The Gathering is the Magic Clip: "Christopher Burdett - Loathsome Catoblepas"

During Gen Con 2022, I had an excellent opportunity to speak with the folks behind the upcoming documentary about Magic the Gathering, The Gathering is the Magic. It was a lot of fun and always a good time to talk about art, monsters, and more. In July of this year, I did a follow up interview where I spoke about my work on the game in greater detail, as well as other topics. Another clip from the recent interview has been shared, so I am now sharing it with you.

The Gathering is the Magic - A documentary about how Magic the Gathering brings people together, fosters friendship, and inspires with art and storytelling.

In the interview, I was asked to talk about the cards I created for Magic the Gathering. It was fun to reminisce about the art and monsters I made, the fan response to them, and the behind-the-scenes stories regarding the cards. This clip is about the Loathsome Catoblepas. Enjoy the clip, and check out what else The Gathering is the Magic has been sharing!

 

The story of the Loathsome Catoblepas, my first card and "the worst card in the game".

That's all for another exciting Wednesday 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

Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is a supporting piece of spot art for the Faithful Snoop that I recently shared. Most, but not all, of Shaper's creations, decompose extrememly quickly when the tool is damaged beyond functionality. Likewise, any piece removed from the whole will also degrade quickly, no matter what attempts are made to keep it whole. Ethra continues to work to persevere components of Shaper's work for study, but it is daunting work. This Faithful Snoop toe was kept intact for about nine days before it eventually liquified. In that time, many secrets were dicovered. I present to you the Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces. 

Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle

8 x 10 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Contact me regarding availability
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces - Drawing 

8 x 10 - Pencil on paper
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

As I have mentioned before, I have some of my most fun working on these books when I am doing anything that involves Shaper and their creations. I have always loved the villains, and while Shaper may or may not be the villian of my stories, they are, without a doubt, my most favorite of subjects within my world. Also, anytime Reginold and Shaper cross paths, it is even better. I just have fun making these. 

 

This is one of the many pieces I completed so far this year. It has been a blur of pencil and paint. Nice to finally be sharing them. Here is a look at the sketch of the Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces to show where it began.

Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces - Sketch 

 Digital 

 © 2024 Christopher Burdett

As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape. This piece went quickly, so there are only three images to share.

Faithful Snoop Preserved Pieces - Process 

© 2024 Christopher Burdett

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

The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons - The Return of the Kobold Sorcerer

I recently realized I had a piece make an encore appearance in a recently released Dungeons & Dragons book. The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons was released a year ago and features a piece initially published in 2022 for Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. This time around, the wiley Kobold Sorcerer has been republished. To start things off, here is the final painting of the Kobold Sorcerer.

Kobold Sorcerer

Originally from Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Emi Tanji

© 2022 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This is one of my favorite recent pieces. It is always fun to see the ones I like to get a chance to be seen by more people. When The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons was announced and released, I thought it would be fun to work on. It is nice to see that, in a tiny way, I did contribute to it. Here is a look at the book's cover so that you can hunt it down to complete your collection of my works.

The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons

Recently, it has felt as if most of my reused work has been very old work that I am not necessarily thrilled with seeing again, so it is great when it is one that I still like and holds up - granted, this piece is only two years old, so you would hope that this is true. Lastly, here is a photo of the art in the book. It printed great, and there is some fun layout in the book for sure.

Kobold Sorcerer in handy dandy book form!

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

MagiKids x UltraPro Charity Auction

Leading up to Gen Con, I created an image for the good folks at UltraPro for their MagiKids Charity Auction. In the past, the auction would take place at Gen Con, but this year, it is happening afterward online. While the online auction is not live, I wanted to share the piece I did for it and links to the auction landing page. From any of these links, you will be able to sign up for a prize pack giveaway as well as info regarding the auction when it is available. To start things off, here is the image I created for the auction, a mighty Beholder.

Beholder

6.5 x 10.2 - Pencil, marker, ink, and acrylic paint on board
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

I had so much fun with this piece, and it has left me wanting to make more like it. It was freeing to be able to have some fun and experiment. While I have loads of fun working on my book series, there are parameters I am working within for the story, so I am not always in a position to just draw Beholders all day long - no matter how badly I would like to. We will see what comes of my time working on this and what it might lead to. While I have included the direct link to the auction landing page, here is a photo of the QR code for it as well.

This QR code will take you to the landing page for the event.

You can sign up for a chance to receive a prize pack and to get info for when the auction begins.

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

Just Games Rochester's Commander Sealed 2024 Auction NOW LIVE!

As mentioned this past May, I have several items in the Just Games Rochester's Commander Sealed 2024 auction! The auction is now live and will continue through September 15, 2024. The auction is supporting Trans Lifeline and The Trevor Project, and I am thrilled to be a part of the event. You can see all of my available items in the auction on their site. There are many other items available from other artists, so there should be something for everyone. I hope you can take the time to support this event and charities!

You can get all of the event's details on their website!

I have several items in the auction, from my Grand Bazaar books to MtG artist proofs.

You can see all of my auctions and more on their website!

 

 

As mentioned, I will have two MtG artist proofs in the auction.

Each AP has an original ink drawing on their backs.

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

Faithful Snoop - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is the next character piece in the book and the only contribution of Shaper - and Shaper is not happy about it at all. But I am sure Shaper has plans to be more present in the next book. Depicted here is the Shaper Made Investigator, but everyone simply calls it the Snoop. The Snoop will follow, investigate, infiltrate, and decern for its owners any and all secrets or illusive individuals or details. If you look closely, you will see the main characters of this story. I wonder why they are being tracked through the Grand Bazaar?! If you are familiar with the first book, you know that Shaper's creations are not what they appear, and this one is no different. I present to you the Faithful Snoop.

Faithful Snoop
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle

11 x 14 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

Faithful Snoop - Drawing 

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

 

I have been looking forward to this one. Working on Shaper's creations is always fun and an enjoyable break from the rest of the work I am doing for my stories. There are times when it is just fun to draw messed up creations of flesh and metal. While I have been looking forward to this one, I didn't really know how I wanted to depict it. It was a moment of pure joy when I finally worked out the composition and lighting for it. This has been one of my favorite pieces that I have done for this book so far. Maybe Shaper needs their own book...

 

This is one of the many pieces I completed so far this year. It has been a blur of pencil and paint. Nice to finally be sharing them. Here is a look at the sketch and tonal study for the Faithful Snoop to show where it began.

Faithful Snoop - Sketch 

 Digital 

 © 2024 Christopher Burdett

Faithful Snoop - Tonal Study

 Digital 

 © 2024 Christopher Burdett

As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape. I typically try to work back to front and top to bottom, but as this piece's foreground was so important and needed to be very dark, I locked all of the foreground in first before moving to the lighter background. 

 

Faithful Snoop - Process 

© 2024 Christopher Burdett

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here NEXT WEEK - I have things to do 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

Talisman: The Lost Realms - The Return of the Dragons and Serpents

In a continuation of last week's post on my Talisman work resurfacing, I have more Talisman art that has resurfaced. This time around, it is The Lost Realms expansion that features the return of four of my monsters and was released in 2018. The pieces of mine included were created in 2009 and 2010 - give or take. The dates below will show 2010 or 2011, but it gets a little fuzzy on when I made the work versus when it was released, meant to be released, or the eventual delayed release. It's all unnecessarily complicated, but those were the times we lived through in the early 2010s. Let's start things off with a look at the packaging so that if you want to complete your collection of my art, you know what to get.

The Lost Realms expansion of Talisman

The four pieces of my art included in this expansion are the Arcane Dragon (originally the Seas Dragon), the Storm Dragon (one of my favorite pieces that I did for Talisman), Basilisk (the very first card that I did for the game, and the Dracolich (that you were reintroduced to last week). It is interesting to see the Storm Dragon and Basilisk juxtaposed because there was a TON of growth and work between the two of them in an incredibly short period. As mentioned last week, I used Talisman to experiment and try new techniques. For the most part, it gave me a place with a lot of freedom to push my boundaries and rise to the challenge. In the end, the work was fun, the pay was absolutely abysmal, and I have some cards in a popular game to show for it. Here is a look at the final art for the four pieces that have returned in this expansion.

Arcane Dragon

(originally the Sea Dragon)

Originally from Talisman: The Dragons

7 x 6 - Digital
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

Storm Dragon

Originally from Talisman: The Dragons

7 x 6 - Digital
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

Basilisk

5 x 4.5 -Digital

Originally from Talisman: Frostmarch

© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Dracolich

Originally from Talisman: The Dragons

7 x 6 - Digital
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

Finally, here is a look at the final production cards. As far as I know, these are unchanged from the other times these cards have been released. At last count, the Basilisk alone has been released two to three times before this release. I guess it is good that more of them are out in the world to be enjoyed.  

And all the monsters on their monster cards so you can hold them in your hands

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