Targus the Lizardman is VERY VERY GREEN, because he is a lizard.It is nice to see that I have grown and developed over the last 15 years, but what kind of freaks me out is seeing things in this drawing that I still do. Still not sure what is going on with the anatomy from the shoulders up... all kinds of wrong.
© 1996 Christopher Burdett (not that anyone else would claim this epic piece)
I have been into monsters my whole life and the lizard verity of D&D have obviously had my attention for many years. It was a real blast to be able to create this piece and I made sure I gave it all the time and attention it needed. The art brief for Warriors of the Poison Dusk called for a Black Scale Lizardfolk and a Troglodyte surrounded by many Kobolds so the layout stage was key for this piece. This started with really loose small thumbnail sketches so that I could get my mind around a couple of compositions and so that I had a game plan going into taking photo reference.
Rough thumbnails© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
I had my wife take photos of me posing as each and every monster, sometimes doing several variations of each pose so that I had some verity to work with. I held props so that the physicality was there with the weapons and so that I had something to interact with. I now have a ton of really silly, but very useful photo reference of me being lizard monsters. None of these will ever see the light of day... so don't even bother asking. After I had all the photos I began working out more developed compositions based on my thumbnails. I played around with each until I was happy and then created a more developed, but still loose layout comp that I would submit for feedback and review.
Rough comp 01Very flat and straight on but shows off most if not all of the creature's bodies. A little on the nose for me but you sometimes don't know what the AD might respond to.
© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
Rough comp 02Better. I liked the idea of the Lizardfolk shouting commands to attack and move forward while the Troglodyte and first line of Kobolds are poised to attack.
© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
Rough comp 03By far my favorite. Really trying to work on a triangular composition with the figures and bow. I liked the idea of the strong size comparison with the small Kobold, medium Troglodyte and large Lizardfolk. Had my fingers crossed that this one would get picked and made sure to express my feelings about this to the AD as well.
© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
The third composition was selected and I was given some feedback and points to be aware of as I moved forward with a final drawing. One of the major issues I needed to be aware of was that fact I was creating several tangents with the creatures elbows breaking the edges of the image. I made sure to keep this in mind as I worked on the final drawing...
Final drawing© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
With the drawing approved it was time for the painting. I spent some time once again looking at reference. I gathered images of black scaled and pale scaled reptiles to get a good feel for how light and color will affect these creature. I also looked at many cave interiors for possible color palettes and ideas. Once comfortable with my reference I got down to painting...
Layer Progression© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
Layer breakdown© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
When it came to the actual painting the steps and methods did not vary much from the process I shared with you on the Sea Demon Shrine (Part 1 & Part 2). I start with the drawing, followed by the under painting, then the painting and lastly rounds of revisions and corrections. This piece was a little dark early on and I had to lighten the whole thing up several times... the problem of black reptiles in a black cave. After much time and revisiting the piece I called in finished and turned it in for review, it was approved and appeared in Dungeon Magazine #185.
Warriors of the Poison Dusk© 2010 Wizards of the Coast
If you have any further questions regarding any of this let me know and I will see if I clarify any of my ramblings. The main point of this process discussion is to show that about 40% of my time and effort on this piece went into it before I began painting. The remaining 60% of effort was made MUCH easier by working very hard on planning and preparation.
That is all for today! 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
It's great to see your process and the layer breakdown, and the final image is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Very cool stuff, thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome to see another artist share their process so thoroughly. Also as a fellow monster lover you may enjoy this blog http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/
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ReplyDeleteHey Christopher! This is Psypher101 form DeviantArt.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very helpful and insightful. I'm glad to say that my process is very similar to yours. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Christopher, I am in highschool and we are going over the types of textures you use in this painting. Would you be willing to give me insight on this?
ReplyDeleteHello David. Nice to hear from you. What exactly would you like to know about the textures? Might be easier to talk about them if you had specific questions. For the most part I use one single brush to do all my painting, with a couple other more random brushes to finish things off. I talk about my brushes here: https://christopherburdett.blogspot.com/2010/09/sea-demons-shrine-process-brushes.html Though this is an old post. I now only use A, C, and D. All of my textures, for the most part, are all just painted in by hand. I look at a of real life textures and try to recreate them as best I can. Like I said, if you have a specific questions let me know and I will get back to you. Thanks!
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