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

Photos from Children of Yuletide

A few weeks ago I shared with you my Krampus piece that I did for the Children of Yuletide show. I was thrilled to recently receive some photos from Mike Burns after he visited the show, and I thought I would share the images with you...

Krampus - All framed up and ready for you wall

18 x 24

colored pencil on toned paper

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Living large on the wall at Grindcore House (1515 S 4th St, Philadelphia, PA. 19148)

The contribution by the very talented Brynn Metheney

A big thanks to Mike for taking the time to see the show and for sending me these images. I sure wish I could attend! If you are in the Philadelphia area be sure to stop by and check out all the work it will be showing through the middle of January.

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

Aftermath - L5R

Aftermath, the newest expansion for Legend of the Five Rings, is now out and that means I can share with you some new monsters. A short time ago I shared with you the wily Nastsumi when it was previewed in the run up to this set's release. Natsumi was not my only piece that I created for this set, I also got to revisit an old friend, the might Hida Kaiji! I first designed and illustrated Hida Kaiji for the Seed of Decay expansion. Despite rumors to the contrary, Hida Kaiji appears to be alive and well and is now EXPERIENCED. Here is how the paintings turned out...

Hida Kaiji (experienced)

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

Natsumi

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I was repeatedly told of Hida Kaiji's demise at Gen Con this year and actually got to meet the player who dispatched him. Looks like the player did not do a good enough job! They say kill it with fire... only it looks like fire is of no concern to Hida Kaiji. So far I have been seeing some happy Crab Clan players online with the announcement of the new Hida Kaiji card.

I had originally planned to do these pieces traditionally... but after starting them and seeing all that fire and all that water... well, I was foiled again. They ended up digital and I was a little disappointed that my original plans for these pieces didn't pan out. This unexpected switch to digital media resulted in a great deal of malice directed towards the finished paintings. A year later... my feelings have eased a bit and I can see them for what they are.

Here is how both pieces turned out in card form... OH! If you were curious, there is also a nice and shiny foil version of the Hida Kaiji out there too...

Hida Kaiji in handy dandy card form!

Natsumi in handy dandy card form!

These two pieces also mark the last of my outstanding L5R work. Due to my very busy schedule for the majority of 2013 I have not been able to work on anything new for L5R. Hopefully I will have time in my schedule to return to the world of L5R in the not too distant future. If I do, you will hear about it first here on the blog! 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

Thoughts on art, Star Wars, and memories

This all kinda flowed out on Facebook a little while ago as I went to write a quick status update... I now feel it might be better suited for the blog so I am coping it here...

Between my blog post earlier today and the fact I have Return of the Jedi playing right now while I am prepping MORE personal pieces based on Star Wars ...it all got me thinking...

When the prequels came out I heard a lot of people basically screaming, "George Lucas killed my childhood." ...or something to that effect. I heard similar with the Transformers movies and the most recent Indiana Jones. To be frank... I call BULLSHIT. I remember the surprise and excitement of realizing Boushh was actually Leia in disguise; the shock of Vader's confession to Luke after their battle at Bespin; the joy of seeing the myriad of aliens and astounding space battles; of Yoda, the Rancor, the Wampa, the Tauntauns, and Bossk... I remember is all and it is still exciting. It is still as exciting as when I was 3, 6, and 9 years old. One of my earliest memories is seeing A New Hope in the theaters.

There is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING anyone can do to take those memories go away or to change the way I feel about ALL of the Star Wars movies. Lucas or Disney can add 1000 pink unicorn Ewoks to the battle of Endor and it will not effect my memories and my feeling of Star Wars. If your memories and feelings can be so easily swayed... I question if they were ever as deeply felt as you claim them to be. Besides, the movies and the franchise (up until recently) are Lucas' and he had the right and the capability to do what ever he wanted with them. We have no more right to dictate what he does with them as does anyone else have the right to dictate what we do with our own creations.

It has been well over a year since I stopped collecting Star Wars action figures. During this past year I have been able to approach Star Wars in a new way and it has slowly been changing how I look at my own art and the things I want to make. Not sure where this is all going, but I think I know where I want to play for a while with my art...
 

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