RAWR! Opening Night

Friday night was the opening reception for RAWR!, my show at 621 Gallery that features nearly 200 of my monster drawings. The turn out was far better then I had anticipated and it was a truly fun time. My sincere thanks to all that came out to support me and my art, it is greatly appreciated. It may have been a warm November evening, but that did not seem to keep people away. The opening reception started early and went late, so I take that as a good sign.

My show consists of two large installations of drawings. On the big wall are my first 100 completed drawings from my personal project to redesign and illustrate everything in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. On the small wall are 27 miniature design turnarounds created for either Wizards of the Coast or Fantasy Flight Games for the Dungeons & Dragons Miniature Game, Dreamblade, Arkham Horrors Miniatures, or Nexus Ops board game. On the small wall a production miniature is displayed with the original design.

I took a "go big or go home" mentality with my installations. I have a ton of drawings and I planned to show as many as I could. Monsters definitely need their time in the spot light. Everything seemed to be well received which is always nice. Some were shocked I would display the original drawings, but why not? That are they for, if not to be looked at?

Here are some images of RAWR! and of the opening reception...

The big wall, the first 100 completed drawings from my personal project to redesign and illustrate everything in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

The small wall, 27 miniature design turnarounds created for either Wizards of the Coast or Fantasy Flight Games for the Dungeons & Dragons Miniature Game, Dreamblade, Arkham Horrors Miniatures, or Nexus Ops board game.

Because of the way I have been working through the Monster Manual there are a larger amount of "A" and "B" monsters. There are at most three of each other letter except for the letters that have only one or two entries.

A little closer on the monsters.

I had originally planned to only pin the drawings along the top, but due to air flow in the gallery the drawings were flipping up. They eventually received four pins and my figures are still sore from the nearly 600 pins I used to hang the show.

While the top rows might be hard to see or appreciate, I wanted to fill the wall with drawings and miniatures.

Plenty to see at eye level or lower on the wall. I made sure the smallest of the miniatures were placed low on the wall so they could be seen.

The Carrion Husk got lots of attention... RAWR!

Some people taking in the wall for scale.

And some more people taking in the wall for scale. SOOOO many people were taking photos, selfies, and video of my drawings. No idea what all those people will be doing with them or if I will be credited in them as the artist... but that is the way it goes. The guy in taking the photo in this image took a LOT of images of my work... so it only seemed fair to take one of my own.

Got to sign some Magic cards at the show too! Thanks, Brain, you made my night!

After the opening reception closed we wandered around Railroad Square taking in the sights for a little while. Here is one of the weird sights I found... a window full of derby posters,  many of which I created. Why? Who knows...

Again, A HUGE thanks to all who made it out for the opening reception! RAWR! will be up though November 28th if you missed the opening. On Thursday,  November 19th there will be am Artist Talk and happy hour event at the gallery from 5-7pm for those interested.

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

RAWR! Show Set Up

RAWR! opens tonight at 621 Gallery @ Railroad Square in Tallahassee, Fl! The opening receptions is from 6-9pm for those that can attend. It will be part of the First Friday events at Railroad Square and I am showing gallery space with two other artists. It should be a really fun time!

 I hung and installed my work this week and after a very long day and a half everything should be ready to go! I am still very bad at judging how long installations will take and I underestimated by half if not more. The gallery was a bit warm which slowed me down, but in the end, it was all taken care of! Learned a lot about installing my work in a large space and hopefully the next time around it will go that much quicker and easier.

My work is displayed on a 24'x12' wall and a 12'x12' wall. I tried to use as much of the space as possible. I wanted to make an impact with the volume of work that I am showing. I have some images from my installation that should give you a sneak peek of the show.

The big 24'x12' before I made the grid to start hanging 100 monster drawings.

Each drawing is 9"x12" and will be displayed in four 5x5 blocks. It took the first fifty to get a feel for how best to hang the drawings.

75 down and 25 to go

The 100 monsters are up!

 The 12'x12' wall will feature turnaround sets of drawings that were created as designs for miniatures. Under the drawings will be shelves that feature the finished miniature.

The drawings are up and so are the shelves.

The Dragonborn Paladin is all set and ready for the opening! RAWR!

All the details for the show again in one handy dandy image!

That is all for another exciting Friday 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

Heated Tempers - Process - Star Wars: Stay on Target

Today I have for you another overdue process post, this time around it is for my Heated Tempers interior illustration from Age of Rebellion: Stay on Target. I first shared this with you back in December of 2014. This was one of the last pieces that I painted digitally for Star Wars. Here is how the final Heated Tempers turned out...

Heated Tempers

12.5 x 14.5 - Digital

© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The assignment for this piece was to depict a heated exchange between a Bothan mechanic and the Chadra-Fan pilot whose ship is not ready for combat. This was my first opportunity to paint an A-Wing fighter, a Bothan, and a Chadra-Fan... so it was a WIN, WIN, WIN for me. It was a fairly straight forward piece that needed to focus on the interaction of the two Rebels, a ship, and a gloomy, cavernous hanger. As always, this piece came to life with a photoshoot followed by thumbnails. Here is how the thumbnails turned out...

Heated Tempers - Thumbnails

© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

This thing about the interior art for the Star Wars RPGs is they need a ton of bleed depending on size and placement on the page. Silly me, I forgot about that when I worked up these thumbnails. I made them to size but forgot about the bleed. It was just a matter of adding background to resolve the situation, but I felt like a rookie forgetting about the bleed in the first place. A thumbnail was selected, and I was asked to adjust for the bleed and resubmit it. Option "B" was the winner...

Heated Tempers - Revised thumbnail

© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The updated thumbnail was approved, and it was time for the drawing. Throughout this entire process, there was a lot of issue with the scale of the relative elements in the illustration. The first issue was the size of the A-Wing compared to the figures. Historically, the A-Wing has been depicted as a rather small ship, maybe the size of an average car. I guess over the years, the A-Wing has increased in size in the Star Wars universe, and there was a bit of back and forth with the AD to get it the right size. I still think I was correct, and it is small, but my job is to fulfill the wishes of the client, and I made sure it was as big as they required. Always be a professional! Here is how the finalized drawing turned out...

Heated Tempers

Age of Rebellion - Stay On Target

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD
© 2015 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

I mentioned reference earlier, and once again, I have some super top secret reference of me as the alien monsters... in costumes no less. Who knew that mechanics that work on star fighters use pipe wrenches, but I am sure there has to be at least one pipe in a fighter. Posing for reference allows me to get into the physicality of the assignment, work out computational and anatomy issues, and get much-needed lighting and material reference. You can make it up and risk getting it all wrong or use reference and let the reference to inform your choices to get a lot of it right. Enjoy the reference...

Bothan and Chadra-Fan reference! RAWR!
Photos by Achsa Nute

Time to paint! In just twelve easy steps, you too can have a completed painting of some Rebels arguing over repair completion times. ...or not. Here is a look at the piece coming together...

Heated Tempers - Process progression

© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

You *MIGHT* have noticed that the Chadra-Fan greatly changed size near the end of the painting. In fact, she changed size after the piece was completed and long after it was turned in. The person at Lucas Film that approves everything felt that the Chadra-Fan was way too big. I know that Chadra-Fan are very tiny creatures, this one, in the context of the illustration, is the right size as I painted it. She is in the foreground close to the viewer looking at the Bothan up over there in the middle ground. By shrinking her, she is moved into the middle ground right next to the ship. This effects the composition, tangents, and the interaction between the two figures. I explained that she was in the extreme foreground, and she was the right size. I then made the change because that is what the client wanted, and I am a professional. If this has been a traditional painting, I most likely would have made the change digitally and left the original as I intended. I think I still like the Chadra-Fan larger, but that is not my call. Here is a better look at the process coming together with a handy dandy animated gif...

Heated Tempers - Animated process progression

© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Once again, here is a look at the final published illustration in all its heated temper goodness...

Heated Tempers

12.5 x 14.5 - Digital

© 2014 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

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

RAWR! 621 Gallery Show Preparations

This Friday my RAWR! exhibition opens at 621 Gallery in Tallahassee, Fl. I will be showing close to 200 monster drawings and sharing a space with two other artists. I have been preparing for this for a while now and everything is just about done. I will start hanging the show tomorrow and hopefully it will go smoothly!

If you are in the Tallahassee area I hope that you have a chance to come out to the opening the evening of November 6th. If you can't make the opening the show will be running all November long. I made a little Facebook Event for the show if you are interested.

Here are some teaser images of my preparations of for my RAWR! Show...

From Aerial Servant to Zombie, my first 100 monster redesigns from the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. RAWR!

This is what 100 monsters on paper looks like in a stack...

...and here is the plan of how I want to put them up on the wall.

A mighty stack of miniature turnarounds! Close to 100 more drawings that were created to help create miniatures for various games. RAWR!

Not only will the drawings be on display, but the actual production miniatures will also have a place in the show so you can see the finished product.

All the details for the show again in one handy dandy image!

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

ALL Deluxe Canvas Prints DEEPLY DISCOUNTED!

ALL of my remaining deluxe customized canvas prints are DEEPLY DISCOUNTED over on my store! I am making room in my inventory and here is your chance to get a GREAT DEAL! I have only a few canvas prints left in stock and once they are gone... they are GONE.

Each of these canvas prints are unique one of kind customized images. All come stretched and sealed. The sizes and details for each available image are over on my store.

Looking for that special gift? It is almost time for the holiday gift giving time! Take advantage of these reduced prices! All the deals at my STORE! RAWR!

Here are all of my remaining available canvas prints...

Scuttling Grizzly

Anglerphant

 

Hida Kaiji

That is all for another exciting Sunday 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

Illuxcon 2015 - Part 4

Today I have for you the forth part of my Illuxcon 2015 coverage! If you are not exhausted by the last day of Illuxcon you are doing it wrong. All I knew by Sunday was that I had another full day of the Salon ahead of me followed by take down. It took me close to a full day to get everything packed up and ready for Illuxcon and I had maybe two hours to get it done in reverse. People began to break away and head home throughout the day on Sunday. This is no different from past years and continues to be my least favorite part of Illuxcon... having to go home. When the time came, I got everything boxed up and ready for shipping back to Florida. It took me two hours to tear everything down and to crawl back to the hotel. Not too shabby. ...but exhausting. A rewarding and strangely satisfying exhaustion. 

Illuxcon 2015 was another great event and like each year of Illuxcon attended, a unique and interesting time. Each year is an educational experience and this year was now different. I am still trying to process everything, but I am sure in the coming months I will still be reflecting on my time at Illuxcon 2015. It is wonderful to catch up with friends and to meet new ones. With the move to Reading next year it will mean a whole new experience. I can't wait!

Here are some images of things seen and done at Illuxcon 2015...

The view from the entrance corner to the Weekend Salon.

The view from the corner straight ahead from the entrance.

 The view of the Weekend Salon from the corner opposite the entrance.

The view from the last corner of the Weekend Salon.

The Rebecca Guay alcove.

The happy little Gill-Man is going to a good home! RAWR!

Another sketchbook monster drawing. RAWR!

Finally finished all four of these Ancient Carp sketches. RAWR!

...AND, one last Carp... RAWR!

If you like french fires on your salads... then I know the restaurant for you.

The day of travel began in the sun...

...and ended in rain. And so ends another AWESOME Illuxcon.

Looking forward to next year already!

That's all for another exiting 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