The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT

Monday, April 30, 2012

Far Realm Fiends

A new article in Dungeon magazine #201, Far Realm Fiends, went up today on the Dungeons & Dragon website and I contributed the art for this article! That's right, even more new D&D monster art coming at your face! Without further blathering, here is the Doom Hulk and Geometric Impossibility trap...

Doom Hulk and Geometric Impossibility

I mentioned at the beginning of the month that April was going to be a busy D&D month for me, and I am glad to see that nothing was delayed. Wrapping things up with some very high level threats! The Doom Hulk is a walking manifestation of your nightmares and is hear to smash your hit points out of you with its meat hooks. The Trap just, you know, wraps time and space... that ole thing. In the coming weeks expect to see a walk through for this piece as well as some thoughts, comments, and observations. Again, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for making my job easy with her art direction!

That is all for another exciting Monday, see you back here on Wednesday for something older that will new to everyone! Until then...

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

Friday, April 27, 2012

Ogrol Ragelord - Dreamblade

I have for you another blast from the past today as well as a fresh take on those past events. Going back nearly seven years I am revisiting another of the Dreamblade miniatures I still have never shared here on the blog...

Today I have for you the mighty and powerful Ogrol Ragelord. Ogrol started his life as the "Three Headed Troll" and was described as not being well put together - his proportion were all out of whack as if made out of different parts. He was a Passion creature so he needed to be big, fierce, and made to deal damage. This is what the original turnaround for the Ogrol Ragelord looked like...

Ogrol Ragelord
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Looking back I realize Ogrol was a kind of turning point on two levels. The first was in the design phase, I had the idea for the REALLY big arm and I went with it, it felt right and I thought it really gave the creature its character. My AD at the time liked it but wondered if it was too much, too big. I stood by my design and it went forward as is. Ogrol was from the second set of Dreamblade, and while I spent the first set just trying to get my feet under me and get up to speed with it all, the second set I think showed that I was starting to let myself shine through more as a designer. It just may look like a big arm, but it was the big arm I felt was needed and I stood by that choice. The second turning point came when I got the miniature in hand, speaking of which, here is the mini for Ogrol...

Ogrol Ragelord miniature

I was really happy with how the design turned out so I was obviously eagerly awaiting the release of them final miniature. When that time came I was a little taken aback. Notice that the lower body / leg positioning is different from the design AND is MUCH better and more dynamic then what I had laid out. Some of why this was done was to make sure it would fit on the base correctly, the rest is because it looks much better and less stiff then the pose I came up with. After my initial bout with self doubt and hurt ego had passed I really thought about it and realized that with just a little more planning and by just moving things a little bit you can make poses and designs much more dynamic and interesting. Granted that by the time I got to see the finished miniature there was not a lot more Dreamblade to be designed, but I took this lesson and tried to make the most of it.

As I am wont to do I took some time and took a fresh pass on Ogrol. Looking back at the seven year old drawing - and a drawing I was very proud of at the time - I saw SO much potential for the design. I also wanted to give it a really dynamic new pose, though the pose I chose would most likely be too much for the miniature to allow... but maybe not, you never know. I talk a lot about drawings being fun and my enjoyment of just drawing for the love of drawing, well, this new version was FUN to work on. Big and bulky crazy monsters are one of my all time favorites and Ogrol is that and then some. All that aside, here is the 2012 version of the Ogrol Ragelord...

Ogrol Ragelord Redux
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

Key changes: Larger main head, looks the silly pants and shoes, shrunk the size of all the goofy bones and tried to make them look better, added skulls to show just how huge he actually is, added and better defined textures through out. Like I said before, not sure if this would have been able to be made as a mini, but I sure as heck more happy with the over all drawing. And if you were wondering, I did use reference, maybe if you are good I will someday share my photo of me as Ogrol.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, I think you should expect some new work on the blog next week, as well as some new work that is not really that new! Until then...

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

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Wroot the Goblin - Process

I have for you today the first of the process posts for the recent work that I produced for the Halls of Undermountain. Starting things off is Wroot the Goblin!

This piece actually has is a really personal piece for me, and not just because of the silly reference photo you will find below. I followed the art order completely and for all purposes this goblin will forever be known as Wroot, for me and a handful of others, this is in fact Splug. Splug appears in the very first adventure module for 4th edition, Keep on the Shadowfell, and is a little NPC that could be played at the Dungeon Master's prerogative. Splug became fast friends with my players and he has joined in the adventure since and even now is still a faithful follower and a source for comedy. I had an image of what Splug looked like in my mind and when I read the art order for Wroot, I knew that I had an opportunity to make a painting of Splug, and I was very excited about getting started on this piece in particular.

Starting things off I did my roughs to get a feel for the character, gear and other props. The clear winner for me, and with my art director (though she liked them all) was option 'C'. I just needed to come back with some leg options, she felt ending him at a clean line of his clothing might make it feel as if he was a disembodied undead creature. A couple more updated roughs with legs and 'C' was the winner again...

Wroot the Goblin - Thumbnails

Wroot the Goblin - Updated thumbnails

Once the thumbnail was approved I moved forward on the final drawing. I have said it a million times here on the blog and I will say it once more, the drawing is most likely the favorite part of the process for me and I really have to hold myself back to not get carried away and spend too much time on it. It is also the point of the process I suddenly look down at the drawing and think to myself, "Great, I now have to paint ALL those wrinkle, scales, horns, tentacles, etc... boy am I glad I showed no restraint in putting in as many as I could."

Wroot the Goblin - Drawing

This step is a little out of place, but I didn't want it to be the first image on the post! Before I start any piece I shoot reference. I make some very loose personal thumbnails to keep my thoughts together or at least talk through all my options with my wife who does all my camera work for me. I then the photos of all ideas, her ideas, and lots of happy accident to then more inform and direct the subsequent steps in the process. Sometimes I nail the idea I had perfectly with a photo we take, sometimes a much better direction is discovered once I see the photos. But in the end, physically getting into the mid set of the subject matter, with the props, the pose, the silly faces just really gets me more invested and involved with the piece and helps me get my head around what I am about to take on. This is the reference for the pose that was selected, it is actually a combination of two different photos taking the best elements to make the desired pose and prop combination...

Silly silly photo of me as yet another monster.

Points of interest: the red bag hanging off the backpack is my dice bag I use to play D&D; the two metal water bottles in front have been in SO many photo shots and subsequently have made in into the gear that a lot of my monsters carry; my first couple attempts of getting all this gear together and work as a backpack failed, so my wife had to tie everything onto the backpack and me as I stood there to get the shots we wanted to get. RAWR!

Back to the Goblin... Now that there was an approved drawing it was time to get painting. I continue to use the same basic process I have been using to paint for the last several years, you can find other more detailed explanation of this on the blog (like HERE, HERE, and HERE). Basically, I start with my manipulated drawing as the first layer, then a multiply under painting layer, then a standard layer where I do all my actual opaque painting, and finally there are a handful of layers used to make fixes, adjust areas, and do universal adjustments to lighting, contrast, or brightness. The bulk of the work is done with a layer 3, but without the time I put into the drawing and under painting layer the image would not exist. I have found as I continue using and refining this process that the more time I put into the drawing and the under painting the easier, quicker and less I have to do with the actual painting layer. Imagine that, a good foundation and planning makes the following steps easier...

Wroot the Goblin - Painting progression

And then, suddenly, like make there is a finished painting. Well, after many hours of work and many planned out steps and processes there is a finished painting. I continue to use the reference trough the entire process just to make sure I don't miss any subtle real world element that will add that little bit of extra reality...

Wroot the Goblin

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, April 23, 2012

Trobriand's Machinations

Late last week a new article in Dungeon magazine #201, Trobriand's Machinations, went up on the Dungeons and Dragon website and I contributed a piece to the article! This is an expansion to the threats that dwell in Undermountain, so goes really well with my last post! Without further blathering, here are some Scaladars...

Scaladars

Scaladars are giant mechanical scorpion-like constructs. With the major exception of the lack of tentacles, these monsters have a lot of the major 'awesome monster' characteristics, so needless to say, they were super fun to work on. When I do a walk through for this piece in the coming weeks I will talk a little more about my influences and real life reference for this piece. Again, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for being super helpful in all her art direction!

That is all for another exciting Monday, 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

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Halls of Undermountain

Halls of Undermountain is here! Halls of Undermountain is the newest adventure supplement for Dungeons and Dragons and I am extremely pleased to have been a part of this project. Enough talk already, here are my contributions to the book...

Wroot the Goblin

Snake Curse

Darktentacles

I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Kate Irwin for including me on this project. She continues to be an amazing art director to work with and I look forward to every chance that I have to do so. As you can see I produced a total of three pieces and had a blast on all of them. I will share my thoughts and feelings on all of them in a future post when I talk about my process and the steps that went into each of these. There will be lots of sketches, drawings and most likely some extremely silly pictures of me posing for reference! I am happy to say that this is not the end to my Undermountain fun, I should have another related piece to share with you later this month! To see all these things and more be sure to stop back by the blog in the coming weeks!

That is all for a new art filled Wednesday, 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, April 16, 2012

An Astrobird - Learning to Draw

Today I have for you another of my attempts to learn to draw better monsters. You may remember my posts about the Scary Monster and the Kangachicken as I explore the very awesome 'How to Draw MONSTERS!" by Robert Pierce. I have had some more time to pour through the pages of this most excellent book and I have worked up another of the monsters found within. As a reminder, here is the book I am referring to...

This time around I went with the very weird and super fun, Astrobird. With a name like that, how could you not want to draw it?! Again, my hats off to you, Mr. Pierce, you would have made the six year old me extremely excited about drawing monsters with this book. Lets see how it is done...

How to draw an Astrobird by Robert Pierce - in six easy steps!

Seemed pretty straight forward! I got to work on my very own Astrobird and this is what I came up with...

As before - and will continue to say each time I do one of these, I have nothing but complete admiration for the works of Robert Pierce and mean for this to be a celebration of his work and the joy of drawing. The Astrobird was really fun to work on to say the least. It is nice to work on something where the real goal is to enjoy the process and to embellish and pour over the details of something that already has been designed. Expect to see more tributes to Mr. Pierce's work here on the blog in the future!

That is all for anther 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

Friday, April 13, 2012

Fresh from the drawing table... Pixie!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a Pixie! 'P' has some interesting monsters to offer up. It was a tough choice the first time through and it turned out to be an equally tough choice the second time through. There are several monsters I still really want to do, but I decided to go with a higher hanging fruit and a creature that on the surface could be out of my comfort zone. I present to you my version of an Pixie...

I had a really set idea and image in my head of what I wanted to do with the Pixie when I started. I wanted a slender inscetoid with an arrangement of features on the middle of its head to might imply a more humanoid face. Due to their small size and quick movements the idea of them being tiny people spread. I thought this would be a really straight forward drawing since I knew what I wanted to do well before start... it turned out I was wrong. This drawing is my third attempt at drawing this monsters, the first two had to be destroyed. I am actually not sure if I am really happy with this version either. I knew what I wanted to draw and I had visual motifs and details I was pulling in from other micro creature designs, but it somehow all turned out to be a very difficult challenge to pull it all together. I finally got a drawing past the finished line... it has yet to be determined if it is in fact the winner.

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.

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