2010 World Yo-Yo Contest

A few weeks ago Lee Bretschneider was telling me about a friend who had all these little wooden yo-yos that she would like to get artist to work on. They are to be auctioned at the 2010 World Yo-Yo Contest. I expressed interest and before I knew it I had a little wooden yo-yo of my own. Now, what could I possibly want to paint on mine? ...a MONSTER of course!

Monster Yo-Yo top
© 2010 Christopher Burdett

Monster Yo-Yo Bottom
© 2010 Christopher Burdett

Monster Yo-Yo size comparison
© 2010 Christopher Burdett

This was a very fun nice little distraction from my assignments. I hope it is received well at the event. I am told the art auction is a highlight of the event and they go quickly. My apologies for the blurry comparison photo, but you get the idea... they are little.

It is almost here, Gen Con is next week! Check back in on Monday to see some of the new promotional materials I have for this year's convention season. I am really happy with how they have all turned out and look forward to putting them into folks hands. Until then...

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

Runebound: Mists of Zanaga Expansion

Always exciting to see a box by the door, especially when it has the letters "FFG" emblazoned on the side. My copy of Runebound: Mists of Zanaga arrived yesterday which means I can now share the pieces I did for this expansion. I only produced three pieces for this set and after seeing how awesome the expansion turned out I wish I had done more. I present to you, Set the Deceiver, Arachne the Weaver and Ravin the Ravenous...

Set the Deceiver
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Arachne the Weaver
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Ravin the Ravenous
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

I worked on these a whole year ago... LITERALLY. Yesterday I received the box on my door and one year ago yesterday I got the email to work on the assignment. It has been worth the wait. I am really happy with how the cards turned out, the pieces really pull together at the final print size.

Besides all this nostalgia it is hard to go wrong with an assignment to make three evil Elder Gods. And all evil Elder Gods look even better in head dresses and wielding arcane magics. These were extremely fun to work on to say the least. ...and of course there is only one thing that is scarier then a crocodile... a crocodile with a sword.

That is all for today, I will see you back here on Friday to wrap up the week with something fun I just finished (unless anything else more pressing comes up). Until then...

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

WIP - Rocky Horror DERBY Show Poster

Today on the blog I have something I have been working on in the shadows. I sometimes stop and think, "When did I have time for that?!" The Tallahassee Rollergirls have another bout coming up in mid August and I once again designed the art for the big event. Here is the line work for the Rocky Horror DERBY Show poster...

Rocky Horror DERBY show roller derby poster
© 2010 Christopher Burdett

Those who know me well know I don't really do 'pretty' in my work and I find that creating attractive women seems to clash with my natural aesthetic (no horns and tentacles). I know so many artist that seem to be able to create a pleasing female form with their eyes closed. I am not one of them. So these derby posters take a lot out of me artistically. But it is good for me in the end, gets me out of my comfort zone, allows me to better take and use reference for my projects since I rely more heavily on it for a project like this.

For the record, the album art for the London cast soundtrack for the Rocky Horror Picture Show features a tentacle. This is my excuse for why there is a tentacled horror on this poster even though no such thing appears in the movie or play. That is my story and I am keeping to it.

That's all for today. 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

Pathfinder GameMastery Guide (part 5)

Wrapping up the week and wrapping up my post about the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide. If you missed any of the GMG posts you can find them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. I thought it would be a good way to end things with the two pieces that are very unlike my usual fair. Every good Game Master needs to be able to create worlds, here is mine...

Planet Building
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Compass Rose
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

For the record the Compass Rose ended up not making it into the book, but it was used as promotional art for the GMG on the Paizo blog. That counts, right? There was one additional piece of spot art I did for this section that appears to have fallen through the cracks, hopefully one day it will surface. These were both fun to work on since I was able to use some different techniques in Photoshop to create them.

That is it for another week and another project. As a heads up, I will be attending Gen Con for the first time in just under 2 weeks! Really looking forward to it. I will be wandering around the con showing my wears to whomever will look. I will be posting my new self promotional materials here on the blog next week, I am really excited about them! Also on the horizon, both Pathfinder Chronicles: City of Strangers and Runebound: Mists of Zanaga are out and as soon as I receive my copy in the mail I will be sharing my work from them here. Until then...

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

Pathfinder GameMastery Guide (part 4)

Continuing the coverage of my pieces from the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide I bring you two pieces that are near and dear to me. If you missed my previous posts, you can see them here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. I try not to put myself directly into my work when it comes to reference but sometimes it can't stopped. Sometimes I am assigned a piece that simply screams that I must be the reference for it. Sometimes it seems that the assignment was given to me because it was the role I was meant to play in life. Today I have for you the Village Idiot and a Street Beggar...

Village Idiot
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Street Beggar

© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

When in doubt, add a pig to it. Words to live by. When I got the assignment I knew I was destined to be the Village Idiot. I knew it was the role for me in a medieval fantasy game filled with magic and monsters. All I can say is I tried to not make him look exactly like me. Hopefully I succeeded. After being a cool Mercenary my wife was not too thrilled about being the Street Beggar. In the end she helped out and I made sure it didn't look like her.

That's all for another Wednesday. I will be back here on Friday with the final pieces of work that I did for the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide. Until then...

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

Pathfinder GameMastery Guide (part 3)

This post was suppose to go up yesterday. I wrote it ahead of time and everything, but it still is going up late. For the last several days I have been in Kentucky at a family event and getting on the road yesterday morning in preparation of a 14 hour drive just didn't allow me a chance to post it until now. So here it is, a day late...

Starting the week off right with more from the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide! If you missed them, be sure to check out my previous posts from this book: Part 1 and Part 2. There is no better way to start the week off then with devils and demon lords. Today I bring you a favorite feathered fiend and everybody's favorite monster Hell babe…

Pazuzu
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Ymeri, Queen of the Inferno
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Good ole Pazuzu. Can't go wrong with a big scary scorpion tailed bird man demon creature. My wife thinks were should have named one of our cats Pazuzu. It definitely fits his demeanor. This was the first piece that I completed for this book and the only one that required any revisions. All for the better I am glad to say.

That's all for today. I will be back here on Wednesday with the closest thing to a self portrait I have been able to achieve. Until then...

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

Pathfinder GameMastery Guide (part 2)

Wrapping up the week on the blog with more from the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide. If you missed Part 1 you can see it HERE. Today I bring you a battle hardened warrior for hire and a wyrd Witch...

Mercenary

© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Witchwyrd
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

My wife really likes the Mercenary because she says it makes her look cool since she was the reference for it. She is not as thrilled with the other piece she was reference for that I will be sharing with you next week.

With all of these I was trying to do something different, to take them to the next level from what I normally would have done. Some were more successful then others but in the end it was all a great learning experience. Have I been saying this a lot lately? If I have it is because I feel I really learned a lot from the work I did in the last part of 2009. I received a lot of helpful feedback and input from other artists. I was also thinking a lot about how I went about making my work. The steps I took, the time I spent, the methods I used were all getting reevaluated. I took what I learned and applied it to the work I am doing this year. I think it is making a difference.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog. How did it get to be the middle of July already? See you back here on Monday for part 3! Until then...

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

Civilized Naga - (City of Strangers Preview)

I interrupt my regularly scheduled post about my Paizo work with this special announcement about my Paizo work. Over on the Paizo blog today they have a preview of a new book that is apparently shipping out as we speak! The new book is none other then Pathfinder Chronicles: City of Strangers and the preview features one of my pieces from said book, a Civilized Naga...

Civilized Naga
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

I am rather shocked that the book is already shipping. It feels like I just finished working on it. I am really happy with my work on this book and can't wait to share it all with you.

I will be back here on Friday with more from the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide. Until then...

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

Pathfinder GameMastery Guide (part 1)

The start of a new week and the start of new work from a new project! Today I bring you the first installment of my work on the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide. Starting it all off is a Genie and a mimic that both appeared in a section about rewards...

Reward - Genie
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Reward - Mimic
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

Okay, before you start saying, "Hey, you showed us that Mimic already, what gives?", that was a special preview from the Paizo blog and this is the official release on my blog. This time the image is bigger for your enjoyment. Also, since I did so many pieces for this book I figured it would be easier to just post everything instead of having you fish through links to the pieces that were previously previewed.

I worked on these fresh on the heels of my work on Talisman: Highland and had a blast on them. Still really happy with how the Mimic turned out. As I mentioned previously, on paper the mimic piece didn't jump out at me, but once I started working on it I really got into it. I think it might be one of my favorites from the project.

See you back here on Wednesday for part 2! Until then...

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

Talisman: Highland (part 5)

All good things come to an end and so do my Talisman: Highland posts. Today I have for you the final card that I created for the expansion of Talisman. If you missed the previous post you see them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Wrapping things up I give you the Hand of Doom! which is a new alternate ending card for the game...

Hand of Doom
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

I got a lot of feedback on this piece from other artist and it was almost unanimously, "You should have used reference". The fact is that I took reference photos with awesome lighting and everything. I look back at this piece now and say, "I should have used reference". Apparently taking and having the reference is only half the equation. I am happy to say that since working on these I think I am taking better reference and in turn using it more effectively. Live and learn!

That is all for another week! Starting next week I will be posting my pieces from the Pathfinder GameMaster Guide that came out recently. Oh and Gen Con is coming up... have I mentioned I will be there? More on this soon. Until then...

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

Talisman: Highland (part 4)

More Talisman card art today! These are the last two standard cards that I did for Talisman: Highland (I have one special card waiting for Friday). If you missed my previous posts you can check them out here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Today I bring you a little and a lot...

Gong of War
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Eyrie Vanguard
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

These were both outside my comfort zone as an artist at the time I did them. Learned a lot from doing them. Still not sure how successful they are, but I think I walked away with the knowledge to make the next ones top notch. Live and learn, make the next one better, really can't go wrong with that mantra.

That's all for today, short and sweet... well at least short. Still a lot on my plate and my attentions are elsewhere. I will see you back here on Friday with my last piece that I produced for Highland! Until then...

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

Talisman: Highland (part 3)

Why yes, I do have two more cards from Talisman: Highland to share with you today. If you missed them you can check out my earlier post here: Part 1 and Part 2. One is a monster type thing and one is not a monster type thing…

Magpie
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Highland Raiders
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

I am really happy with the Magpie. I had the piece in my hardcopy portfolio late last year when I was attending some events and got some good reactions on it. Before you ask what was I doing showing this around last last year especially when the game just came out… I got permission to use it. Never hurts to ask! For the record, the gold gnome figurine was in fact in the art order. I think I am most pleased with the sticks and nest, not really sure why, but I like how they turned out.

The Highland Raiders was really straight forward. The art order requested simply an Orc.. that's it. I came up with the rest as I developed the sketch and now we have Highland Raiders. I wanted to try something interesting with the lighting, something I have never done before. Not sure how successful I was with it, but it never hurts to try something new once in awhile.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog. There won't be a post on Monday due to the holiday and I will most likely be offline getting some work done. But fear naught, I will be back on Wednesday with some more pieces from Talisman! Until then...

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