Recent Magic the Gathering Artist Proof Art

Today, I have a pair of recent Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added art to their backs. All available artist proofs and art options can be found on my store. I present my art on the back of two Magic the Gathering cards.

Biblically correct, Serra Angel asked to be not afraid.

This is the Festering Mummy that I created while at IX, and it is now AVAILABLE!

That's 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

NEW ARTIST PROOFS NOW AVAILABLE: Cackling Prowler and Cephalid Inkmage!

I am thrilled to announce I  have my new Cackling Prowler AND Cephalid Inkmage artist proofs on my store. These two new cards are from the Foundations expansion just released for Magic the Gathering. It has been a while since I received my proofs this quickly, and I am incredibly pleased about it.

A new pair of Coveted Peacock Magic the Gathering Artist Proofs are NOW AVAILABLE!

ARTIST PROOFS available over on my web store!

Here is a look at all the final art of the Cackling Prowler and Cephalid Inkmage, along with links to all of my artist proofs and prints (coming VERY soon). These were fun pieces to work on, and I am very pleased with how they printed on the cards. You never know until the cards arrive.

Cackling Prowler

Magic the Gathering - Foundations

14 x 10.2 - Digital

Available prints at OMA!

All of my Magic the Gathering Artist Proofs! 

Art Director - Forrest Schehl
 © 2024 Wizards of the Coast

 

Cephalid Inkmage

Magic the Gathering - Foundations

14 x 10.2 - Digital

Available prints at OMA!

All of my Magic the Gathering Artist Proofs! 

Art Director - Forrest Schehl
 © 2024 Wizards of the Coast

 

 

All artist proofs are signed and numbered and can include an original black and white or color art on the back. The signature on the front can also be upgraded on my store as well.

 

For those interested in a drawing on the artist proof, here are samples of what to expect.

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

From the Archives: Ubervamp (Turok-Han) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7

Today, I have a monster I worked on for season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This particular monster appeared in multiple episodes throughout the seventh season. I worked on each of its appearances, including the series finale, where the Scobby Gang fought an army of them. This one was a very big deal as it was the main physical threat to the world controlled by the First. And since it was a big deal, there were a lot of hands involved, and we received a lot of opinions.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many skilled artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought these monsters to life, but this time around, I was present at all stages, but my focus was on the design work, paint and finish, and set crew. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

As I said, this one was a big deal to to the show, and the writers, producers, money people, more money people, Joss, and anyone else available were giving input for how this thing should look. If I remember correctly, going into this, no one had any ideas for what this thing should look like. But they were quick to tell us everything that it didn't look like - and that would have been all of our designs. Eventually, we got there, but not after a lot of work. Typically, early in the season, if there was a solitary Ubervamp or a close-up of a hero makeup, that would be Camden Toy. Camden was an amazing suit performer, actor, and friend. I treasure my memories of working with him. Eventually, the Ubervamps would be played by extras and stunt performers, but all the hero shots are Camden. My work on this one is all over the place, too. I did do some design work, sorta - I will explain below, a bit of shop work and a TON of painting. I painted so many of these masks and makeups. The on-set makeup artists got a little wacky sometimes, but that was to be expected. Here are shop images, set images, and more for the mighty Ubervamp.

This is the hero photo of Camden in the full makeup that the boss took on the first day of shooting. I cleaned up the photo and got it ready for promotion, and it ended up being used everywhere. Camden wore silicone makeup, but all the stunt performers and extras wore foam latex.

I said I did do some design work. And here it is!

While on the set of Angel, as an episode of Firefly was on the TV in the makeup trailer, I got a call from the boss to start designing the 'Uber Vampire' while I was working on the set that night. So, that is what I did. I found some paper, and I had some pencils and markers with me, and I got to work. Mind you, I received little to zero input on what I was supposed to be doing. I was told to start drawing, and that is what I did. I did these crude warm-up drawings while on set, working with some other monster. I was trying to figure out what an 'Uber Vampire' looked like, but it wasn't this.

And it wasn't this either.

I wish I had had more time... I would have liked to have had any time to work on these. I was given brief moments on set doing my job to come up with these. The funny thing is, if this was presented to me now, I wouldn't think anything about it; I would start drawing and would likely come up with something neat in quick work. But this was twenty-two years ago, and I didn't have the skills yet to pull that off, so we have these scribblings.

These two were never even finished.

I did as much as I could on set, and by the time I was back in the shop the next day, things had long since passed me by, with the shop's AD taking the lead. He had over a day's lead on me by now, and I had a couple of crude sketches. I fell back to support and processed and prepped his work as fast as he could make it.

If anyone is interested, I still have all of these drawings.

One thing I did design was the Ubervamp's contacts.

The final lenses didn't look like these at all (I think they just used stock lenses), but I designed something to completion, at least. I think these would have been fun, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I did say that I was responsible for some painting.

These are the background makeups and masks for the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It felt like I was working on these day and night, and I was. There were a bunch of us seaming and patching the heads and hands, and then I would paint them.

And here is me from the distant past with the things I painted.

I miss that shirt.

Here is an early version of the Ubervamp. I do not recall the sculptor, but I think this version would have been great. It feels different and unique, but that is likely why they hated it.

Here are some more sculpt variations.

At the end of the day, they had loads of issues with the nose, and they freaked out about anything that wasn't a normal nose... on a vampire... and was UBER. Again, the sculptor is unknown.

Now for some more Camden love with set pics!

GRRRRR ROAR! I'm a monster!

Ubervamp has had a bad day, Ubervamp needs to lay down.

Lastly, here are some set pics with the Ubervamp army. A mix of masks and makeups, and on set, the masks always migrated up close to the camera for some reason. These were all painted the same, but as I said before, the makeup artists took a lot of liberties with these and went WAY off the style guide way too often. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. RAWR!

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...

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

IX 2024 Recap

There has been much to do since IX, which is why my IX 2024 is several weeks late. Much to do, AND it now takes time to Shade and Glaze my images, so it is a double blow to getting posts up quickly after events.

Now that IX 2024 has come and gone and I have had some time to think about it, it was, of course, amazing. Save for last year (which was 110% the fault of my car having a catastrophic unrecoverable event), every year at IX is simply the best. It is a time for celebration, community, fellowship, and art love. You have to go to one to know what I mean. It is a long show, but it also flies by, so there is a bittersweet aspect to it. It is so wonderful, but the moments do fall through your fingers. It was wonderful to see so many friends and familiar faces. IX is usually my last event of the year, and it is such a great completion of the convention year. I feel like I should be saying more, but if you know, you know, and if you haven't attended, you truly owe it to yourself to attend one year, even if you only attend and don't show. Here are some photos from IX 2024.

The Google Works building is where it all happens (except the Showcase, which is at the Double Tree).

They are in the midst of doing some major updates and renovations to the building. We saw just a little bit of their work while at the show, but they had displays of what they planned to do, and it was all very impressive. They will be bringing a lot to the building and the community.

My booth this year. IX is the one place I can bring the entire Grand Bazaar.

All of my available with were on display, as well as prints, MtG APs, books, and more were with me this year.

Not to mention the rug and chairs!

I tried to do a better job getting photos of the show this year. Here is a photo from the first floor.

Here is the second floor where I was set up.

Peaking out from the Grand Bazaar at the rest of the second floor.

I took part in the first of two Magic the Gathering artist proof drawing sessions.

I was seated at a table with Donato Giancola, which, you know, is super cool. It was surreal to be sitting there as peers doing parallel play as we drew, painted, and talked. FUN TIMES!!!

The Ancient Carp I did during the session - SOLD

The Festering Mummy I did during the session - AVAILABLE!

The artist jam session returned this year, and there was some serious rocking to be had.

Here are some additional photos from the first floor of IX this year.

The Showcase was amazing, as always, and there was so much great art and excitement in the room.

AND there was Destro with an actual (mini) HISS tank! Grant Cooley killed it with the costume this year!

So, more photos from the second floor.

And some photos from the fourth floor.

A little salivating raccoon on an artist proof.

All good things must come to an end.

After helping others, I was in a mad dash to get packed up and out of the way as the walls came down.

Where there was once IX on the second floor, there is now only space...

...as with the first floor.

A new tradition has been to get dinner together at a great Asian restaurant around the corner from the hotel. They can take a massive crowd, and we chair-hop to chat with everyone.

Another amazing year, the 17th IX, to be exact. Here is to 17 more! We are already looking ahead to IX 18 in 2025. I hope to see you there!

That's 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

Saying Goodbye to X and General Update

I have had a Twitter account since 2009. I am unsure if it was ever a good fit for me, but I enjoyed it all the same and shared my work there. For numerous reasons, I deactivated my account there. Their embrace of A/I and its forced rollout later this month was the deal breaker for me. I had planned to do this right after IX, but things have been busy. You can find me in all the other spots, as my links are here on the blog in a sidebar, on my website, and over on Facebook. I am trying to do more on Bluesky as people are flooding in.

Goodbye...

 

One more thing, you might see a lot less of me the rest of the year and going into next. I have taken on some exciting assignments, and that will keep me busy. This also means I will be slowed in my progress on the Grand Bazaar. Fear naught; I will return to it right away and still want to stick to as many of my deadlines as possible to have the next book completed sooner rather than later. I think that is about it for now.

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week. Until then...

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

Recent Magic the Gathering Artist Proof Art

Today, I have a pair of recent Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added art to their backs. All available artist proofs and art options can be found on my store. These were from a little bit ago, but things have been - busy. I present my art on the back of two Magic the Gathering cards. 

This one was a bit different but fun - everyone loves a good Buylist Gremlin!

Pufferfish on a Blufferfish!

That's 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