Jailbreak Betties and the power of ArtOrder

ArtOrder
If you have been following my blog for the past 3 months you would know that Friday is when I post my submission for the newest ArtOrder Concept Tuesday assignment. Unfortunately, I will not be taking part in next week's event. It does pain me to miss a week after being active since the beginning and never missing a week. The fact of the matter is that I have been putting to good use the advice and suggestions laid out by Jon Schindehette over at ArtOrder and I find myself very busy with work. So at least I have a good excuse, right? Fear not! I have set aside some time and I have already begun work on my Concept Tuesday piece for the following week (I just couldn't let that one slip by, too much fun.)

Jailbreak Betties
I have posted several Roller Derby related items here on my blog: shoes, a helmet, and poster. I have been active with the local team for a while now but my activity with them has really ramped up since my wife join the Tallahassee Roller Girls "B" team, the Jailbreak Betties. Such as my unsuspecting designing of the Jailbreak Betties logo.


The team was brainstorming and coming up with ideas and my wife had one and asked if I would help her out and quickly mock something up. I am just glad I instinctively started with a 12 x 12 300 dpi file because before I knew it they had selected mine and were moving forward with it. Thankfully it held up beautifully to a live trace in Illustrator and I was able to pass off a vector version to the shirt people. The team got theirs last night at practice and low and behold so did I.

Jailbreak Betties shirt (limited edition rare variant!)

If you are wondering why I have "Mr. Sapien" on my back, it is because my wife's derby name is Babe Sapien, in homage to the Hellboy character Abe Sapien. I was given some ad space in the brochure for this upcoming game and whipped up a surprise bit of encouragement for the wife since this is her first bout.


Good luck Capital Punishment and Jailbreak Betties in tomorrow's games. This is JB's first bout and CP's first WFTDA game! Good luck ladies!

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

Shocktroop Devil

I featured my pieces last week that appeared in the new Monster Manual 2. Another monster that I had a hand in creating also graced the pages of the MM2, the Shocktroop Devil. I designed this Devil for the Against the Giants expansion of Dungeons and Dragons miniatures under the art direction of Stacy Longstreet. They were looking for a new type of Devil, a large fierce warrior, armored and terrible. I got right to work.

First pass, everything starts somewhere. There are things about this one I really like, the shield not one of them.

Second pass, revision notes in, changes made.

Third Pass, more notes and a fresh start. Much better shield. Again, things I like, things I don't.

A new direction completely. They wanted a specific feel I had not been hitting on. With this one, I landed very close to the target. At this point I was keeping the drawing very loose and very light and darkening it on the computer. I was sending versions to Stacy and editing them really quickly to narrow down the direction they wanted.

Getting closer still. The horns continue to get attention and he needs to appear to be fast, so he gets thinned down a bit.

Thinner still, smaller horns... I think we have it!

The finalized turnaround with and with out shield. An image of the finalized miniature can be found here.

Some more of my behind the scenes design work crept up in one other place in the MM2. If you look real close at the Genasi you will see armor deigns I created a while back. I am pretty sure I can not share any of that work off yet, but you can get a glimpse of it in the MM2.

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

Artorder Sketch - The Usual Suspects

If you missed it, last weeks sketches are up over at Artorder as well as this weeks assignment. Here is my sketch for this week...

Defender, Striker, Controller, Leader

A selection of the silhouette roughs that lead to the finals above.

This weeks assignment was to create silhouettes that embody the four Dungeons and Dragons character rolls: Defender, Striker, Controller, and Leader. Here is a better explanation of these rolls:

Defender - Defenders have the highest defenses in the game and good close-up offense. They are the party's front line combatants: wherever they are standing, that's where the action is. Defenders have abilities and powers that make it difficult for enemies to move past them or to ignore them in battle.

Striker - Strikers specialize in dealing high amounts of damage to a single target at a time. They have the most concentrated offense of any character in the game. Strikers rely on superior mobility, trickery or magic to move around tough foes and single out the enemy they want to attack.

Controller - Controllers deal with large numbers of enemies at the same time. They favor offense over defense, using powers that deal damage to multiple foes at once, as well as subtler powers that weaken, confuse, or delay their foes.

Leader - Leaders inspire, heal, and aid the other characters. Leaders have good defenses, but their strength lies in powers that protect their companions and target specific foes for the party to concentrate on.

Creating silhouettes is an early stage of the process of coming up with a new concept. It is a great way to try out lots of different ideas really fast and can help you think outside of the box.

Don't forget to visit ArtOrder every Tuesday to vote for your favorite artist by leaving their name in the comment field of the Concept Tuesday post! A vote for me is a vote for the future!

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

Monster Manual 2

Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual 2 from Wizards of the Coast has hit the shelves! Run right out and pick yourself up a copy and feast your eyes on all the amazing monster art. Here are my four pieces from the MM2:

Ambush Vine
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Ankheg
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Gray Render
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Will - o - Wisp
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC

A special thanks to Art Director Mari Kolkowsky who included me on this project and to Jon Schindehette, Senior Art Director for D&D for passing my name along to Mari.

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

Artorder Sketch - Way back machine - VOTING NOW LIVE

Head over to ArtOrder and cast your vote for your favorite artist in this weeks Concept Tuesday event. If you missed my post last Friday this week's theme was to design a 'Primal Gnome'.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would stop by and cast your vote for me by leaving my name in a comment. A vote for me is a vote for the future!

RAWR!

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

ANKHEG Needs your Vote, Again, AGAIN!

This time it is Ankheg vs. Remorhaz. It may seem like an uphill battle, but if we stick together, I think we can do it! So, I need your VOTE for the ANKHEG!

If you are wondering what this is all about, check out my first POST or even second POST regarding the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual 2 Creature Competition.

* UPDATE * All good things must come to an end... sadly the Ankheg lost in the semifinals. Thanks to everyone that voted.

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

Knockspell Magazine #2

Knockspell Magazine #2 by Mythmere Games was released last week and I have 3 pieces in this issue. Head over to lulu.com to order your very own copy of Knockspell #2!


Jeff Preston was the art director on this and it was really great to have the chance to work with him. I met Jeff through ArtOrder, he had commented on some of the post and I started following his blogs. He mentioned that he was working on this project and I dropped him an email, the rest is history. I really look forward to having the chance to work with Jeff again, I can't speak highly enough!

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