The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: Organized Play

Showing posts with label Organized Play. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Chewbacca - Imperial Assault - Process

This one is definitely a bit overdue. Today I have for you the process and steps that went into my Chewbacca painting that was created for the Winter Organized Play Kit of Imperial Assault. I first shared this piece with you last October and I painted in in March of 2015. Here is how the final painting turned out...

Chewbacca

Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Deb Freytag

Original - SOLD

This was a really exciting piece for me. Not only was it the first time I got to paint Chewbacca, it was the most prominent character that I have been asked to paint, AND I was going to attempt the painting traditionally. I will never paint Luke, Han, or Leia, but I definitely can paint a Chewbacca. There was a little stress going into this piece since it was such a recognizable character and I was going to paint traditionally. In the end it all worked out, obviously. To start things off, I got to work on some thumbnails...

Chewbacca - Thumbnails

The piece called for a strong and powerful Chewbacca fighting some Stormtroopers. There needed to be some defeated troopers in the scene as well. As you can see thumbnail option 'C' was the winner, but there were things about all three that I liked. Looking back now, 'C' is by far the best, though I still like some of the action in 'A'. With a selected thumbnail I got to work on a finalized drawing...

Chewbacca - Drawing
Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit

17 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original for sale over on my web store!

There was a small tweak requested with the positioning of the bow caster after the drawing was submitted, but that was done digitally. Not even sure why it was requested or how much it actually changed the image, but I did it and it was approved. Now it was time to paint! In just eight simple steps I had myself a Chewbacca paint, not really...

Chewbacca - Process progression

While the background, stormtroopers, and bow caster were all straight forward and easy enough to paint, Chewbacca was a bit of a struggle. I am still more of a scale and skin kind guy and all that fur overwhelms me sometimes. Gotta make the masses of fur read as well as the strands and bits. Then there was the issue of getting Chewbacca's likeness right. In the end I very much like this piece and I think over all it definitely looks like Chewbacca. The second Chewbacca piece that I did for the LCG, in my opinion, looks a lot more like Chewbacca, but this one was a good first attempt. You will notice that that the shape of the head does change from the drawing and there is extra work put into the face to make sure it reads more like Chewbacca. I may have spent the same amount of time on Chewbacca's head and torso as I spent on the entire rest of the painting. Some artist would expect nothing less, but it was a little new to me at the time. As time moves on it has become more common. Here is an animated process of the painting coming together so you can better see the changes I have mentioned...

Chewbacca - Animated process

I looks like I took a image of my work space while I was working on this piece. The image was tucked in with the rest of my process images that I took while painting. This offers a glimpse of what my work space looked like back in March of 2015. Things have changed as much as they have stayed the same since then...

Work space while working on Chewbacca circa March 2015

Once again, here is the final painting as well as the final production card...

Chewbacca

Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Deb Freytag

Original - SOLD

Chewbacca in handy dandy card form

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

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Trandoshan Hunter - Star Wars - Process

Today I have for you a look at the process and steps that went into a piece that is well overdue. I first shared the Trandoshan Hunters with you back in June of 2015. These two space lizards were created for the Imperial Assault 2015 Summer Organized Play Kit as well as being the third time my art was used for this particular card. Let's have a look at the finished piece...

Trandoshan Hunter

Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original - SOLD

Thumbnails are and will forever be the first step in the process. I shoot reference and work up some concepts based on the art order. Inevitably, I will get the bleed and padding wrong, so having the thumbnail stage allows for quick and easy readjustment as I move onto the final drawing. No matter how much bleed I give my thumbnails, no matter how close I think I am sticking to the templates, I never seem to get it right. Oh well... at least I think I get it pretty close. Here are how the final thumbnails turned out for this piece...

Trandoshan Hunter - Thumbnails

So fierce! Look at those angry angry space lizards! To get in the spirit and mood of some feisty Trandoshans I shot a bunch of reference with the help of Dear Wife. I like to move around and get into the skin of my monsters before I start working on them. Getting in front of the camera allows me to work out the composition in real space and get all the details, lighting, and foreshortening worked out ahead of time. No matter how much I plan ahead before shooting reference we will always come up with better poses and elements when I shoot reference first. Here is but a few of the many reference images that went into this piece...

Trandoshan Hunter -Reference

Photos by Achsa Nute

Option 'C' of the thumbnails was picked by production and I was given the go ahead to move onto the final drawing... as long as I added some additional bleed to the piece... which turned into even more since I was painting this piece at a standard size which is larger the the dimensions this piece needed to be at. All that said, here is the final drawing for the Trandoshan Hunter...

Trandoshan Hunter

Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original for sale over on my web store!

The drawing was approved and I was all set to move onto the painting. For this piece I wanted to do something different from all the pieces I had been working on. Many of the pieces were either green or blue in overall color and temperature. I wanted to do something very different and a lot more red... or kind of pink. I wanted this piece to be warm in comparison to the cool feel many of my pieces have. Here is the painting coming together...

Trandoshan Hunter - Process progression

In just 17 easy steps you too can have a Trandoshan Hunter painting. Or not. Even though this was an early piece for me in the scheme of things it came together in a rather straight forward manor. There was a lot of pushing and pulling to get the image to be where I wanted it to be, but that is part of the process. I just kept at it and the piece took shape a little at a time. To make it easier to see the piece coming together, here is an animated progression of the painting...

Trandoshan Hunter - Animated process progression

No real horror stories on this one. The painting came together and was approved without revisions. Here again is the final painting and the card that it was used on...

Trandoshan Hunter

Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original - SOLD

Trandoshan Hunter in handy dandy card form

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, December 14, 2015

Wicket W. Warrick - Star Wars LCG: Solo's Command

This is certainly a good week to debut new Star Wars work and that is exactly what I have for you today! A year ago today I was finishing this vary painting and now I can share it with you. I present you my painting (and drawing) for the character card of Wicket W. Warrick...

Wicket W. Warrick

Star Wars LCG - Solo's Command

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

Wicket W. Warrick

Star Wars LCG - Solo's Command

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

I was super thrilled when I was asked (MANY thanks, Zoe!) to do the character card for Wicket W. Warrick and I really wanted to capture the moment and feel when he was first appears on screen in Return of the Jedi. I looked at a lot of photos and stills from that moment to base my composition and palette for this painting. Hopefully I am doing that moment justice. I will have more about this piece in the future when I do a process break down. As with all of my Ewok paintings I am including a bit of blood on the weapons, since they are carnivorous hunters in such of meat to eat. I am super happy with how the card printed...

Wicket W. Warrick in handy dandy card form

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

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Chewbacca - Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit

Just in time for Illuxcon! My Chewbacca painting has been spoiled over on the Fantasy Flight website. This marked the first time I was asked to paint everybody's favorite Wookiee and it was a very exciting assignment. I was asked to depict Chewie giving a bunch of Stormtroopers a very difficult time. Speaking of Stormtroopers, this is the first time I got to paint Stormtroopers as well! I present Chewbacca for the Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit...

Chewbacca

Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Deb Freytag

Original - SOLD

This piece was completed in March and it feels like a million years ago now in terms of painting. In the first full year of painting traditionally for clients and myself I produced 30 paintings. If I remember correctly, Chewbacca was number eight or nine, in the top ten for sure. This image of the painting is still a scan and not a photograph so needless to say, the actual painting looks SO much better in person. Really thrilled I will be able to bring this with me to Illuxcon!

This painting will be used as alternate art as part of the Winter In-Store Organized Play Kits for Imperial Assault. Each kit has only two copies of the card so hopefully it will be in high demand. Here is a look at the rest of the Winter Organized Play Kit...

Imperial Assault Winter Organized Play Kit courtesy of the Fantasy Flight Games website

A HUGE thanks to Deb Freytag for giving me this assignment and for the great art direction during the creation of this piece! Thanks, Deb!

That is all for a very special extra Tuesday post 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

Monday, June 8, 2015

Trandoshan Hunter - Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit

FINALLY! The first of my traditionally painted Star Wars work has finally begun to appear! I have been working traditionally on all of my Star Wars assignments since September of last year. Needless to say I am more then eager to start sharing the mighty stack of work that has accumulated. The first to surface was my second card assignment which happen to included a pair of space lizards that are near and dear to me. I present the Trandoshan Hunter for the Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit...

Trandoshan Hunter

Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original - SOLD

I have mentioned here on the blog more then once that I really like Trandoshans. With that in mind it seemed like a perfect fit for me to work on a pair as these lovely space lizards for the Summer Organized Play Kit for Imperial Assault. This alternate art card will be given away to players that take part in Imperial Assault events at their local game store or similar venue. Here is a look at the rest of the Summer Organized Play Kit...

Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit courtesy of the Fantasy Flight Games website

I am still not happy with my image captures of my paintings. They are getting better, sometimes, but for me, there is room still for improvement. Since this was one of my first paintings this feeling is even more so. BUT, I make the most of it, the client was happy with the images, I am happy with the paintings (that looks so much better in person) and the images will look great on a card. In the end, everyone is happy with the part that they need to be happy about. ...but there is room for improvement. Here is a photo I just took of the varnished painting in its frame, it is not perfect either, but if you look at both the scan and the photo you can get a better feel for the piece...

Trandoshan Hunter - Framed

Imperial Assault Summer Organized Play Kit

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original - SOLD

Here is the funny thing about the Trandoshan Hunter card for Imperial Assualt... this is not the first time my art has been used on this card, this is not even the second time my art had been on this card. This will mark the THIRD time my art has been used on the Trandoshan Hunter card for Imperial Assault. I have dug my fingers in deep with Trandoshans over at FFG! For the core set and the Adepticon exclusive giveaway versions of the Trandoshan Hunter work that I have previously done was used for the card. This version marks the first time I have created new work for the card. Here is a look at how the other two versions of the card turned out...

Trandoshan Hunter - Imperial Assault - Core set

Trandoshan Hunter - Adepticon exclusive giveaway

I am also including the original paintings for the two previous Trandoshan Hunter cards as well so you can compare and contrast and look at the progression of my digital work and transition into my traditional work. I am really happy with the direction of my take on the Trandoshans, I feel like I am creating my own personal visual style and look for them as well as staying true to Bossk and the other Trandoshans that are cannon to the Star Wars universe.

AT-PT

Edge of the Empire

7 x 10 - Digital

DXR-6 Disruptor Rifle

Imperial Assault - Core set

10.1 x 9 - Digital

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