Looking Back: Orc Skirmisher - Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures

Today I am looking back at a miniature design produced for the Dungeons & Dragons miniature game over ten years ago that I have neither shared nor was it ever actually made. The assignment was to design an Orc Skirmisher for the miniatures game. Ten plus years on, of course, we can see that the miniature was never made. Here is a look at the never produced Orc Skirmisher...

Orc Skirmisher

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This is actually my final unproduced miniature design that I did for the Dungeons & Dragons miniature game. As with the previous Orc miniatures I have recently shared this design was created at the same time I created the unfortunate Orc Raider. While I enjoyed and liked all of these Orc designs, for whatever reason I liked the Orc Raider the least. So it would be natural that it would be the one produced. Of course to have any of my designs made into miniatures is amazing, I just wish it had been better received by the gamers. Here is a look at the full turnaround of the Orc Skirmisher...

Orc Skirmisher Turnaround

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with all on my Orcs there were a lot of revisions as I did not get the Orcish look down the first time around. If I remember correctly, this was the final Orc that I worked on when I was working on all of these Orcs. This lead to the least amount of reworking and revisions to get it to an approved state. Here is a look at the various stages that the Orc Skirmisher went through before being approved...

Orc Skirmisher variants

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

While I have a ton of amazing miniatures based on my designs and I understand how amazing that is and would never take any of it for granted... I really wished that at least one of the Orcs with a bow I had designed would have been made. I have always loved archer miniatures and I was incredibly excited to be designing not one, but TWO Orc archers. Sadly, in the end, neither were made. Such is life. I have the memories of working on this exciting project and I pile of drawings to mark the time and energy put into it. ...and with that, I have shared with you all of the work I have ever produced on the D&D miniatures.

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

Looking Back: Orc Berserker - Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures

Today I am looking back at a miniature design produced for the Dungeons & Dragons miniature game over ten years ago that I have neither shared nor was it ever actually made. The assignment was to design an Orc Berserker for the miniatures game. Ten plus years on, of course, we can see that the miniature was never made. Here is a look at the never produced Orc Berserker...

Orc Berserker

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with the previous Orc miniatures I have recently shared this design was created at the same time I created the unfortunate Orc Raider. While I enjoyed and liked all of these Orc designs, for whatever reason I liked the Orc Raider the least. So it would be natural that it would be the one produced. Of course to have any of my designs made into miniatures is amazing, I just wish it had been better received by the gamers. Here is a look at the full turnaround of the Orc Berserker...

Orc Berserker Turnaround

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with all on my Orcs there were a lot of revisions as I did not get the Orcish look down the first time around. As mentioned on Wednesday I was not doing the smart things and submitting thumbnails and sketches I was just blundering in with fully finished drawings when submitting my ideas. I would then need to edit the drawing digitally and draw new elements that would be comped in. I certainly got really fast when it came to drawing and editing my drawings. That is a useful skill set. Here is a look at the various stages that the Orc Berserker went through before being approved...

Orc Berserker variants

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

While I am satisfied with the vast majority of my illustration assignments and do not fret how they have or have not aged, I do wish often I could go back and have a chance to redo many of my miniature designs. Not that they are bad, but because I had so much fun doing them and I miss the fun of miniature designs. Not too mention that I would most likely do a much better job if I revisiting them. I have shared plenty of miniature redesigns and makeup concepts that I have reworked as personal practice over the years. Of course I am a HUGE proponent of moving on and not dwelling in the past and over working pieces... so I guess all those designs will stand as they are and I will look ahead to new opportunities.

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

Looking Back: Bloodspear Orc Archer - Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures

Today I am looking back at a miniature design produced for the Dungeons & Dragons miniature game ten years ago that I have neither shared nor was it ever actually made. The assignment was to design an Orc archer for the miniatures game. Ten years on, of course, we can see that the miniature was never made. Here is a look at the never produced Bloodspear Orc Archer...

Bloodspear Orc Archer

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This design was created at the same time I created the unfortunate Orc Raider. In fact I worked on a whole bunch of Orc miniatures all at the same time and only the Orc Raider saw production. The Orc Raider was easily one of the most despised miniatures I ever designed. People just did not like how the mini turned out and I got to hear all about it. I wonder if any of these other Orcs would have been looked upon better if they had been made. Here is a look at the full turnaround of the Bloodspear Orc Archer...

Bloodspear Orc Archer Turnaround

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I was really happy with how this and another archer turned out. I was really excited to work on some archers and was looking forward to seeing them as minis. Alas, that never happen. But I still have the drawings... kind of. This piece, much like ALL of the Orc minis that I designed went through a lot of revisions when it came to the face and postures. Not sure if I was misunderstanding the reference I was given, that things were changing on the production end of things as I was working on these, or that I was dealing with the fact I was doing fully rendered drawings instead of sketches as I worked on this... or all of the above. Here is a look at the various stages that the Bloodspear Orc Archer went through before being approved...

Bloodspear Orc Archer variants

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2007 Wizards of the Coast LLC

My goal with a lot of my work was to have a great looking drawing at the end of it. These minis were no exception. Unfortunately, since I was creating fully rendered drawings instead of sketches, when there were changes I did not have the time or energy to completely redraw everything. Instead I would draw new parts on new sheets of paper and then digitally composite them on and may digital edits. This left me with a single great drawing for the side and back views, a great drawing of the front that looked different than the other views, and multiple sheets of paper with a pair of legs on one, a head on another, and an arm on a third. At some point there may be a collector that is really into this and will think it is pretty cool, but I still wish I had ended up with a clean perfect final drawing of the approved front view. Oh well. At least I got to design a cool Orc archer!

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

ArtOrder - Art Test - Orc Cook

It has just come to my attention that is has been over an entire year since I last participated in an ArtOrder challenge. I knew it had been a little while, but not over an whole year! At least I am doing something about it...

If you missed it, there has been a lot of talk in the circles I find myself about the ArtOrder challenge that just wrapped up, if you missed it you can read all about it HERE. Basically the challenge was to take one of about seven subjects and make your own version of it. I obviously went with the Orc Cook. Speaking of which...

 Orc Cook
No one ever tells the cook to roll initiative.
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

If you would like to see all the submissions the entire line up of the challenge is over on ArtOrder! Be sure to head over to take a look at everyone's hard work! If some of all this sounds familiar you might be remembering a post from last month in which I talk about my approaches to humanoid monsters. Needless to say there are some silly pictures out there of me posing as an Orc cook... and no, they will not be coming to the blog anytime soon.

Hopefully it won't be another entire year till I participate again in an ArtOrder challenge! Big thanks as always going out to Jon Schindehette for all he does with ArtOrder and for doing these great challenges!

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

Orc Raider - Dungeons and Dragons

I am still under the weather and not up to much more then getting a blog post up.

Today I bring you what could quite possibly be my most maligned work to date. The Orc Raider from the Dungeons of Dread Dungeons and Dragons Miniature expansion was racked over the coals by pretty much everybody. This also was the point at which I stopped going to forums where products I worked on were discussed. Now granted, all of the criticism I read and heard was based on the final miniature but I still can't help but feel responsible for my part. I will let you decide for yourself if this is the worst work I have ever done or if the internet is showing me a skewed interpretation of reality.

The different stages of the Orc Raider's front view as I tweaked and edited it. I had to get in the mind set of the D&D Orc. Figure out what makes him tick.

© 2006 Wizards of the Coast LLC

With the front finally approved I set about with the rest of the turnaround.

© 2006 Wizards of the Coast LLC

You can see how the Orc Raider turned out in it's final production miniature form, HERE. That's all for this week. Hopefully I will be back on my feet next week. Until then...

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