Once more… Illustration Master Class 2013

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

I will be returning once more to the Illustration Master Class this weekend. To say I am filled with a little trepidation is putting it mildly. If you missed it, last year I came down with the death virus upon arriving at IMC and was in bed the entire week and missed pretty much everything. IMC 2011, my first year, was a truly amazing experience filled with wonderfully exciting memories… while IMC 2012, my second year, was the complete polar opposite. As I find myself facing IMC 2013 and I am hoping more then anything that it will be nothing like 2012.

I always said if I returned to IMC for a third time I would paint traditionally. Though this barely counts as a third visit, I am sticking to my word and I will be painting in acrylic this year. This decision of course is adding to my reservation that much more, but if I am going to challenge myself and get the most out of the class I need to do this.

I will again be documenting my adventures at IMC and will share them with you once I return. I will most likely still hop on the blog durning the week on my usual posting days to share a image or two, but the full story of IMC 2013 will go up stating the week of the 17th.

I will leave you with a little sneak peek at what I am planning on working on this year. I am looking forward to sharing the process of working this piece…

SECRETS!!!

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

…and hopefully I will no be sick the entire time.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, I will see you back here next week for some glimpses of the Illustration Master Class! Until then...

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

Phoenix Tattoo Design and Application

Let's get this out the way first and foremost... Unless you are my wife and it is a milestone birthday, I do NOT design tattoos for people out of deeply felt personal reasons.

Okay, now with that said let's get down to the subject at hand, the tattoo I designed for my wife for her birthday. As a particularly noteworthy milestone birthday approached for my wife she asked, implored, and insisted that I design a tattoo she has been wanting for some time. She knows about and understands my feelings about designing tattoos but she being my wife and her birthday I agreed. She wanted a phoenix for her leg and she wanted a phoenix that was not the typical Asian inspired and influenced creature.

During out trip to Italy and England we looked for elements that would work well for a phoenix so that I could weave our trip into the design. I will get to some of those reference in a moment, but first let's have a look at the design from concept to final drawing...

Phoenix tattoo - initial concept without reference, revised post trip reworking with reference, Revision 3, cleaned up red line final.

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Final phoenix tattoo drawing

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

My wife was involved in every step of the process to make sure she got what she wanted and needed out of this design. The overall body arrangement was her request to work best for the placement on her leg. Now let's talk reference. Here are some of the images that played heavily in the design of the phoenix...

Assyrian eagle guardian - British Museum - London, England

Wood carvings - San Pietro Martire church - Murano, Italy

Now that the wife had signed off and was thrilled with the design it was only a matter of it getting permanently applied to her body. For that we went to Alain at Euphoria Tattoos her in Tallahassee. We were both extremely happy with the job Alain did, here are some images of the tattoo in process...

The stencil in applied and the tattoo is about to begin.

Alain is hard at work.

I was impressed with how quickly the tattoo took shape.

Almost done!

All done! Alain did an amazing job and was extremely faithful to the original design. Thanks Alain!

Not to beat a dead horse but many people has requested that I design tattoos for them and I am just not comfortable doing so. This may change at some point, but for now, I am not available for such ventures.

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, I will 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

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Chronicle of the Righteous

Chronicle of the Righteous, the newest campaign setting for the Pathfinder universe has been released from Paizo Publishing and I have some monster in it! It has been a little while since I have worked on any Pathfinder projects and I aimed to change that last year. The first results of those efforts is now out with Chronicle of the Righteous and amounts to four GOOD monsters and a bad monster being shown the error of its ways...

Shei

© 2013 Paizo Publishing

Tannagar

© 2013 Paizo Publishing

Angelic Familiar

© 2013 Paizo Publishing

Agathion Familiar

© 2013 Paizo Publishing

Angel Spell

© 2013 Paizo Publishing

It should be noted that while it was suppose to be a good little black kitty monster I only had my bad little black kitty to use as reference... so I hope this has not caused too much confusion. This was my first opportunity to work with Andrew Vallas and it was a blast! Thanks, Andrew!

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

Beastly Swordsman

My studies continue and this time it is a raccoon dog with a sword! You might remember my related posts about the Beastly Caster, Beastly Fighter, Beastly Archer, Beastly Scribe, Beastly Pirate, Beastly Rider, Beastly Mercenary, Beastly Thug, and Beastly Rifleman. I am trying to make the most of my personal drawing time by incorporating more reference to hopefully improve my overall drawing skills. So today on the blog I have for you the tenth of my studies...

Beastly Swordsman

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

A friend posted some really amazing images from a martial art demonstration recently and they all instantly caught my attention and imagination. I knew I needed to do some drawings from them and this is the first of them. ...and that is about it! RAWR!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday for new monsters! Until then...

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

Only War: Hammer Of The Emperor

Hammer Of The Emperor, the newest supplement to the Only War RPG is now out, and I have several monstrous mounts in it! Set in the grim future of the Warhammer 40K universe Only War centers around the Imperial Guard, the galaxy-spanning armies of the God-Emperor... but that doesn't mean there can't be some monsters in there. For Hammer Of The Emperor, I was asked to do a series of three drawings depicting various mounts used in war. The first one, the Aethexe, was brand new, and I got to design it! Here is how the drawings turned out...

Aethexe

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Krieg Death Rider Horse

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Mukaali

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games 

Sad Mukaali is sad... Here are scans from the book so that you can see how they were eventually used in the final product...

Since the final product was drawings, there is not a lot to share regarding the process for these. I can share the thumbnails and concepts that I submitted before creating the final drawing. For the first two, you will see a fourth unlabeled box. This is the thumbnail after implementing notes from my art director before I moved onto the final drawing...

Aethexe - thumbnails / concepts

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Krieg Death Rider Horse - thumbnails

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Mukaali - thumbnails

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

As mentioned time and time again, the drawing part of the process of creating monsters and illustrations is my favorite, so anytime the drawing is the finished product, I am happy with an assignment. Thanks to Andy Christensen for thinking of me for this assignment! RAWR!

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

Mutated little friend

A quick post today before a long busy holiday weekend. I have been making the most of my free moments and I finished up this little mutated buddy. I think it speaks for itself. ...by saying, "RAWR!"

Mutation Fun Times

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Monday is a holiday so I will not be posting, but I will be back on Wednesday with some new monsters that were just released in the new Only War RPG supplement!

That is all for another exciting week 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 700...

Today marks my 700 post on this here blog. Where does the time go? I thought I would take a pause today and let you know about some of the events I am planning to be at this year and where you might run into me.

Fast approaching for me is my return to the Illustration Master Class. Some of you might remember my misadventures there last year when I contracted the death plague and spent the entire week in bed. Fun memories... I am hoping that this year will be a *little* better. With as bad as last year was I am a little nervous returning, but once I am there and painting I am hopeful that it will a blast like my first year. Once thing I am doing differently this year is flying... no more two day drive up and back for me!

GEN CON! I will be returning to Gen Con artist alley again this year! I will see you there August 15 - 18 for the best 4 days in gaming... art. I will have paintings, prints, drawings, sketchbooks, and a whole bunch of surprises if it all works out. If you want something like this...

...or this...

... then be sure to attend Gen Con 2013! It is my big convention of the year so I to see you there!

Illuxcon 2013! A new city and a new venue. Illuxcon has moved to Allentown, Pa this year and everything with be shiny and new... and I am confident, more AWESOME! Illuxcon is a day longer this year and will have three tiers of gallery space. I will be taking place in the Showcase again this year. As always, I will document the comings and goings of the event.

Those are the big events so far. I am sure there will be little additions here and there as the year progresses. We are moving into the busy time of year for me at least, so I will need to keep my head down and focused on the goal. But through it all I will do my best to keep this blog moving right along and before you know it... I am sure we will be hitting post 800!

That is all for another 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