Never Shared - Coils of Madness Packaging

Recently while doing some cleaning and organizing, I came across some card packs that I had completely forgotten about.  Not only were they forgotten, after a quick search, I realized I never shared them. These card packs have been tucked away for seven years, and now they are finally getting a little attention here on the blog. Way back in 2012, I worked on the Legend of the Five Rings expansion, Coils of Madness. One of the main pieces I produced for that set was the great mad dragon P'an Ku. The set was eventually released in 2013, and my P'an Ku art was heavily used on the card packaging as well as the card box. I feel like this may have been lost on me at the time because this is something that does not happen with my art with any frequency. Here is a look at the packaging for Coils of Madness.

P'an Ku snapping at you from the front of the packs.

P'an Ku wraps around to the back.

P'an Ku is the featured art on the top of the card box as well.

For an eight year old painting, I still really like this piece. Sure, there are things I would do differently now, but for card art, it still looks great, and I love I doubled down on yellow and made this piece so warm. I really thought this piece was going to be huge for me. I made a ton of prints and playmats of this image, and I just had a feeling this piece was going to sell really well for me. That is not how it ended up working out. When the playmats eventually sold out about five years ago, I never had them reprinted. The prints sold very slowly from the beginning, and I was finally rid of the last ones in February at Pensacon when the last one sold from my deep, deep discount bin. Not the fate I had envisioned for P'an Ku, but that is how it is sometimes. This piece seemed to tick all the boxes for a fan favorite, but the fans were never there. Goes to show that you can never honestly know what will be successful and what will not. Here is the final art for P'an Ku's Madness, as well as the card it appears on. 

P’an Ku's Madness

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

P’an Ku's Madness in handy card form.

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

The Lost Colossus - Process

Today on the blog I have for you the process that went into my very first traditionally painted piece that was completed for a client. I am of course referring to the mighty Lost Colossus that was for the Legend of the Five Rings: Gates of Chaos expansion. Somehow this one slipped through the cracks. I painted this in late 2012 and the piece was released in August of 2013 (if I remember correctly). Here is for the final piece turned out to refresh your memory...

The Lost Colossus

12 x 16 - Acrylic on board

Gate of Chaos expansion

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

Like every other pieces that I create the Lost Colossus began with a thumbnail stage. Unlike the rest of the pieces I create there was pretty much just ONE thumbnail that I was working with. I REALLY knew what I wanted to do with this piece and before sketching I took a ton of reference photos that I cobbled together to make myself into a four armed three faces giant statue. I really don't recommend doing just one thumbnail... but I have had a really great working relationship with Adrian over at AEG and I was confident that I was moving in the right direction with this piece. I spent a lot of time working out the concept to make sure it was the way I wanted it before turning it in...

The Lost Colossus - Thumbnail

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I did not make a mistake and my gamble paid off... the thumbnail was approved without issue. Now that I had an approved thumbnail and loads of reference... I was ready to begin the drawing. Since I was planning on creating this traditionally I knew I needed to have a really solid worked out drawing. I did not have the luxury of being able to make revisions and changes on the fly like I can working digitally. I took my time with the drawing and worked everything out...

The Lost Colossus - Drawing

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

The drawing was rejected and I had to start over from the beginning...

Just kidding. The drawing was approved and I was ready to start smearing mud around with stick... and boy, was I nervous about that prospect. At this point in my career when I am ready to start my digital paintings I am mentally already two or three steps into the process working things out and making decisions. I don't really have any fear or worry about the prospect of the painting... maybe something in a piece will need some extra attention, but I know without a doubt that the piece will see the finish line. Not so much with the traditional work yet. I am really hesitant to begin as my mind is filled with everything that could go wrong... including the whole painting going down the tubes. In the process of creating a traditional painting I eventually get to a point where I know it will be alright, up until then though... it is nerve wracking. Here are a bunch of images of the painting coming together...

The Lost Colossus - Process steps

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

In just 15 easy steps you too can have a Lost Colossus... or not... In the end this was a very successful test for myself and I was very happy to have faced the challenge. It at least gives me the encouragement that I can create a traditional image on a deadline ... and not die. I am still not anywhere near a 100% success rate with my traditional pieces yet. As mentioned elsewhere, I attempted to create my next two L5R assignments traditionally and had to abandon both and had to complete them digitally. Live and learn! As of right now I am working on my third traditional piece for a client... here it hoping this one makes it over the finish line!

Again, here is how the final painting turned out as well as the final production card that it was made for...

The Lost Colossus

12 x 16 - Acrylic on board

Gate of Chaos expansion

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

The Lost Colossus - In handy card form

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

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

P'an Ku's Madness - Process

With Gen Con next week I am busy getting all my art ducks in art duck rows... which can be hard with all the waddling and quacking. But more on all this soon, in the meantime, I have for you the process that went into a recent dragon piece that is getting a lot of attention... P'an Ku and his MADNESS. I produced this piece for the Legend of the Five Ring expansion, Coils of Madness. So that we are all on the same page, here is how the final P'an Ku turned out...

P’an Ku's Madness

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When I was assigned this piece I was told that this character is kind of a big deal and that this expansion revolves around him... and that the art I produce just may be used in marketing and packaging... NO PRESSURE though. Good thing I knew all I really needed to worry about was making a kick butt dragon and since Eastern dragons have the proper number of limbs and no wings I knew I was golden. As with all my work the thumbnails started things off...

P’an Ku's Madness - Thumbnails

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I really knew what I wanted to do with this piece and I worked it all out in my first thumbnail. For better of worse. I have talked about this elsewhere here on the blog, and I don't really encourage it, but sometime you get the best idea right away and you need to run with it. I think in reality that the BEST idea comes from effort and work to distill and work through the bad ideas to get at the heart of the piece. ...or you just really know what a big crazy coiling dragon needs to look like and you work it all out on the first pass. I didn't just want to submit a single thumbnail so I worked up a second that I thought would be just as interesting, one where the dragon is coiling around crazy rock formation. For the life of me as I look back at my own thumbnail I can not really tell what is going on in it. His head is kinda just floating off... Glad option "A" was picked! Next stop, Drawing Town, population 1...

P’an Ku's Madness - Drawing

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

This is one of those drawings that is a treat to work on. The only real concern is getting all the scales right. Which I more or less kind of managed to do. Hard to go wrong with a big twisty dragon drawing. It just drips with 'RAWR'. Now that I have a drawing and it is approved it is time to get started on the painting...

P’an Ku's Madness - Process

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

Again, this piece kind of created itself, I just had to put the time into it to make sure it reached the finish line. I knew what I wanted to do with it and what it would time to get there. From the thumbnails I am often thinking about color and focal point for the piece. I was told this dragon is more associated with the color green in the art order, so I looked to actual representations of green Eastern dragons when preparing to start on this piece. So in eight easy steps the piece came together... or not really. It takes a lot of time and work... but it does get easier over time and the hard parts are easier to work through. Fun fact, once I got started in the actual painting layer (image step 6 above) I got it into my head that I had drawn the scales on the arm coming at the view backwards. That I drew then pointing in the wrong direction and proceeded to paint over my under painting correcting this error... which of course was WRONG. I was busy painting the scales in the wrong direction. Luckily I came to my senses before things got too crazy and I get my head back in the game and remembered I had draw everything correctly the first time.

I was really happy with how the piece turned out on the final production card. It looks really good in person. I am also looking forward to seeing it in person elsewhere at Gen Con next week. I have on good authority there may be a sharp looking poster with a certain dragon on it... more on this soon hopefully! For your viewing pleasure, here is the final card for P'an Ku's Madness...

P’an Ku's Madness in handy card form!

Those of you familiar with the blog will remember this from last week but it is relevant here too. I revisited the drawing of P'an Ku and worked it up on toned paper to take with me to Gen Con. I will have the P'an Ku black and white drawing, prints, and some other surprises with me at Gen Con, but I thought this finished drawing would be a real nice piece to make and have there with me.

Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited)

  12 x 16 - pencil on paper

P'an Ku © 2013 AEG

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

The Lost Colossus - L5R Gates of Chaos expansion

Just in time for Gen Con my contribution to the latest expansion of the Legend of the Five Rings CCG has been spoiled. In addition to why this is notable... this piece is my first traditionally painted piece that I have done for a client. At the end of last year I was feeling brave and jumped in with both feet to see what will happen... and this is what happened...

The Lost Colossus

12 x 16 - Acrylic on board

Gate of Chaos expansion

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

Not sure what I can really add about this right now. I will have a lot more to say when I do the process post in the coming weeks after the card is released. I took a lot of photos as I painted it so that you can see all my mistakes along the way. Here is how the piece appeared on the card...

The Lost Colossus - In handy card form

L5R had given me the opportunity to experiment and try things out... like working traditionally on an assignment. So a big thanks to Adrian Burton for the vote of confidence as I take chances! Those attending Gen Con will have a chance to see this piece in person. The Lost Colossus is house trained and will make the perfect pet for a wall in your house!

That is all for another exciting Monday on bog, 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

Did somebody say toned paper DRAGON?!

The toned paper monsters keep coming as Gen Con gets closer and closer! Today I have for you a mad dragon. I originally created this dragon piece for the Legend of the Five Rings card game. I was really happy with how it turned out and it has been really well received by people so I thought I would revisit it. After some tweaks to the original sketch I set about doing a large version of it on toned paper and here is how it turned out...

Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited)

  12 x 16

colored pencil on toned paper

P'an Ku © 2013 AEG

Everybody just loves dragons and I more then happy to oblige. So far this is the largest toned paper piece I have done... though I have plans to work a bit bigger very soon. I have to say I am really happy with how this is all progressing. It is just too much fun to work on the toned paper. To be honest I am having some trouble going back to the white paper I am have been drawing on for years. Not sure what that is about... but I better shake it off soon because I need to start making some NEW drawings and not just going back to stuff I have already completed. But for now... I am having a lot of fun! More of these VERY SOON!


For those attending Gen Con you will have a chance to see the Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited) in person and even buy it and take him home with you! Give the Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited) a good home!

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

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

P’an Ku - Coils of Madness announcement

On April 1st the internet is a tricky place to navigate. When I saw that AEG had announced their next expansion to the Legend of the Five Rings CCG, Coils of Madness, I knew it was no joke. Last year I was asked to update the art for the great mad dragon, P'an Ku and I am happy to see it was used as part of the launch art for announcing the expansion. Here is how P'an Ku turned out...

P’an Ku

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

This was an incredibly fun piece to work on and I am thrilled to be able to share it with you now. I have to admit, I REALLY enjoy drawing and painting dragons that are more in line with the traditional Asian esthetic. I have another piece in the set... but that will have to wait till the set is released. I am on good authority that P'an Ku is going to get some face time in the marketing of the set... which is pretty exciting! P'an Ku has already appeared over the on the L5R website... and is judging you...

P'an Ku sees you surfing the web... and disapproves of your internet search history...

Expect a lot more about P'an Ku and my other piece in the set as we get closer to the release date of the set! RAWR!

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

Mumoku no Oni - Process

Earlier this month I shared my new Legends of the Five Rings CCG monster, the mighty Mumoku no Oni, today I have for you the steps that went into making this creature. Here is the how the Mumoku no Oni turned out...

Mumoku no Oni
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When tasked with designing a monster fit to destroy an entire province you gotta go big or go home. Admittedly, I immediately started thinking about dinosaurs and the big man himself, Godzilla. L5R is set in a fictions place similar to medieval Japan... how can I NOT think of Godzilla? The key is then to not make a Godzilla, but to think about the idea of Godzilla and dinosaurs and make something bases on those ideas and feelings. With this in mind I got to work on some thumbnails...
 

Mumoku no Oni - Thumbnails
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

To be honest I felt like I was all over the place on these. (A) was a little too much dinosaur and the angle was a little too straight on. (B) was getting weird but the angle was better. (C) ...well, it did get my 'RAWR!' of approval in the thumbnail... so I guess I was liking where it was headed at the time. Sometimes I will nail the idea on the very first thumbnail and the the rest are just spinning my wheels. Then there are the times I have a couple bad ideas in me that I have to get out of the way to get to the winning thumbnail. It turned out to be a case of the latter this time around. Production picked (C) and gave me the thumbs up to move onto the drawing...

Mumoku no Oni - Drawing
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When working on the drawing I looked mostly at the dinosaur Ankylosaurus for general mass and anatomy but for the spirit of the beast I thought about my memories of Godzilla's monster pal, Anguirus. I did NOT look at any images of Anguirus while working on the drawing to prevent too much influence and bleed over. I wanted to harness my feelings about Kaiju and create something new for L5R without pulling too much from actual Kaiju. This is why I looked mostly at Ankylosaurus to influence the major forms in the drawing. 

The drawing was quickly approved and I was able to move forward onto the actual painting. Here is how the painting progressed...
 

Mumoku no Oni - Process progression
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When preparing to paint I looked at a lot of skinks and lizards to base the coloration of Mumoku no Oni. I wanted to do something bold with the head and I knew the tongue needed to be unique. There are some great lizards out there with blue tongues and there are awesome red headed skinks. The world around us is an amazing and complex thing and all the problems we are looking to solve have been worked out several times already by mother nature. While there are many unbelievable things in nature with a wide spectrum of unexpected shapes, sizes, and colors of things, looking at reference insures we choose a BETTER red for the head and not a random one from the color wheel or paint tube. Look twice, paint once!

As you can see above, in just six easy steps I finished the painting... Okay, not really, but it should give you a feel for the progression. It did come together very quickly and except for the removal of the long vertical spike directly behind the beast's head the piece is unchanged from start to finish.  Again, here is how the final piece turned out...
 

Mumoku no Oni
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I also was able to get a better image of the card so you can see how it looks in handheld version...
 

Mumoku no Oni in handy card form
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

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

Mumoku no Oni - Torn Asunder - L5R

Torn Asunder, the newest expansion for the Legends of the Five Rings CCG will be out later this month and I have one card in this set. The card was spoiled online late last month and I thought I might as well share the big guy. I present you with the mighty Mumoku no Oni...

Mumoku no Oni
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I created this piece last June and it was a lot of fun. It was described as a province killer and I hope it lives up to that description! It certainly says, "RAWR!". Once the set is out and I have a copy of the card in hand I will share the process as well as some thoughts on creating the piece. When creating a giant monster that is destroying a fictitious medieval Japan it is hard to not look to certain sources for reference. More on this in the coming weeks. For now I will leave you with an image of the card...

Mumoku no Oni in handy card form
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

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

Hida Kaiji - Process

Back in October I shared with you my contribution to the Legends of the Five: Rings Seeds of Decay expansion. Today I have for you the process that went into those three cards. I am grouping all three into a single post because they all centered around one single character, the Hida Kaiji. I was tasted with designing Kaiji as well as depicting him in several exciting activities. As will all my work I started with some concepts and loose thumbnails. Here are the concepts...

Hida Kaiji - concepts
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

They wanted a part man, part monster, part oni who is still retaining his humanity and is still a samurai. I don't recall if the description specifically stated he was asymmetrical and oddly put together, but I knew he had to be depicted in this manor. Anytime I can put one huge arm onto something I am happy! I do know he was to be represented as a 20 foot giant, something akin to a medieval Japanese Incredible Hulk. From the beginning I was leaning toward option "A" and the ADs agreed. Since Kaiji was going to be doing a lot of activities I went ahead and sent in some very rough thumbnails with descriptions of what I had in mind...

Hida Kaiji - rough thumbnails
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

The thumbnails and notes were really straight forward... standing and looking fierce, jumping from the wall, fighting a giant oni. There were a couple of minor notes to keep in mind moving forward and I moved forward with taking my reference photos and working out all the details with the more fleshed out thumbnails...

Hida Kaiji - thumbnails
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

The thumbnails were all approved and I moved forward with the final drawings. The drawings were all approved and I pressed forward on the final paintings. I have grouped the drawings and the painting processes together for each card. For the character card of Hida Kaiji I envisioned him standing triumphant on the battlefield surrounded by the mutilated corpse of some giant horror he just destroyed. His normally sized companion directs him to the next target in the distance. This is how the final drawing turned out...

Hida Kaiji - drawing
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

With the painting I was a little lost with what I wanted to do. I had to include a lot of information (my own fault) and it need to set a mood for the character and be interesting. Very early on when I was working up my under painting I saw the sky being bright and blue... that quickly changed as the piece started coming together. I realized the sky needed to be more of a sun set (has the battle waged all day?) and fires needed to glow in the distance. There needed to be a back glow as well as the frontal light. The piece built up as usual and came together without trouble once the sky and lighting were figured out...

Hida Kaiji - process
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Ruthless Onslaught was a pretty straight forward piece. Kaiji is leaping from the wall to the battle below. Shooting the reference for this was interesting. Here is the final drawing for the piece...

Ruthless Onslaught - drawing
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

I again wanted an interesting sky and looked at a lot of images of skies till I found several to reference from. I liked the front/back lighting of the first Kaiji piece and brought it into this one as well. A bright light aiming up at Kaiji as the sky glows behind. Is this realistic? No idea, thought it looked good and worked well for this card. Here is the process progression...

Ruthless Onslaught - process
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Finally the up close and personal fighting portrait. I wanted to depict that moment where Kaiji snaps the neck of the Oni he is fighting... not sure if it reads... but that is what I was going for. Here is the final drawing...

Determined Challenge - drawing
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

I wonder if I should have twisted the Oni's head more... or painted in the word "SNAP" next to the neck... or not worry about it and just be happy that a huge mutant is fighting a giant Japanese devil. Of the three pieces this painting came together the quickest and was done before I knew it. When I was done this was also my least favorite of the three. Now that a year has come and gone and I have held all three in card form... there is something about the final card that I find more successful then the other three. I can not put my finger on what it is though. I am VERY happy with how all three turned out in card form, they are a little darker, the details pull together, and there is a tightness to the paintings that I think really improves the images. All of these things really helped the Determined Challenge. Here is the process progression...

Determined Challenge - process
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Here are the final paintings one last time so that you can see how they turned out...

Hida Kaiji
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Ruthless Onslaught
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Determined Challenge
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

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

Hida Kaiji - Seeds of Decay - L5R

About a year ago I was asked to design and illustrate a new monstrous samurai for Legends of the Five Rings and it sounded like a interesting challenge. This member of the Crab Clan was to be over 20 feet tall and be able to wield a tetsubo that was basically a tree trunk wrapped with some metal. This Hida monster needed to be mutant... part man, part monster, and a whole lot of oni. He is a shadow of the man he use to be but still determined to serve his clan against the threats of the oni. Here is how Hida Kaiji and his three illustrations turned out...

Hida Kaiji
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Ruthless Onslaught
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

Determined Challenge
© 2012 Alderac Entertainment Group

This set had a super limited early release at Gen Con this year and I was able to see some of my cards in person when folks brought them by for me to sign. I am still waiting to have all three in hand but there are plenty of good images online of them and here they are for you to see how the cards turned out...

I am really happy with how the final cards turned out... and my name was not cropped out in all of them. In the coming weeks I will be sure to share with you the designs, thumbnails, and process progressions for these pieces. As always a big thanks to Adrian and Steve for the opportunity, advice, and monsters! It is not everyday that you get to make a landscape out of a dead oni. More L5R will be along in the fullness of time... and I will need to be patient to share the pieces I just finished for them!

That is all for another exciting Monday of new monsters of 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