Revisting Smaug the Golden

Not to sound like a broken wheel, because I will be saying this for a while longer, but I am REALLY BUSY writing the next book, so the blog continues to mostly be posts looking back at older work. Today I am looking back at one of, if not the, favorite of Smaug paintings done for the Hobbit card game (original process post!). In total, I painted five Smaug-centric pieces, and this was the first one in the series and the last to be released. The art was eventually cropped to a square, but you do what you can. This piece is not without its flaws, I know them all too well, but I still really like this one, even with it being painted in 2012.

Smaug the Golden

The Hobbit: On the Doorstep 

10 x 8 - Digital

Art Director - Zoe Robinson 

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games 

I used to spend SO much time laboring over these pieces I was being paid nearly nothing for. I guess it was good because I still have this cool dragon to show off. But all that time and effort spent on someone else's world. I will always say that doing that work taught me so much about how to create my work and my world. 

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 Hobbit: On the Doorstep

Smaug, the dire menace of  Middle Earth... You might remember the Smaug pieces I shared with you last August that I produced for the Gen Con 2012 Battle Laketown deck. At the time I mentioned that these were by no means the only or even the first Smaug piece that I had in store. Months before I produced the pieces for the Gen Con deck I was asked to design the great dragon Smaug and produce a pair of cards for On the Doorstep, the second of two Hobbit themed LoTR card game expansions. Here is how those first Smaug pieces turned out...

Smaug the Golden

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Smaug the Magnificent

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

For me, there is no more of an iconic image of Smaug then of him slumbering on his treasure. It was hard to not jump at the assignment when I was told that this very image was one of the pieces available... also, getting to design and establish the look of Smaug himself was pretty hard to turn down. This of course led into me working on the Gen Con deck that allowed me to revisit and build upon the design I started with these two cards.

As with the other LotR pieces I have been producing I made the pieces nice and big for myself which then gave production a lot more to work with. Here are scans of the final cards so you can see how they turned out...

Smaug in handy card form... RAWR!

I will be bringing you a closer look at what went into these pieces as well as some other related images and notes in the near future. Make sure you keep an eye on the blog! A huge thanks to Zoe Robinson for getting me involved with this project! One of those projects you just don't want to miss out on.

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