Talisman - The Nether Realm

Quick note before I get things going today... at the beginning of each January here on the blog I have done a previous year's highs and low and lessons learned. The look back at 2013 is coming, it has just been a little delayed due to events beyond my control.

With that out of the way... I have a interesting piece for you today. Not only is this piece very old, it is just now being released, and with its release it marks that last work done for a license that I am fond of. I am referring to the Sea Drago... er, I mean the ARCANE Dragon that has recently surfaced in the newest expansion for the Talisman board game, The Nether Realm...

Arcane Dragon

© 2014 Fantasy Flight Games

I created this piece in November / December  2010 for The Dragons expansion for Talisman. For whatever reason this particular dragon did not make the original cut, but finally... after three years... here it is. YAYS! It is finally out... too bad it is three years old and I would have done is all totally differently now. The Dragons expansion was also the last time I worked on the Talisman franchise... though I have had new cards in almost all the expansions since. I did so much work the The Dragons that is was not all used and kept appearing in various later sets. Also, if you didn't catch it earlier, this piece was originally called the "SEA" dragon... since its uncanny resemblance to the leafy and not so leafy sea dragon (look them up!). Here is how the final card turned out...

Arcane Dragon in handy card form

The Arcane dragon was not the only piece of mine that appears in The Nether Realm! A pair of other previously released piece show up as well. The much more successful and better looking Storm Dragon is always a welcomed sight... then there is the... uh, Basilisk...

Storm Dragon

© 2011/2014 Fantasy Flight Games

Basilisk

© 2010/2014 Fantasy Flight Games

The Basilisk is a number of things, it is not only the very first piece that I ever did for Fantasy Flight Games, it is my very first Talisman card, and it is very BAD. Dating back to 2009 it shows lots of potential... and lots of rookie mistakes and an expected level of inexperience. Which is all to be expected, this was from 2009 when I was getting my career and art rebuilt from the ground up. Maybe at a latter date when it is more relevant to current work I can go in and point out the issues with this piece (oh, the humanity... that anatomy!) and how it could be fixed.

Here are how the cards for this two repeat pieces turned out... for the basilisk, since it was printed so small it actually made it better...

Storm Dragon in handy card form

Basilisk in handy 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

And then there were 800!

How time flies when you are having fun and making monsters...

Another milestone on the blog today, this is my 800th post! I am a little dumbstruck by this number... but it had to happen eventually if I keep posting. It seems like I was just posting about it being 700 posts... where does the time go?

I am still getting my thoughts and words together for my 2013 year in review post. What did 2013 teach me? Find out soon here on the blog! For now, have a look at some of the sketches that have been going out in my sketchbooks recently...

Thanks again to all of you out there that frequent the blog. Sometime I wonder what the heck I am doing, but knowing you are all out there in the internets checking in on my ranting and ravings I am given the determination to keep this all going. RAWR!

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

Razor Boars - Hordes - Privateer Press

First post of 2014! Starting things off with something I managed to go pretty much all of 2013 without posting... partially because I never knew it had been released! I am usually more on top of when my work is released, but this one slipped by me. Here are my final designs for the Razor Boars for the Privateer miniatures games, Hordes...

Razor Boars

© 2013 Privateer Press

Now if you are thinking to yourself that you are very familiar with the Hordes miniatures, but you don't recognize these at all while you may be familiar with the name... There are reasons for this. Here is what the production Razor Boars look like...

Razor Boards final production miniatures

(Image courtesy of Privateer Press)

Looks like there were some additional edits, changes, and revisions after I turned in my designs! These things happen, while rare, it is inherit in the production of products like miniatures. Actually, most of the work for hire contracts that I sign state that the work I turn in is open to be revised, edited, or even changed out right by the client (read those contracts!). If this happened earlier in my career I would have been devastated and my ego crushed... thankfully my skin has gotten thinker and I have gotten a lot more caviler about the life span of my work once it leaves my hands. This only took five years and some really rough blows to my art self esteem.

As an added bonus, here are a bunch of my designs and concepts that went into the different parts and pieces of the Razor Boar...

Various Razor Boar roughs and concepts

ALL are © 2013 Privateer Press

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

Lowdown in Highport - Dungeon Magazine Issue 221

Last post of 2013! What better way to close out the year then with a new piece for Dungeon & Dragons! Today I have for you my contribution to the December issue of Dungeon Magazine - issue 221. It has a couple giant insects in it...

Lowdown in Highport - Dungeon Magazine Issue 221

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

That crazy mechanical fire beetle has real fire in it for all your real fire needs... While I love me some giant insects, I was really excited in a nerdy gamer artist kinda way to finally be asked to paint a Shrieker... that giant purple mushroom behind the insects. If you get to close to a Shrieker is starts to... well, shriek, which in turn alerts nearby monsters. In this case it seems to riled up a bunch of giant insects... better then a purple worm!

As always, I would like to extend a huge thanks to Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction on this piece!

Looking forward to the next D&D work I get to share with you... but that will have to wait for a little while I think...

That is all for another Monday (and year) 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

2013 Holiday Card

A lot of the winter holidays are over or are winding down and by now, hopefully, the US Postal Service should have delivered our holiday cards... hopefully, weeks ago. While we can not send one to everybody, and your omission from the list is in no way a slight to you or your family, I can provide you with some handy dandy images of what this year's card looked like...

2013 Holiday Card outsides

2013 Holiday Card insides

If you are thinking that Krampus here looks a little familiar... you would be correct! I was surprised how well he held up when he was shrunk down to card size. It almost looked better smaller... almost...

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

HO HO RAWR!

Happiest of holiday wishes from me to you. I hope that whichever winter festival or celebration you participate in that it brings you fulfillment, happiness, and time with family and loved ones. On Hoth they celebrate them all... because it is winter year round... RAWR!

HO HO RAWR!

Happy Wookiee Life Day!

 
That is all for today, 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

Hidden Cache - Star Wars: Edge of Darkness

Much to my surprise... after some independent investigation and the helpfulness of the internet I come to find out that I have a piece in a recently released Star Wars: The Card Game set. Star Wars: The Edge of Darkness came out in the last few months, and I am happy to see that one of my first Star Wars cards is finally out! I present you with a piece I originally painted way back in December of 2011, the Hidden Cache...

Hidden Cache

© 2013 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

At the time this was created, if I remember correctly, it was for the first slated block of expansions. Time passed, the game got a revamped, templates for the cards changed, and production and release schedules changed. I was under the assumption that this piece was still in limbo waiting for it's home and low and behold, it is now out in the world. For being two years old, I am still pretty happy with how this piece turned out. I definitely had a lot of fun posing with my blaster out on the porch... which conveniently doubles for the interior of a space ship. Here is how the card turned out with a little cropping...

Hidden Cache in handy dandy card form

There are more Star Wars on the way, and when I can share it, you know where you will find it!

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