The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: March 2013

Friday, March 29, 2013

Fresh from the drawing table... Wyvern!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a WYVERN! "W" always surprises me with how many monsters it has... it is that monster stockpile at the end of the alphabet. I will remind that since there was only one "X", "Y", and "Z" entry in the original Monster Manual that this monster will conclude my third pass through the monster manual. With this in mind I decided to go with teeth, scales and wings to wrap up the third pass. I present to you my version of a Wyvern…

Wyvern

Okay... I have a beef with Wyverns. Actually, I have a beef with people and their limited perspective on monsters, names, and history. Wyverns have traditionally been portrayed as reptilian creatures able to fly which have four limbs... AND a BARBED TAIL. They may or may not breath fire but they are also associated with a poisonous bite and/or stinging tail. Okay... NOW, a Dragon is a reptilian creature that often can fly, has anywhere between 0-6 limbs, might have any kind breath weapon that you can think of. To be honest, if I draw a tree with a clown nose on it and call it a Dragon... it's a Dragon. That goes for if I call it a goblin, a monkey, a person, or a car... I can call anything that I create anything I want... and the discussion ends there. That goes for anyone. If I call something a Dragon, telling me that it is a Wyvern will get you on my bad side instantly. Dragons have been portrayed with only four limbs for a long time and from an naturalistic and anatomical perspective, it is a more believable arrangement. There are no reptiles, amphibians, birds, or mammals with six limbs. Of the three flying animals in the history of the world, birds, bats and pteranodons all had only 4 limbs. SO, if I draw a reptile with 4 limbs and call it a Dragon, it is a Dragon... if I draw a reptile with 4 limbs and a stinger tail... THEN, and ONLY THEN can we call it a Wyvern. To be honest, I don't see the need to have Wyverns accept to classify a sub species of Dragon. Dragon is a big word and encompasses a lot.

This concluded my third pass through the Monster Manual! I have already begun my fourth pass and will be bringing you that soon! I will be updating all the links below to include all the monsters so far and will have a recap of them all for you next week... RAWR!

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday! Until then...

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

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Carrion King - Process

Back in February I shared with you the wily and slightly insane Carrion King, from Dragon Magazine issue #420. Today I have for you the steps and work that went into making the final illustration. Before we look at the process, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Carrion King

The piece centered around the huge and crazy lord of the Myconids, the Carrion King. The Carrion King was described as a huge mushroom creature that had two mouths and one eye... and was a little insane. The other element of the piece was a gnome that needed to be interacting with the Carrion King in some fashion. Beyond that, it was all left up to me. I needed to come up with something fun and cool for the big ole mushroom king. I have been a huge fan of Myconids ever since I first laid eyes on them in the Monster Manual 2 (many moons ago). I looked at a lot of mushrooms and got to work on some concepts and thumbnails...

The Carrion King - Concepts

The Carrion King - Thumbnails

When I feel strongly about a concept or thumbnail I often mention this to my art director when I send them in, it never hurts to be honest about what you are excited about and want to work on. With these I really felt all over the place and could not get a good feeling for what was really working and what was not. I liked concept "B" a lot but didn't know if that would be too weird... or not weird enough. For the thumbnails I was really liking "C", but again I was not sure about them in the larger picture. Sometimes I will get too close to the concepts and loose an objective perspective. When I am working on them they are constantly changing as I move, scale, redraw, delete, and otherwise work out and problem solve the composition... and sometime I just don't know if I made something good or not in the end. The importance of the objective and separate art director!

In the end concept "B" and thumbnail "C" was chosen and I was given the go ahead to move forward. This pleased me on a couple of different levels... they were my preferred options and the mushroom idea came from my own discovery in the wilds of north Florida. Maybe a week before I was contacted to work on this illustration I was riding on our weekday trails when something caught my eye. I stopped and took some photos of a very interesting cluster of mushrooms... little did I know that they would soon become a monster...

The source of all good mushroom monsters... REFERENCE!

With concept and thumbnail approved I move forward with the final drawing and made sure that I used ALL the lines and put in ALL the details. Not sure what got into me but I really went to town on this piece... I remember now, I was working on this drawing on my trip home from Illuxcon last year. I had a lot of time to kill in the airports and on the planes... so I poured it all into this drawing...

The Carrion King - Drawing

The drawing was approved but I was asked to make sure that the detail level and complexity did not overwhelm the image and distract from the story of the illustration. Looks like I got a little to crazy with the drawing this time... with all the mushrooms on the ground, the gnome's gear and attire, and the Carrion King itself. With this in mind I got started on the painting...

The Carrion King - Process progression

With as complex as this piece is, it really came together quickly for the most part. 90% of it was done very quickly. The last 10% of making sure everything worked together, advances and recedes, and other wise reads correctly to the eye took as much time as the 90%. The lighting and clarity or the story were first and foremost and everything was secondary. This gave me the confidence to knock the foreground mushrooms into shadow and not worry about the loss of detail and drawing time. I know all the detail is there... and that is good enough. All that detail on the foreground mushrooms does not make you understand what is happening between the Carrion King and the gnome any better.

The Carrion King

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

Monday, March 25, 2013

Icetromper - Star Wars: Desolation of Hoth

The first expansion of the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars card game, Desolation of Hoth, is now out and I am happy to have a card in this expansion. Though you might recognize it at first this is in fact a animal that lives on the frozen world of Hoth (they first appeared in the Star Wars: The Old Republic game). I present you with the mighty Icetromper...

Icetromper

I tried to capture the Icetromper in mid "RAWR!". Though this is my second Star Wars piece to be released it was not the second piece I created. Due to product release schedules changing and various other reason this piece has trickled to the top much earlier then expected - not that I am complaining. It was a fun one that came together very quickly all things considered. I took the assignment just before Gen Con last year and had to get it out the door before I left for the convention. Here is how the final Icetromper card turned out...

Icetromper in handy card form

When I was contacted about working on a Hoth themed set I first thought of Wampas and Tauntauns, so the Icetromper was a pit of a surprise. But is all worked out fine in the end! Thanks goes out to Mike Linnemann for including me on the project, always fun to work on Star Wars. In the coming weeks I will have a post about production of the piece since it went through some changes both before and after the piece was painted.

That is all for another exciting Star Wars 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

Friday, March 22, 2013

Fresh from the drawing table... Treant!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a TREANT! "T" continues to offer up monsters of all shapes, sizes, and materials. This time around it is not an animal or mineral, but a plant that gets chosen. I present to you my version of a Treant…

Treant

Lumbering tree monster? Sure thing! Lumbering tree monster that sings and recites poetry? I will leave that to others to deal with. The Treant was one of the earliest of the D&D monsters and was influenced by similar creatures appearing in the works of Tolkien. This is all documented and generally accepted so hopefully I am not stepping on toes by repeating it. Basically, what I am getting at is that the Ent / Treant has been around a while. There have been a lot of versions, variations and interpretations of it which always makes it hard to approach with a fresh angle. I decided to just dive in and bring my bag of tricks and design tastes and this is what I came up with. Not sure I even got remotely close to pushing the design enough... it is still very humanoid in my opinion. But that is okay, it has a bunch of eyes... If I ever do another I now have a "safe" version as a starting point and can see how far I can push the concept...

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday! Until then...

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

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - miniature

About a year ago I designed a miniature for Blitzkrieg Laboratories and I am pleased to share my design as well as the finished miniature with you today. I was asked to design a hobgoblin riding a warg and I was instantly interested. They already had a base hobgoblin design that I needed to stick to but the rest was up to me. This is how the final design turned out...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain

I remember this project moving along quickly and it was one of the smoothest interactions I have had for a miniature design. Hard to go wrong with a hobgoblin riding a giant wolf! Jump ahead a year... the production miniature is now available from Gorgon Studios and there are other hobgoblins to choose from too! Here is how the Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain miniature turned out when it is all painted up...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - Painted miniature

(Image from Gorgon Studios)

You might notice some changes that the sculpture implemented, but the piece is true to the design and I think it looks great. I got some of these guys in the mail this week and it is a really nice piece to hold in the hand. This is the first of my miniature designs to be released in metal which is pretty cool. Everything up until now has been plastic... so this really hits home with the miniatures that got me interested in D&D and well, miniatures. Here are some images of my copy of the Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - unpainted miniature

Complied below are my roughs and comps for this miniature. Like I said, it felt like this miniature came together very quickly and I had completely forgotten some of the variations I was playing around with. I still like the idea of the front heavy warg, though I don't think I pushed it enough here... they feel... inflated. Hurm, maybe I was moving a little too fast...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - concepts

This was a really fun project and I hope that I have another chance to work with Blitzkrieg Laboratories. If I do you know I will be sure to share it here on the blog when the miniatures are released!

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

Monday, March 18, 2013

Creature Incarnations: Mephits

The March issue of Dragon magazine is out and I am happy to share with you my contributions to this issue. Dragon #421 features the article, Creature Incarnations: Mephits, and as you may have guessed, it is just FULL of Mephits! I was asked to update and illustrate a veritable army of Mephits, and this is how they turned out...

Air Mephit

Dust Mephit

Earth Mephit

Fire Mephit

Ice Mephit

Magma Mephit

Mist Mephit

Steam Mephit

Water Mephit

I may sound like a broken record, but I sure love being assigned projects that let me design something new or update existing D&D monsters. Not that there is anything wrong with the established designs, I just really enjoy adding my voice to the mighty fantasy empire that is D&D. I tried to be true to the various established looks and feels of the Mephits as well as bring some of my own design sensibilities into it. I am not sure if I have ever painted as many translucent and transparent monsters as this assignment required! As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction!

In the coming weeks I will have for you my concepts, sketches, and a few process step by step breakdowns for these pieces.

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

Friday, March 15, 2013

Fresh from the drawing table... Salamander!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a SALAMANDER! "S" is still full of monster goodness so it is hard to just pick just one. This time around a creature from the elemental plain of fire is the winner. I was itching to work on something more monstrous and the Salamander hit the mark exactly! I present to you my version of a Salamander…

Salamander

When I say Salamander the first thing that may come to mind is the small amphibian that like streams, rocks and moss.... not a huge monster that love to be bathed in fire. There is a whole crazy mythology built up around the actual real world salamander that says they are in fact fire proof and love fire. I am sure a lot of this come from salamanders being in fire wood unbeknownst to the human tending the fire and when the little salamanders feel the heat they try to escape and come tumbling out of a fire more or less intact... and of course the ONLY explanation is that the salamander live in fire. Silly humans. Even Leonardo da Vinci believed and propagated these ideas... seriously, look it up... you need to know about your monsters.

Anyway... I went with a crazy six limb version of my Salamander. Less (in some ways) humanoid then the traditional Salamander while being more humanoid then the animal. I better it says "RAWR" a lot while it roles around in pools of flame.

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday! Until then...

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

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Walking Worms - Dreamblade

Recently I have shared some redesigns of Dreamblade miniatures I created earlier in my career. If you missed them, they were the Bound Cleaver and the Fleshworm Broodsire. Before I did either of those I drew the redesign featured in this post and it was this redesign that prompted me to do the others. Granted, I have been redesigning some of my old designs for a little while here on the blog, but it was this design in particular that got me to really think about the process and reasoning behind the redesigns. It prompted me to think about doing a more detailed comparison and explanation of what I am doing. You can see this very clearly in the posts about the Bound Cleaver and the Fleshworm Broodsire.

I designed the Walking Worms in 2005 as part of the first expansion to Dreamblade, Baxar's War. It is not necessarily a bad piece but it is definitely not a good piece either... in my opinion. It is one of those pieces where I thought too hard about it while trying to stick 110% to the art order without any variation. Here is how the Walking Worms turned out...

The Walking Worms is a fun idea, lumbering zombie that turns out to be just FULL of worms and other creepy crawlers that are controlling it. Kids just LOVE zombies, so it is a winner before I ever started. There was a game mechanic that allowed you to sacrifice the Walking Worms and gain a bonus to your next spawn pool. It was a huge point in the art order that the worms should not be visible from the front and only when you turn the mini around do you see them... for good or bad. There were a lot... or at least I seemed to be assigned a lot of minis that had a reveal once you turned them around. While this is completely cool and a great idea I always wondered if this sort of thing caused some designs to be a little toned down... but I am getting ahead of myself.

When I originally designed this miniature I went ahead and designed the back and front at the same time since it was a very important aspect of this mini. In the original back the worms were felt to be too large and uniform and began to read as wires and cables rather then a squirming mass of living critters. Here is the original back for the Walking Worms...

The miniature turned out well and was very faithful to the design (for good or bad). It is a funny little piece but the mini makes for a cool zombie piece. Here is how the final production miniature turned out...

Walking Worms - miniature

Let's now fast forward to 2013 and see how I would approach this monster now. I like the idea of a walking corpse that is just brimming full of worms that is about to explode and will offer itself up to sacrifice to benefit its controller. This piece is one that makek me cringe when I looked back at it. Not sure how much is really wrong with it, but I just would not have approached the design in that fashion any other time then in 2005. All this aside, here is my redesign of the Walking Worms...

First off, I am not sure this design would have ever been approved, but that is not really the point to this exercise. I could point out all the places that would have either been problematic or impossible to keep in the molding and casting process... but again, not the point. BUT, when working on assignments you should ALWAYS be aware of how the finished art will be used. Working on printed images? Be sure you have a good idea of how your image looks printed, especially at the intended size. You a lot of blue? Be aware that there are issues with some colors in the transition from RGB to CMYK and certain color will turn grey and become desaturated and weird. Working on miniatures? Be aware of the principles of molding and casting and what it takes to make a plastic figure. I found my experience in makeup effect invaluable as I began to design minis. I had plenty of experience making molds and casting from molds to understand a lot of what could and could not be done. Now that is all said, here is a then and now comparison of the Walking Worms...

Walking Worms comparison

Okay, what has changed... First off I bent the figure over as it lumbers. Made the head larger, heroes with their hero proportions have small heads, monsters have big heads... big fat worm filled heads. I have the worms just spilling out the back giving the figure more depth and profile interest. Lot of squirming worms pointing out of the body, which most likely would have been a production impossibility. Got rid of the awkward silly pose of the original (oh that left hand...) and gave it an unintended new silly pose (oh that right hand...). Made sure to look at some good old reference to make the face look better. Distended the belly to make it appear that it is brimming full of wormy goodness. Lastly, and most importantly, I have the worms just under the surface of the skin as they work their way through the body to control it. Not sure this last detail would have been approved, but I like the idea of the worms working their way through the body as a new set of muscles and tendons.

I think that is enough to chew on and think about for now...

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