In
2009, I was hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight
Games. They were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham
Horror/Call of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the
right time to get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of
freedom for a grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It
wouldn't be until 2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as
unpainted figures in board game sets and as fully painted premium minis.
By and large, they all turned out great, and I still look back at them
favorably. As it has been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years
since they were eventually released, I thought it would be nice to
revisit some of them. Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Star Spawn. Here is my design and the final miniature.
And,
as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the
thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had
forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
In
2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign
most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me
to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game
when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned
many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed
over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work.
I
thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites. Today
brings us to the Xorn. Enjoy!
I have searched and searched for images to go along with this post, and after a great deal of looking, I have been unable to locate anything. Which is a shame, because I think seeing the original designs would have helped with this, but no matter, for this post, I quickly scribbled up something to help.
This story goes back to my time working in Los Angeles. We were hired to work on a PSA commercial focused on improving health. Please remember this: this is supposed to be about improving people's health. Another detail to remember is that the two people making all the decisions on the production side of things are British. Picture what they say with the appropriate accent. It is part of the adventure.
The big, amazing, new idea they had to help improve health was so new and so amazing that it took hours for them to try to explain it to me clearly so that I could understand and design it. The best I can explain it is that they wanted us to physically make "fat socks"... but not like that. Imagine someone is carrying more body weight than they want, and they "pull" the unwanted fat off themselves like clothes, but it's flesh and hollow. Just the outer ring or skin of fat... because that is how our bodies TOTALLY work and all our body fat is along the surface. Feast your eyes upon this very quick sketch.
Getting an idea for what kind of monstrosity they wanted us to make? Well, to get to this point, the point where I finally made something similar to what I have posted above, it took hours. Hours with two British men and the shop supervisor sitting behind me as I sat at my computer and worked. And they did helpful things like be super impatient, repeat the SAME not-explanation over and over like it was going to change anything, and the cherry on top, after EVERY mark I made, every choice I made, after I did ANYTHING... the peanut gallery responded in their accent with:
"THAT BIT AIN'T RIGHT"
For HOURS. And I am not being hyperbolic or exaggerating. It was maddening. Nothing I did was right, and they most definitely could not tell me what to do differently or what they wanted. It was "fat sock" and "that bit ain't right," and that is all I had to work off of. Even today, "that bit ain't right" is seared into my memory. Well, after a Sisyphean design session, we had something, and the two not-at-all-helpful men left. Long story short, the things we made were horrible. They made no sense, looked dumb, and no one understood what they were or what they were doing at the shoot. It was bad, bad, bad. To be honest, I have no idea if the PSA ever got made, completed, or aired, but I cannot imagine for a second anyone watching it would understand it or take away from it that they should eat healthy and exercise... or something, whatever it was they were trying to depict.
And as a side note, humans carry extra body fat for MANY different reasons, many of which are outside the control of the individual. So the idea that body weight was something that could simply be removed by sliding the fat off always felt callous, disconnected, and cruel. But hey, what do I know? OH YEAH! I know THAT BIT AIN'T RIGHT! You know what I am saying?! They knew best, and the fact that they were unable to quickly and easily explain their big idea to anyone else never registered as an issue. Good ole LA!
That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here Wednesday! Until then...
For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com
In
2009, I was hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight
Games. They were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham
Horror/Call of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the
right time to get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of
freedom for a grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It
wouldn't be until 2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as
unpainted figures in board game sets and as fully painted premium minis.
By and large, they all turned out great, and I still look back at them
favorably. As it has been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years
since they were eventually released, I thought it would be nice to
revisit some of them. Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Serpent People. Here is my design and the final miniature.
And,
as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the
thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had
forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
In
2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign
most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me
to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game
when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned
many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed
over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work.
I
thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites. Today
brings us to the Vampire. Enjoy!
Right about now, sixteen years ago, I was reintroducing myself to my clients and making a fresh start of things with my art. Well, I should say that all the work to improve my skillsets and to become more serious about what I was making and doing began to manifest. We have finally reached the final Monday of sharing my contributions to the ArtOrder Mutation Nation art challenge that Jon Schindehette ran... sixteen years ago. The final one I will be sharing is the unfinished Alligraffe.
The focus of the challenge was to take two animals, combine them, and make a new crazy mutant. I ended up designing four monsters, and three became finished paintings. These three paintings saw a major improvement in my painting skills, my use of reference, and baby steps into creating an environment for the monsters. This is also when I officially announced I am only working on monsters moving forward. These were well received and were 100% responcible for me once more working on projects with WotC. The time and energy I put into these more than paid off, and would mark the beginning of a new chapter in my art career. I had always meant to finish this one, but never did. Granted, there is nothing stopping me from doing it now, but things have progressed so much in the last sixteen years, and my focus is elsewhere.
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
In 2009, I was hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight Games. They were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham Horror/Call of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the right time to get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of freedom for a grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It wouldn't be until 2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as unpainted figures in board game sets and as fully painted premium minis. By and large, they all turned out great, and I still look back at them favorably. As it has been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years since they were eventually released, I thought it would be nice to revisit some of them. Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Proto-Shoggoth. Here is my design and the final miniature.
And, as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
In
2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign
most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me
to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game
when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned
many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed
over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work.
I
thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites. Today
brings us to the Umber Hulk. Enjoy!
Right about now, sixteen years ago, I
was reintroducing myself to my clients and making a fresh start of
things with my art. Well, I should say that all the work to improve my
skillsets and to become more serious about what I was making and doing
began to manifest. Over the next several Mondays, I plan to share my
contributions to the ArtOrder Mutation Nation art challenge that Jon
Schindehette ran... sixteen years ago. The next one I will be sharing
is the Anglerphant.
The
focus of the challenge was to take two animals, combine them, and make a
new crazy mutant. I ended up designing four monsters, and three became
finished paintings. These three paintings saw a major improvement in my
painting skills, my use of reference, and baby steps into creating an
environment for the monsters. This is also when I officially announced I
am only working on monsters moving forward. These were well received
and were 100% responcible for me once more working on projects with
WotC. The time and energy I put into these more than paid off, and would
mark the beginning of a new chapter in my art career.
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
In
2009, I was
hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight Games. They
were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham Horror/Call
of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the right time to
get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of freedom for a
grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It wouldn't be until
2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as unpainted figures in
board game sets and as fully painted premium minis. By and large, they
all turned out great, and I still look back at them favorably. As it has
been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years since they were
eventually released, I thought it would be nice to revisit some of them.
Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Lloigor.
Here is my design and the final miniature.
And,
as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the
thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had
forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
In
2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign
most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me
to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game
when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned
many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed
over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work.
I
thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites. Today
brings us to the Troll. Enjoy!
Right about now, sixteen years ago, I was reintroducing myself to my clients and making a fresh start of things with my art. Well, I should say that all the work to improve my skillsets and to become more serious about what I was making and doing began to manifest. Over the next several Mondays, I plan to share my contributions to the ArtOrder Mutation Nation art challenge that Jon Schindehette ran... sixteen years ago. The next one I will be sharing is the Rhinostrich.
The focus of the challenge was to take two animals, combine them, and make a new crazy mutant. I ended up designing four monsters, and three became finished paintings. These three paintings saw a major improvement in my painting skills, my use of reference, and baby steps into creating an environment for the monsters. This is also when I officially announced I am only working on monsters moving forward. These were well received and were 100% responcible for me once more working on projects with WotC. The time and energy I put into these more than paid off, and would mark the beginning of a new chapter in my art career.
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
In
2009, I was
hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight Games. They
were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham Horror/Call
of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the right time to
get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of freedom for a
grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It wouldn't be until
2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as unpainted figures in
board game sets and as fully painted premium minis. By and large, they
all turned out great, and I still look back at them favorably. As it has
been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years since they were
eventually released, I thought it would be nice to revisit some of them.
Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Hound of Tindalos.
Here is my design and the final miniature.
And,
as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the
thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had
forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
In 2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work.
I thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites. Today brings us to the Rust Monster (and likely my favorite of the entire project). Enjoy!
Right about now, sixteen years ago, I was reintroducing myself to my clients and making a fresh start of things with my art. Well, I should say that all the work to improve my skillsets and to become more serious about what I was making and doing began to manifest. Over the next several Mondays, I plan to share my contributions to the ArtOrder Mutation Nation art challenge that Jon Schindehette ran... sixteen years ago. The first one I will be sharing is the Scuttling Grizzly.
The focus of the challenge was to take two animals, combine them, and make a new crazy mutant. I ended up designing four monsters, and three became finished paintings. These three paintings saw a major improvement in my painting skills, my use of reference, and baby steps into creating an environment for the monsters. This is also when I officially announced I am only working on monsters moving forward. These were well received and were 100% responcible for me once more working on projects with WotC. The time and energy I put into these more than paid off, and would mark the beginning of a new chapter in my art career.
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
In
2009, I was
hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight Games. They
were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham Horror/Call
of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the right time to
get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of freedom for a
grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It wouldn't be until
2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as unpainted figures in
board game sets and as fully painted premium minis. By and large, they
all turned out great, and I still look back at them favorably. As it has
been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years since they were
eventually released, I thought it would be nice to revisit some of them.
Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Dark Young.
Here is my design and the final miniature.
And,
as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the
thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had
forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
In
2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign
most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me
to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game
when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned
many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed
over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work.
I thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites. Today brings us to the Owlbear. Enjoy!
I didn't expect to be revisiting this one, but as I finally, after nine years, got to play through the entire program, I thought it would be fun to take another look at this project and all the monsters I made for it.
First and foremost, this was created for my day career back in 2017. I originally shared this here on the blog in 2019, and it then vanished as if it never existed. For the project, I named it, created the logo, designed and created all the monsters, designed and created the Hub World in both normal and damaged states, mini game tutorial animations, and more. It was an extremely fun project to be a part of, and it is good to revisit and share it all again. The project was to create a testing interface for reading, word comprehension, and understanding. As you move through it, you will be tested, and if successful, you get a clue to the monster responsible for the damage and then play a fun little timed mini game. At the very end, you have to pick your monster from a lineup. After successfully finishing everything, you can make your own monster using all of the parts and colors.
And as I have finally been able to play through it all, it is a lot of fun and a great mix of testing and fun. Here is the vast majority of what I created for the project.
The Monster P.I. poster that I created using my assets.
Here are the monsters I created in their original forms. I also named all the monsters and created a backstory for each one. Respectively, they are: Zirrple, Dundur, Tromps, Wobbly, and Snerp.
All of their parts and colors are entirely interchangeable, making for many interesting, silly, and fun monsters.
Here are larger images of each monster. Cycling movements were added to give them a little more life. Everything was made to be interchangeable, which created some fun and challenging obstacles.
Dundur, Snerp, Tromps, Wobbly, and Zirrple.
Clues would include tentacle legs, four arms, a spotted body, big ears, or the color.
The Hub World was another large undertaking for the project. I needed to make the city look interesting and fun. I color-coded each location to the monster that, in its original form, is likely to be attracted to. Meaning that Zirrple likes the library. This was done mostly for myself and the little stories I wrote about each one. In the actual game, the monster will be a unique combination each time it is used. But this allows the location to be visually unique. After you visit a location, take the tests, collect the clue, and play the mini game, the location is repaired, and you can select another location to investigate.
The Hub world.
The damaged Hub World.
The last major contribution to the project was animated tutorials for each of the mini games. They needed to be quick, simple, and explain what you need to do in the game to succeed. Each location had a themed game you could play. The game was timed, and you are rewarded one to three stars based on your performance.
Game tutorial animations.
Here is a video that the center has used to advertise the game and our ability to create such projects. We are always on the lookout for projects like this, as they are super fun and allow us to really push ourselves and be creative.
Monster P.I.!
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
In 2009, I was hired to design a series of miniatures for Fantasy Flight Games. They were gearing up to make plastic minis of all of their Arkham Horror/Call of Cthulhu monsters, and I was at the right place at the right time to get the bulk of them. It was a fun project with a lot of freedom for a grotesquely small amount of pay. And then nothing. It wouldn't be until 2011/12 for the monsters to finally be released as unpainted figures in board game sets and as fully painted premium minis. By and large, they all turned out great, and I still look back at them favorably. As it has been 17 years since I made the art and 15 years since they were eventually released, I thought it would be nice to revisit some of them. Next up in alphabetical order, we have the Crawling One. Here is my design and the final miniature.
And, as an added bonus, something I have never shared before, here are the thumbnails that I created for this piece. Over the past 17 years, I had forgotten how loose and sketchy these were.
And, AND as another added bonus. Here is a piece I did a couple of years after this assignment, where I go to illustrate myself and the Crawling One for the Call of Cthulhu: Silver Twilight Lodge expansion. For the miniature design and the illustration, I started with established FFG designs for these monsters. I smoothed them out a little and added a lot of myself, but they are still on guide. I distinctly remember in the forums for this game that there were a few people who were not happy at all about the look of the Crawling One, and that it was wrong, as it doesn't look like this. I laughed and got back to making art and monsters. As a side note, this piece originally came out in 2011, but in 2020 (or thereabouts) it returned in the Arkham Horror expansion Final Hour.
