Monday, September 11, 2017

Lizardfolk - Volo's Guide to Monsters - Process

The monsters are in charge of the blog for the next week and a half. For this time they have decided to share with you the process and steps that went into making the five paintings that I contributed to the Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Volo's Guide to Monsters. I hope you enjoy it!

Starting things off will be the wily Lizardfolk. I think the Lizardfolk was my favorite piece from the book. I have a soft spot for the D&D Lizardmen that goes back decades. There was just something about this guy's smirk that I really liked, plus all the gear it needed to have. Here is how the final Lizardfolk turned out...

Lizardfolk
11 x 14 - Digital
Art Director - Kate Irwin
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This piece needed to be more than a monster since it was the template for a player character race. It needed to be dressed a little better and have an air of humanity about him. Well, as much humanity that a Lizardfolk can have. Production asked for a smirk or some other facial queue to it having more intelligence and motivation than a brainless monster. Armor, equipment, and a fish on the hip was also requested by production. Like I said, I think this one really turned out well, and it is my favorite of the bunch. To get started with the process, I of course started with a round of thumbnails to get the ideas to work out...

Lizardfolk - Thumbnails
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

If I remember correctly all three thumbnails were liked by production, but it may have been just A and C. No matter, I was allowed to pick which one I wanted to move forward with. I picked A since it shows off the body and equipment the best. C is good too, but the pose does obscure a lot. As I proceeded with the final drawing, I was asked to add additional armor and equipment to make sure that that this Lizardfolk read less as a monster and more as a character. Here is how the final drawing for the Lizardfolk turned out...

Lizardfolk
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper
Art Director - Kate Irwin
Original - SOLD
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

The drawing was approved, and I was given the go-ahead to start the painting. With all of these Volo pieces, the painting went quickly, smoothly, and there were no issues or concerns. Which is always nice. I just got to sit back and have fun making pretty monsters. Being an isolated figure helps out a lot too. Here is the paint work for this piece coming together...

Lizardfolk - Process steps

To better show how the painting developed, here is an animated progression of it taking shape...

Lizardfolk - Animated process

While there is a fair bit of pushing and pulling of form and value the painting was extremely straight forward. I get into a zen state when working on isolated figures as I work the large forms and then lay in all the detail work. I just want to make a really pretty monster for these types of pieces, and hopefully, I did. Here again, is how the final painting turned out...

Lizardfolk
11 x 14 - Digital
Art Director - Kate Irwin
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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

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