Henry (AKA Kong) and Jessica Etchells!

It was a true pleasure to meet Allan and to have a chance to hang out and talk over dinner and at our booths. You need to look him up; his resume is impressive, his work impeccable, and he is one of the nicest humans I have crossed paths with recently.

Allan gave me a full Kong demonstration, and it was AMAZING!

This is the magic of Pensacon! 

A MASSIVE thanks to the entire Pensacon staff and volunteers, especially Mike Ensley and Julio Diaz (and too many to list - sorry, you were all amazing, and we couldn't have had as great of a show without you all!!!!) And heartfelt thanks to everyone who came by the booth this year. You all keep me coming back and ensure that the next book keeps getting closer and closer.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Infected By Art Volume 13 Selected Work

I am happy to announce that I have been selected for inclusion in Infected By Art Volume 13. I love IBA, and it is a true joy to be included in a publication that features so much amazing real art. You can see a complete list of the art included in IBA 13 on their website. This year, the Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia was again selected, and I could not be happier!

The Airship
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
11 x 14 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

I submitted a mix of work created for the Grand Bazaar and clients. It always pleases me when my personal work beats out client work, not that I do better work for myself, but because the pieces I do for myself are better received by others and transcend (hopefully) being drawings only about monsters. While I am surprised by which pieces were passed up, I am delighted this one made the cut. If you are curious, here is everything I submitted for consideration in IBA 12.

Congrats to everyone who made it in, and a huge thanks to the jury and Bill Cox for all his work in making IBA a reality. I can't wait to see the completed book firsthand!

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

BLOG-a-versary - Sixteen Years Later

On February 17th, 2009, sixteen years ago today, I started this blog. I do one of these anniversary posts every year, and each year, I am surprised that I have found myself here again. As if, at some point, I would drop this endeavor and move on to something else. But after what is now sixteen years, how could I? In some ways, this is the easiest, most straightforward option I have to put out into the universe what I am doing, creating, and thinking. So, to that end, we are here again as another year has ticked by. This is blog post 2,203, which isn't too shabby, but I don't have anything much to compare it to. But that is a lot of posts, and most posts document my journey as an artist. I hope that these posts serve to help and possibly guide those on their artistic journeys.

My studio in early 2025

I used to do lengthy reviews of the previous year, and in some ways, those posts are what got a lot of eyes on this blog. But the time and work that it takes to do one large review post has worn on me. I love doing them, but they started feeling repetitive and sometimes a bit morose. Ever since COVID-19, they just haven't been the same. So, I have started sharing more on these anniversary posts and sprinkling more nuggets of wisdom throughout the year. Is it the same? No. Is it close enough? I think so. After all these years, I am unsure I have any profound truths to share.

At some point, once you get your legs under you artistically, you have a path ahead of you that is yours and yours alone. My path is very different than it was sixteen years ago and is not one I ever imagined for myself. I knew what I wanted to do. I had my goals. But at no point could I have visualized the outcome and how that has changed nearly everything regarding my opinions of the industries, making art, and life in general. I certainly never imagined that I would have to double-process all of my images to protect them from theft! I can (and I did for sixteen years) tell you exactly what I did to get here, but much of that is unique to me. You will have to find your own path. I have, and will continue, shared nearly all I have learned along my journey. I hope this archive stays around for as long as possible so that it might help others and be a record of my time as an artist. 

I will mention that I have a sort of long post planned for March. March marks the twentieth anniversary of us leaving Los Angeles and my transition to having a university career by day, and (by June 2009) I was working freelance in tabletop gaming. As it has been twenty years, I have decided it was time to clear the air and lay out why it became necessary to leave LA in the first place. But these stories and more are for another day in March. 

I will say that 2024 had some very high highs for me. And, there were some rough patches. It was a tremendous year for me at conventions. I broke records at multiple shows and had by far the best single convention to date - Pensacon 2024. I am not expecting to hit those numbers again this year, but I know the potential is now there. I do not know what conventions will be like this year, and moving forward, we are in a time of great change. Hopefully, Pensacon will give me a taste of what to expect for 2025. 

Also, I did produce a much larger amount of work for the second book of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia in 2024. I made more art for the book than I had in several years. Again, a very good thing. I am not off to such a good start this year, but that is entirely due to taking on some amazing freelance work that I could not turn down. It took up a lot of time, but I think it was worth it, and it was one of the most fun projects I have been a part of in a long time. I have said all I can for now, but there will be more news when I can share it. 

I am not sure I have the words yet, but since October, my thoughts and opinions have shifted a great deal. I do not see things as I once did, and my priorities and interests have begun to shift. I am spending a lot more time focused on personal growth and development, and that doesn't always include making art. Fear naught, I am still working hard on my stories and art. And I am giving book two everything I can. Making books and writing stories is not all I will put my time to now. And it is for the best all around, and I should have better art and stories because of these changes. Yes, I am being vague. No, there is nothing wrong. I just want to keep some things personal for a time. As always, keep an eye on the blog to see what I am up to!

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com