The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Chewbacca - 2016 Store Championship Kit - Process

Today I have for you the process and steps that went into my Chewbacca painting that was created for the 2016 Store Championship Kit of the Star Wars LCG. I first shared this piece with you last November of 2016, and I painted it in August of 2015. Here is how the final painting turned out...

Chewbacca
Star Wars LCG - 2016 Store Championship Kit
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
Original - SOLD
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

This was my second Chewbacca assignment in the same year, and I had learned a lot from the first one. Approaching this second painting, I wanted the likeness to be better, and I wanted the overall feel to be more Star Wars-y. The latter was definitely helped by the fact the piece needed to depict a moment from Return of the Jedi that happened just off-screen. The assignment called for the depiction of Chewbacca tossing the AT-ST driver out of the cockpit as Chewies Ewok friends prepare to go after the remaining driver inside the walker. Seems pretty straightforward and fun! As I did my research of this scene in the Return of the Jedi, I noticed several details I never really gave any attention to before. One, even though Chewbacca and the two Ewoks swing over to the AT-ST on a vine together you never see them on the top of the AT-ST while Chewbacca is opening the hatch and reaching in and two, the Ewoks weapons change from the moments before they swing over to the AT-ST and the scenes where they are attacking the driver inside the AT-ST. Funny what you notice once you watch a single scene over and over and over and...

Once I reviewed my film reference, I shot some photo reference using myself for all four characters and got to work on some thumbnails. Here's how those thumbnails turned out...

Chewbacca - Thumbnails
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Option "A" was the winner, and I was given the go-ahead to move forward on the final drawing, granted that I add little more bleed. No matter how much bleed I put on this piece I am always asked to add more. Here is how the final drawing turned out...

Chewbacca
Star Wars LCG - 2016 Store Championship Kit
14 x 17 - Pencil on paper
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The drawing was approved without comment, and it was now time to get to work on the final painting. This painting, except for one part, was straightforward and really fun to work one. The one part that was rather difficult and caused a lot of problems was Chewbacca. The background and the AT-ST were a lot of fun to work on, and the rest came together with little effort. Unfortunately, Chewbacca made up for all that easy painting with a lot of stress and hard work. Here is the painting taking shape, it should be obvious where things go wrong once I get to painting Chewie...

Chewbacca - Process progression
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

As you can clearly see, Chewbacca got really beefy and weird, and his face went into some really weird directions before I had to step back and paint it out and start over. Not sure how is body mass got all bulky and out of shape, but it happened gradually, and then it was just all wrong. His face may have been off since the beginning, but along the way, it got way worse. As I have said many times before here on the blog, you need to step back, look at your work objectively (which can be really really hard), and correct the things that need correcting. It should not be up to your art director to tell you to fix all the things that are not working or that are at 75%. You need to be able to look at your work and be able to go back in and address things if they have gone wrong or are not working. Part of the job. Here is an animated process of the painting coming together so that you can better see the edits to Chewie that I did...

Chewbacca - Animated process
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

While I was working on fixing Chewbacca's face, I made an image file using all my reference to compare it to my painting to figure out what was not working and how to get it to be more of a likeness to Chewbacca. Always interesting how subtle moments and slight changes to proportions can make or break a likeness. This took a bit of work and a lot of studying to get it across the finish line. Even though the viewer might never know about the trails and tribulations that go into some of these paintings, hopefully, the hard work pays off in the end. Here is a real glimpse behind the curtain at what goes on to make my paintings...

Getting the face correct

I happened to take a photo of my work space as I was fixing Chewbacca. The controlled chaos that is where I paint...

Work space while working on Chewbacca circa August 2015

Once again, here is the final painting as well as the final production card...

Chewbacca
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Chewbacca in handy dandy card form

That's 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

Monday, April 10, 2017

Myopic Rifler - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I have a new piece from my series of toned paper monsters! Today's monster is the Myopic Rifler. Crack shots at a distance and impressive snipers, these armed fellows have a hard time of things up close. As part of the security force of the Ethra's Bazaar, they are the eyes in the sky and make sure everyone is well behaved. Make sure you never find yourself in their sights.

Myopic Rifler
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Currently Available Grand Bazaar Originals

Myopic Rifler - Drawing
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper
© 2017 Christopher Burdett

Here are all the other completed monsters for The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia: Aberrant Stilter, Belled Kreep, Corrupted Knight, Dight-Kin, Eau-de-nil Elder, Ethra VanDalia, Footman, Gray Wanderer, Gullet, Humgruffin Mother, Irritated Girasol, Judicator, Kiplorbic Animal Dealer, Lammergeier Transport, Myopic Riflemen, Nimsbane Curse Victim, Ophiomornous Bureaucrat, Petrous Blacks mith, Quincaillerie, Saint Marque, Smokestack, Thrice, Uncanny Scribe, Virulent Artificer, Xandrell Tree, Yote Arms Dealer, and Zombic Spore.

As an added bonus, I have some images of the line work and rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape.

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

Friday, April 7, 2017

Looking Back: Immortal's Resting Place - Dreamblade

Today on the blog I am looking back at another Dreamblade miniature design that I have never shared before. Here is the design for the Immortal's Resting Place which was part of the first expansion (Baxar's War) to Dreamblade released back in 2006...

Immortal's Resting Place

12 x 9 - Pencil on paper

This assignment called for a massive dragon skeleton that had been around so long that it was part of the landscape. As a location piece in the game this particular design was free from some of the other restriction for the miniatures. This was the first and only design that I did for this one as it was approved immediately. I was not expecting that and was rather surprised. With an approved design it was time to move onto the turnaround...

Immortal's Resting Place Turnaround

12 x 9 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

After this piece came out I really wish I had done something more or different with it. It felt so small and flat and not very exciting. To be honest, I was was very happy with my work on this one. I wish I had done something more vertical and or dynamic with the design. To me, it all felt rather on the nose. Funny thing is, I have not looked at this one in a couple of years and now that I see it again I don't have any problem with it. It totally gets the point across and it interesting from every side. Funny how time and distance will give you a new view on things. Here is how the production miniature turned out for this one...

Immortal's Resting Place Miniature

That's 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

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Lathnu Sailback Drawing Time Lapse - Magic the Gathering

Today I have for you a very overdue time lapse video that I recorded over a year ago. This is the drawing for the Lathnu Sailback that I did for the Aether Revolt expansion to Magic the Gathering. With the next expansion soon to be out I figured I better hurry up and post this while it is still a little relevant. This should have been up months ago... but things are a bit hectic right now. Enough excuses, here is an image of my work station right before I started drawing as well as the video...

Paper that is about to be a drawing...

Lathnu Sailback Drawing Time Lapse

The video should speak for itself. If you follow my blog at all you will be familiar with my thumbnails that I create as part of the process of creating an illustration. When I go about making the final drawing I use the approved thumbnail as a guide. I make changes and corrections along the way, which you can clearly see in the video when I erase and rework the creature's front right leg. It was not working and was not correct as per the thumbnails and needed to be fixed. If all goes as planned, which it mostly did here, it comes together quickly so that I can move onto the next step in the process. Here is the final drawing again for a better look...

Lathnu Sailback - Drawing

Magic the Gathering - Aether Revolt

17 x 14 -Pencil on paper

SOLD

Lastly, here again is the final painting for the Lathnu Sailback. I will be sharing more about this piece when I finally get to the process post for it... which at I current pace will be sometime later in the year. All at once I feel like I have too much and not enough to post on this blog. It is a strange feeling.

Lathnu Sailback

Magic the Gathering - Aether Revolt

14 x 10.2- Digital

PRINTS available at OMA!

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 3, 2017

Nimsbane Curse Victim - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I have a new piece from my series of toned paper monsters! Today's monster is the awkward Nimsbane Curse Victim. The Nimsbane Curse Victim, or Nim Dragon, is the most unfortunate creature. The Kiplorb people know the secrets behind these wretched beasts. Pray that you do not find yourself learning the truth behind the Nimsbane Curse Victim...

Nimsbane Curse Victim

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Nimsbane Curse Victim - Drawing
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

If you think that the Nimsbane Curse Victim looks familiar, that is because they first appeared in 2011 in a painting titled Haggling along with the Kiplorbic Animal Dealer. As I have previously said, my world-building has been going on for a while now. Here again, is the first appearance for the Nimsbane Curse Victim.