May Blog Break

Starting on Wednesday of this week and continuing for the following several weeks, I will be taking a break from the blog. One must step away occasionally to try other things and experience new and different places. Fear naught, I will return. Until then, I will leave you with this monster that I have shared so many times before.

NOM NOM NOM NOM!

And yes, I have used this image on the blog for over ten years.

How time flies.

 

That is all for another exciting week on the blog. I will see you back here in a few weeks. Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary - Seventeen Years Later

On February 17th, 2009, seventeen years ago today, I started this blog. I do one of these posts each year, and I say some of the same things each time. Some years this post is short, and other times, like last year, the post will be long. Each year is different. To be frank, I am too tired and too busy to come up with something noteworthy this year. For mostly good reason, but the world, especially the human world, burns, and that does take its toll.

I am now at 2,328 posts over the past seventeen years. I had a conversation the day I am writing this about how your results may vary, but if you do something every day, for an extended period of time, you will get better at it - as long as you engage, are mindful, and are active in the doing and the learning. Not sure how these go together, but I think they do somehow. In their own way. Kind of like, 'DRAW MORE'. 

typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing 

typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing 

 typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing typeing and more typeing 

2025 was a good year artistically for me. Other things, not so much. But I made a lot of art last year. Good art. Art that I am proud of and love. Enough art that I am back on schedule with my second book, and I am writing every day to see it to the finish line. And writing is going very well. January was a monumentally good month for writing. Still plenty to do, but it is only February, and I have a plan and a system. 

Keeping updates going with writing is much harder than with the art. I can show you the art all day long, but you can't actually know the story I am telling you until you see the words. But if I show you the words, it would be constant spoilers. So I will do the best I can do.  

This is not the post I had thought or planned, but here we are, all the same. So, thank you one and all for coming to the blog and looking at my words and images. Thank you for the shares and comments. Thank you!

That is all for another exciting Tuesday on the blog. See you backhere 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

May Blog Break (Starting NEXT Week)

Starting next Wednesday and continuing for the following several weeks, I will be taking a break from the blog. One must step away occasionally to try other things and experience new and different places. Fear naught, for I will return with plenty of images and stories. Until then, I will leave you with this monster that I have shared so many times before.

BUT, I will have one more post to share on Monday. And I hope you will be back for that one.

NOM NOM NOM NOM!

And yes, I have used this image on the blog for over ten years.

How time flies.

 

That is all for another exciting week on the blog. I will see you back here on Monday and then again in a few weeks. Until then...

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

March Blog Break

The day career is sending me to SXSW tomorrow and I will be there through next weekend. That means that the monsters will be getting a much needed vacation and there will be nothing happening over here for the next weekend and a half. There will likely not be a lot of me on the socials as well as my days are likely to be very busy. But if everything works out I will get a chance to see Pedro Pascal. More on that if it happens.

NOM NOM NOM NOM!

An oldie but a goodie.

That's all for another excitng week on the blog. See you back here in a couple of weeks. Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary - Sixteen Years Later

On February 17th, 2009, sixteen years ago today, I started this blog. I do one of these anniversary posts every year, and each year, I am surprised that I have found myself here again. As if, at some point, I would drop this endeavor and move on to something else. But after what is now sixteen years, how could I? In some ways, this is the easiest, most straightforward option I have to put out into the universe what I am doing, creating, and thinking. So, to that end, we are here again as another year has ticked by. This is blog post 2,203, which isn't too shabby, but I don't have anything much to compare it to. But that is a lot of posts, and most posts document my journey as an artist. I hope that these posts serve to help and possibly guide those on their artistic journeys.

My studio in early 2025

I used to do lengthy reviews of the previous year, and in some ways, those posts are what got a lot of eyes on this blog. But the time and work that it takes to do one large review post has worn on me. I love doing them, but they started feeling repetitive and sometimes a bit morose. Ever since COVID-19, they just haven't been the same. So, I have started sharing more on these anniversary posts and sprinkling more nuggets of wisdom throughout the year. Is it the same? No. Is it close enough? I think so. After all these years, I am unsure I have any profound truths to share.

At some point, once you get your legs under you artistically, you have a path ahead of you that is yours and yours alone. My path is very different than it was sixteen years ago and is not one I ever imagined for myself. I knew what I wanted to do. I had my goals. But at no point could I have visualized the outcome and how that has changed nearly everything regarding my opinions of the industries, making art, and life in general. I certainly never imagined that I would have to double-process all of my images to protect them from theft! I can (and I did for sixteen years) tell you exactly what I did to get here, but much of that is unique to me. You will have to find your own path. I have, and will continue, shared nearly all I have learned along my journey. I hope this archive stays around for as long as possible so that it might help others and be a record of my time as an artist. 

I will mention that I have a sort of long post planned for March. March marks the twentieth anniversary of us leaving Los Angeles and my transition to having a university career by day, and (by June 2009) I was working freelance in tabletop gaming. As it has been twenty years, I have decided it was time to clear the air and lay out why it became necessary to leave LA in the first place. But these stories and more are for another day in March. 

I will say that 2024 had some very high highs for me. And, there were some rough patches. It was a tremendous year for me at conventions. I broke records at multiple shows and had by far the best single convention to date - Pensacon 2024. I am not expecting to hit those numbers again this year, but I know the potential is now there. I do not know what conventions will be like this year, and moving forward, we are in a time of great change. Hopefully, Pensacon will give me a taste of what to expect for 2025. 

Also, I did produce a much larger amount of work for the second book of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia in 2024. I made more art for the book than I had in several years. Again, a very good thing. I am not off to such a good start this year, but that is entirely due to taking on some amazing freelance work that I could not turn down. It took up a lot of time, but I think it was worth it, and it was one of the most fun projects I have been a part of in a long time. I have said all I can for now, but there will be more news when I can share it. 

I am not sure I have the words yet, but since October, my thoughts and opinions have shifted a great deal. I do not see things as I once did, and my priorities and interests have begun to shift. I am spending a lot more time focused on personal growth and development, and that doesn't always include making art. Fear naught, I am still working hard on my stories and art. And I am giving book two everything I can. Making books and writing stories is not all I will put my time to now. And it is for the best all around, and I should have better art and stories because of these changes. Yes, I am being vague. No, there is nothing wrong. I just want to keep some things personal for a time. As always, keep an eye on the blog to see what I am up to!

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

May Blog Break

For the next several weeks, I will be taking a break from the blog. One must step away occasionally to try other things and experience new and different places. Fear naught, for I will return with plenty of images and stories. Until then, I will leave you with this monster that I have shared so many times before.

 

NOM NOM NOM NOM!

And yes, I have used this image on the blog for over ten years.

How time flies.

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. I will see you back here in a few weeks. Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary - And then there were Fifteen AND Twenty-five

Huh! And here we are. Fifteen years ago tomorrow, on February 17th, 2009, I began this blog. On top of that, 2024 marks my twenty-fifth year as a professional artist, and in June it will be nineteen years since I starting making monsters for WotC. A lot has happened, a lot is actively happening, and there is an uncertain future ahead for all of us. Not everything in the past year has been good, and this is one of the reasons I haven't posted a 2023 year-in-review post. It is all still too fresh and actively happening. I mean, I can't even post images on the internet anymore without processing them twice to protect them from being stolen by billion-dollar tech firms.

A little look at the studio a week or so before this is posted.

By the time you are seeing this, the piece I was working on will now be completed.

Will any of us be employed this time next year? Will there be any need or want for art and artists in a year? This is definitely NOT where I foresaw myself twenty-five years ago, on so many levels, both good and bad. We shouldn't have to ask people not to steal from us, but here we are. But I want to stay positive... as much as possible in these uncertain times. Since mid December I have been on fire making new art for book two of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia. Like, a LOT of art. I am moving at speeds and getting things done at a rate not seen in four years. It has been really nice - as if I am finally breathing a deep, full breath after being submerged for nearly too long.

Throughout the COVID years (2020-2021) I was moving in slow motion and the "post" COVID years (2022-2023) has been spent adjusting to the new normal and all the horrors that have since surfaced. But in the past few months, I am finally beginning to feel like myself again, like a working artist. So, with all the chaos in the world I am doing my best to stay focued and work on my little world and focus on getting to the next day. I have been doing this stuff for a quarter of a century. I hope that I can keep this thing going, that we all can keep this thing going. If not, the world will become a much worse place. 

I will get back to making art; you should probably do the same. If you ever have any questions about my work, this blog is the best place to direct them.

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

2000th Post!?!?!

Somehow, this is my 2000th post here on the blog. I haven't been paying attention, and I was shocked last week when I realized today would make post 2000. While I am not sure I imagined doing this blog this long, once I begin something, I generally stick with it. And so we find ours here today. To honor this achievement, here is a photo of where I make my art these days, my studio. 

The new seat of power for The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia.

Hitting the 2000th post made me think about when I hit the 1000th post in 2015. It took me February 2009 till April 2015 to hit 1000 posts and April 2015 to July 2023 to hit 2000 posts. That is roughly 137 posts a year for fourteen and a half years. Not too shabby! To see how things have changed, here is the image of my workspace back in 2015. As you can see, I have definitely upgraded!

Where the art was made in 2015.

As a side note, I was looking carefully at what was on my workstation in 2015, and I could see that I was working on the Concussion Rifle piece that I did for the Star Wars card game. Fun memories of being paid very little for a LOT of work. Concussion Rifle painting is one of the few pieces of art I have made for a client that I decided to keep. There are a few Easter eggs in there and some personal connections, so in the end, I could not part with it.

Here is a list of the number of posts that I published each year. Please note that 2023 is not accurate as I took this screen shot prior to a number of posts going live. You can see that my posts have dwindled a bit over the years, starting with 2018. This is because I began stepping away from freelance work and focusing on the Grand Bazaar. I didn't have a constant stream of client art to share and post about. Also, as the year ticked by, I have found myself with less and less time available for big posts about complicated topics - though I plan to continue those as often as possible. I have one or two planned for the near future. I am not sure anyone finds this stuff interesting, but I sure do. And I appreciate everyone that continues to visit the blog - it means the world to me!

14.5 years and 2000 posts later, I am still here!

Do not forget that this week is Gen Con! I will be away at that and will not post again until next week. If you are attending Gen Con or are in the Indianapolis area, I would love to see you at booth 16 in the Gen Con Art Show! That is all for my 2000th post; I wonder how long it will be till I hit 3000!

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here after Gen Con! Until then...

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

May Blog Break

For the next several weeks, I will be taking a break from the blog. One must step away occasionally to try other things and experience new and different places. Fear naught, for I will return with plenty of images and stories. Until then, I will leave you with this monster that I have shared so many times before.

NOM NOM NOM NOM!

And yes, I have used this image on the blog for ten years. 

How time flies.

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. I will see you back here in a few weeks. Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary - And then there were Fourteen

Yesterday, fourteen years ago, on February 17th, 2009, I started this blog to chronicle my journey as a monster artist. My journey had already begun, of course. 2023 marks my twenty-fourth year of being a professional artist making monsters. In nearly a quarter of a century, I have checked a lot of goals off my list, but some still remain. The remaining ones may never get checked off, but that is okay. I have done so much more than I ever imagined possible. The creation of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia has more than made up any dreams to work on a specific product line or with a particular artist. It has been a crazy journey, and I have shared nearly all of it on this blog. The ups, downs, successes, and most definitely the failures have been recorded and documented here to help others and to hopefully shed some light on the realities of being a working artist.

The current piece from book two of the Grand Bazaar is on the table in my studio.

Next year will be a big one for me, but there is plenty that I need and want to do before I can think about that. I hope you are enjoying the ride. It has been a labor of love to keep this going and posting as regularly as possible. I imagine there will be some lean times ahead, especially as book two gets closer to completion, but that is a few years out. I have some more meaty posts planned, and they will be along when I can make the time to write them. Thank you all for hanging around and digging through the archives of posts. And as always, if you would like me to speak about a particular topic or talk about something specific in a blog post, all you need to do is leave a comment on the blog or reach out to me on social media.

That is all the time I have today. I must get back to making art!

That is all for a surprise Saturday post 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

May Blog Break

For the rest of the month, I will be taking a break from the blog. One must step away from time to time to try other things and experience new and different places. Fear naught, for I will return with plenty of images and stories. Until that time, I will leave you with this monster that I have had so many times before.

NOM NOM NOM NOM!

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. I will see you back here in a few weeks. Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary - Lucky Thirteen

Thirteen years ago, on February 17th, 2009, I started this blog to chronicle my journey as a monster artist. Today's post makes my 1986th post on the blog, and we are just shy of 2000 posts. Somehow, after all these years, I still find myself needing to post here. Social media has so many other avenues to scream into the void, but yet I still try to post here as often as possible. While it sometimes happens these days, I beleive that the days of posting three times away are gone. I am not creating the volume of work that is needed for that. Well, that is not fully accurate. I am making art, but that art is for me, for my books, and takes a bit longer to make then what I make for clients. I will spend a month making a single piece that will mean a single blog post. I would need something for another eleven posts to fill out a month the way I used to. 

Currently on the drawing table, I hope to have it completed once I return from Pensacon. 

After that, it is on to the next one.

 

I have plans for posts about aspects of my work and things I want to talk more about, but those take a lot of time and energy to create. Time better suited for making art, leaving less time for blog posts. I have been doing 100 and 50 streatches of posting collections of art on social media to fill in the voids between completing new art for the book. I think what I am trying to say is that the blog continues to live on, I can no longer give it the time and attention I once did. For good and bad. It remains an achieve of thirteen years of learning and adventure in the world of a professional artist. But moving forward, I feel like there will be a little less happening here from week to week. I will still be posting deep dives into the process of making my work. I will still talk long and hard about my books and the world of the Grand Bazaar. I will still share with you when my D&D work in turned into miniatures. Hopefully, in the fullness of time I will have more time in my schedule to spend a little more energy coming up with things to share here.

Thank you one and all for all the support and incouragement and for sticking around all these years to following me on my journy. I hope I have been able to make in an enjoyable one for you and that I have offered up something halfway informative. Looking forward to another years here. I am sure there will be some interesting things to share a long the way.

That's all of anthere exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here next week after Pensacon. Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary - Twelve Years In

Twelve years ago, on February 17th, 2009, I started this blog to chronicle my journey as a monster artist. Today's post makes my 1729th post on the blog, and to be honest, I am not sure how I managed to get to this point. Twelve years ago, I was rebuilding my career after it crashed following four years of reliable and consistent work. A couple of things happened all at once. First, most of the art directors I worked with were fired, quit, or moved to other endeavors. Second, the projects I had been working on came to an end, changed their production structure, or were outright canceled. Third, my skillset was not where it needed to be to work on the projects still avialable.

I considered calling it a day and moving onto other work opportunities. The four years of work were terrific, I had never expected to do as much as I had done, and I still was surprised to find myself working in the tabletop gaming industry. Instead of abandoning what I had grown to love, I decided to double down, focus on my skillsets, look for new and varied work opportunities within the industry. What acquired from that point until now has all been documented here on the blog. All the ups, the downs, the successes, and most of the failures - there are a couple of those still to share, but NDAs stand in the way.

Currently on the drawing table and soon to be back in production after a couple other pieces are wrapped up.

In these twelve years, I went from a desperately eager artist that would take any and all jobs at horrifyingly low pay rates to some guy that says 'no' way more than 'yes,' has worked on all the projects he had dreamed of of working on. I somehow wrote, illustrated, funded, and published a book that was over twenty years in the making, and I have started on the next two books. 

It's all here, more or less in these 1729 posts, all my secrets, processes, and mistakes. For what it's worth. I would like to think there is content here that can help others and help those making their way in the art industries, but there is a lot to dig through, and it is all through my personal lens. I know that a lot of this is a way for me to process the journey and a form of self-promotion, but one can hope that even a single piece of my yammering could be helpful. 

I realized I never posted one of these past few years, which is fitting for 2020. The past few years were rough on the blog. I had little time and even less work to share here as I focused on completing my book and then the pandemic, but I made an effort to get things going again here. I do not know what the future holds for the blog. Maybe I say this every year, but as client work slows and I focus on my books, there are fewer and fewer immediate events to share. Perhaps I will use the blog as a way to share things beyond myslef and as a way to encourage myself to make sure I have new work, or at least process posts, to share regularly. 

Who knows where we will be in Feburary 2022, but if this blog is still chugging along, I will see you here.

That's 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

Gen Con Featured Artist Q&A

The Gen Con Blog has posted a Featured Artist Q&A that I did with them. I talk about art, monsters, and there is some info regarding that little Kickstarter that I have going on! If you have a chance, head on over to the Gen Con Blog and have a look.

Talking about monsters, RAWR!

We are approaching the final week on The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia Kickstarter! Things are still rocking and rolling, and I have so much more to share with you next week. We have a bunch of selected reading videos, coloring pages, and more! Keep getting the word out and sharing the links!

That's 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

STILL Too HOT of Tumblr

At the end of last year, I mentioned that a large number of my Tumblr posts had been mistakenly flagged as having adult content. That was sure a lot of fun, and everything was eventually dealt with, and nothing was removed from the site. To be honest, I had not been using Tumblr a lot before the adult content purge, and I did not see myself doing a lot after the purge. That said I recently posted again in the effort to jump start my activity over there again. What do I find when I go to post? MORE of my content that contains no adult content has been once again flagged as having adult content. This is not a game I signed up to play with Tumblr. Oh well, everything has been dealt with, again. I am still not using Tumblr. Life goes on. Here is the new batch of offending posts.

All of these posts and more can be found on my Tumblr... for now.

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

BLOG-a-versary - Ten Years of Yammering!

On February 17th, in 2009, which was yesterday, I began this blog. If my math is correct, that is ten years ago, and somehow I have kept this thing afloat this whole time. If you can believe it, this post is my 1512th post on the blog. Apparently, I can yammer on and on about things for many years.

Not sure how many of you have been here for all ten of these years, maybe some or maybe none. It is a lot to keep up with, and there is always about a dozen too many things to deal with. The last ten years have certainly been an adventure. I really need to write my 2018 year in review post, so much has been happening. When I started this blog ten years ago, I was desperate to get more involved with the gaming industry, and now I am neck deep making my book and focusing on my work. Funny how ten years can change things. Speaking of my book, there is this to share.

I may not be posting as much new art, but there is work getting done.

This is the rough draft #5 of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia from last month.

So much in it has changed since then, for the better!

Can't stay longer, there is too much to do. I promise that I will be back to fill you all in on things the moment I have the time. I am hard at work on multiple fronts and pushing forward as quickly as I can. More on all this soon!

That is all of 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

Too HOT of Tumblr

If you have not heard, the blogging site Tumblr is removing all adult content off their site as of December 17th. They are purging posts and pages that "includes photos, videos, and GIFs of human genitalia, female-presenting nipples, and any media involving sex acts, including illustrations". You might not know, but I have a Tumblr page that I *try* to keep up to date. On a whim I went over to see if I was affected by the purge when I saw other artists posting their flagged art. I was a little shocked at the volume of work that hand been flagged. Not just a couple, but a LOT of my posts. Post that have ZERO adult content or any of the above listed items that they are looking to purge. It got unfunny really fast as I went through my post history. To be honest I am considering taking down my page, but we shall see. I requested a review of all the posts. We will see what happens. For now here are screen shots of some of the posts that have been flagged, enjoy!

All of these posts and more can be found on my Tumblr... for now.

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here next time! Until then...

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

Blog Break

I will be stepping away from the blog for a week or two while I am adventuring elsewhere. Usually the monsters stay behind to run things while I am gone, but this time they said they wanted to come along. I will see you back here in mid May when I should have lots of fun things to share.

RAWR!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here in mid May! Until then...

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

BLOG-a-versary!

On February 17th, in 2009, which is tomorrow, I began this blog. If my math is correct, that is 9 years ago and somehow I have kept this thing afloat this whole time. If you can believe it, this post is my 1418th post on the blog. Apparently, I can yammer on and on about things for a lot of years.

Much has happened in the last 9 years, some good, some bad, and some in between. The one thing for sure is that it has been an adventure. 9 years ago I could in no way envision where I would find myself today, for good and bad. Of course in the scheme of things, I find myself exactly where I need to be!

I am not sure how many folks are still out there regularly following my blog. I see the traffic spike and wane, up and down. People come and people go. It is the way of things. Here I remain, yammering on and one... That said, for the next year or so, it is going to be more and more difficult to keep this blog going with any regularity since I will be focusing on large complex drawings for The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia. There will be times when I will be very much in the weeds with drawing and writing. I will do my best to keep things going here, one way or another. Fear nought if there is a gap or three along the way over the next year. Things will even out in the end.

I guess I will return to where I began, 9 years ago I started things with a panda drawing for Dear Wife, so here is a new panda drawing I did this week for Dear Wife...

Boot panda, for all your boot panda needs...

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

Blog Holiday Break

It's the end of the year. It's the holidays. It's super busy. I have a ton of things going on. All that said, I need to take a blog break for the next 2 weeks to catch my breath, get some stuff done, try to relax, and get geared up for all the work I have a head of me in 2018. I hope you all have a great rest of the year and that your new year festivities go well! I will see you in early January again here on the blog with lots to talk about. Here AGAIN is a monster eating a computer ... because I like to have an image in my posts ... and I did not have time to come up with something new...

RAWR!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here in early January! Until then...

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