Arkham Horror Monsters - Wave 3

Wave 3 of the Arkham Horror Monsters - Premium Figures are now available over on the Fantasy Flight Website. I mention this fact because I designed three of the miniatures in this new set! The monster in the set I was responsible for are the Lloigor, Servitor of the Outer Gods, and Star Vampire. Here are the miniature turnarounds...

Lloigor
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Servitor of the Outer Gods
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Star Vampire
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

I took some pictures of the miniatures so you can compare how the finals turned out compared to my designs. This is a really solid batch of minis and they are extremely true to my designs, I could not be happier! I think the Lloigor is my favorite of this set. Always happy when the transition from paper to plastic produces a great looking miniature. See for yourself...

Lloigor

Servitor of the Outer Gods

Star Vampire

This now makes 12 Arkham Horror monsters released! I have six more out there in the ether somewhere just waiting to take shape and cause madness. As you might recall, I designed these back in 2009, and I have been patiently waiting ever since. Looks like the good folks at FFG are releasing a new wave every couple months, so maybe I will not have to wait too much longer to enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Here is a group shot of the three miniatures... three monsters, just chillin' in the garden... looking to cause death and madness... RAWR!

Arkham Horror Monsters - Wave 3

(Just mine, this is not all of them)

That is all for another madness inducing Wednesday, see you back here on Friday for more fun! Until then...

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

Tumbing into Tumblr

I have finally and boldly arrived in the year 2007 and started up a Tumblr account! Wait, what?

Earlier this week I finally created an account over on Tumblr for four reasons: 1) I was finding myself more and more manually checking in on several folks accounts that I wanted to follow, 2) I realized Tumblr offered a venue for me to share stuff in a really informal way that my website, blog, or even Facebook does not allow, 3) I am allowing questions to be asked via my page, so I hope to be able to answer people's question on Tumblr or even expand them onto the blog, 4) and finally, to ensure that I maintain ownership over the 'Christopher Burdett' name footprint online.

RAWR! Tumblrs for one and all! Even the cat!

Tumblr seems like a perfect fit for a lot of the images I am generating with Instagram as well as a place to post silly reference photos, cat photos, old drawings, new sketches in the works, and maybe even some images from back in my Hollywood days. Basically, I realized it was a good place to post a lot of the images I have that just don't fit anywhere else in regards to my online presence. So we will see how it goes... I will try to post on a regular basis so there will always be something new to see.

So if you are so inclined head over to Tumblr and hit that 'Follow' button and then you can look forward to images, photos, and more!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, Monday is a holiday for those of us in the US, so I will be taking a day off from the blog (though if I actually stick to this plan will be another matter) so I will see you 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

Life drawing - my old friend

This Monday evening I found myself at a local weekly life drawing session. I had heard of it a couple times before but just never was able to find the time or remembered to actually go when the time was available. We the repeated urgings of local fellow artist Nicholas Rich I finally found myself going.I always enjoyed life drawing, I understand the importance an the need for an artist to draw from life and to hone all the skills related to doing so, not to mention better familiarity with the human form and how light moves across complex forms.... but this time was way different for me.

Half way through the session I realized I had this huge smile on my face and was having way too much fun for my own good. I posted on Facebook that night, "Tonight I am realizing I need more life drawing in my life like a drowning man needs air." I stand by this statement wholeheartedly. I use to hate warm up and short poses, I just wanted long poses that I could labor over and perfect. Monday night I found myself really enjoying the 3 minute poses and I got a lot out of them, which was a first in all my years of drawing. The session started with a group of 3 minute poses, followed by two 10 minute poses and concluded with two 30 minute poses. Here are some of the highlights... 

So what changed since I last drew from life... which was most likely 5 years ago or so? Obviously, it was something in me... and I am happy for it. I really love to draw and this was such an exciting experience to once again be engaging. I just hope I am not creeping anyone out with my huge smile while I draw! I used my usual black color pencil on marker paper that I do all my drawing with and though I brought larger paper, I stuck with my usual 9x12. I will be going back whenever possible. I guess they don't all have to be monsters...

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

Beastly Pirate

My studies continue and this time it is a rhinoceros pirate! You might remember my recent posts about the Beastly Caster, Beastly Fighter, Beastly Archer, and Beastly Scribe, I am trying to make the most of my personal drawing time by incorporating more reference to hopefully improve my overall drawing skills. So today on the blog I have for you the fifth of my studies...

Beastly Pirate

© 2012 Christopher Burdett

I will admit, compared to the rest the Beastly Pirate is a more static pose. I blame the static pose of the reference and my zeal to draw a rhino pirate. ...casue it is a PIRATE and a RHINO! The rest of the Beastly characters have to convince the Beastly Pirate to give them safe passage aboard his ship so they can get to their next adventure. Not sure how the silly the rest of my Beastly studies are, but I feel this one is just a little silly... maybe too silly. Oh well... it was fun and came together really quickly. I need to find some time to do more of these studies, as of late my time has been stretched rather thin.

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

Fresh from the drawing table... Sahuagin!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a Sahuagin! 'S' is a robust letter offering a lot of exciting monsters to choose from and it is always a hard decision to see who gets drawn first. The only reason the Sahuagin didn't get picked the first time through is that I had never drawn a Shambling Mound and I have drawn Sahuagin for D&D. On my second pass through I can now draw that most dastardly sea devil! I present to you my version of a Sahuagin ... 

Sahuagin
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

Aquatic scaly reptile fish man monsters... how can you be so fun to draw? Since I have already worked on a piece using the official D&D Sahuagin it can be a bit of an extra challenge to redesign the monster. Much like the Kobold, there is a lot about the current version of the monster that I really like. While I tried to approach the Kobold from a completely new direction, I tried not to stray too far with the Sahuagin. It is after all a humanoid aquatic lizard fish monster... there is still a lot of territory to cover before you need to start fresh. I should say that I did not actually pose for this monster, another artist and friend posed for monster reference some time back and I am finally getting around to using one of the images.

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.        

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

Darktentacles - Process

I have for you today the thrid of the process posts for the recent work that I produced for the Halls of Undermountain. Today we wrap things up with the Darktentacles!

Thumbnails started things off as always. This time around there was not a lot to draw from immediately for reference, the big balls of tentacles usually come out of my head and that is were these manifested from. The Darktentacles was described as possibly lifting itself out of the water with a few if its tentacles. The tentacle are black and studded with eyes. There is not visible head, it is simply a mass of horrific tentacle goodness.  I can do that! The goal of the thumbnails was to come up with a pleasing mass that showed movement and allowed for a good reveal of the creature. I was on the fence on all of these and did not have a preferred choice, I would leave that up to production. In the end, "B" was the lucky winner...
 

 Darktentacles - Thumbnails

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

There was one request, they wanted to see an element added to show the scale of the Darktentacles. Cave fish were suggested and I worked up a couple quick comps showing some options for some cave fish joining the party. This time around, "C" was the winner...

 

  Darktentacles - Revised Thumbnail

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

Now it was time for the drawing. This was again one of those situations were once I was well into the drawing I pause and thinks, 'man, that is a lot of tentacles and eyes I now have to paint...' This is said mostly in jest, I do not mind working of complex forms with lots of detail, it just takes time and I need to approach the piece in such a way that I do not focus on all that detail too soon. I need to deal with the over all form first and make sure all the ground work is there before I go nuts with all the fine details. I left the background purposefully vague and empty. I planned on making sure there was cave interior back there but that was all going to come together in the painting stage once I see how the creature was coming together. The drawing was completed, turned in, and approved...

 Darktentacles - Drawing

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

Now it is time to for the bulk hard work, the painting. Nothing has changed from my usual progression. Manipulated drawing, under painting, main paint level, adjustment and fix layers. You can see more detailed break downs of all this HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I mentioned earlier that I didn't shoot any reference for this piece since it was a ball of tentacles, I did of course use a lot of gathered images for reference in the painting stage. Cave interiors, animals with slimy dark skin, rock and water images were all used to make sure my decisions were all influenced by the world around us. Even when something is completely alien to the world, just a little real world added in will make it that much more believable. This piece did go very quickly and just like magic the images appeared before my unbelieving eyes...

 Darktentacles - Painting progression

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

This piece has several elements that have appeared in other pieces that I have created in the last couple of years... dark cave, water, dark creature. I have been working to better envision these elements together... the black creature in the black water in the black cave... just use the paint bucket to cover the canvas in black and turn it in. I kid of course. The challenge for me has been to create a scene that on paper is completely black and to give it light and color while still making sure it feels like it is in a deep dark place. This is probably one of my better attempts at it. It gets to the point where if I think too much about it I will make it worse, so I just let myself go, have some fun and make sure the image as a whole is working...

Darktentacles

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

This is the last of my pieces from the Halls of Undermountain adventure book. I still have two more recent D&D pieces that I have process information to share with you in the coming weeks.

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

Very Near Mint volume two

Once again I have had the privilege to contribute to another of Justin Peterson's comic projects, Very Near Mint volume 2! You may remember my contributions to Very Near Mint volume one and Uncanny Very Neat Mint. It was a real thrill to be able to one again have some of my work share the same pages as Justin's. Justin gave me free reign again and so I continue abstracting his characters more and more. Turning them into Godzilla and Mothra was not enough apparently, this time around I made them more alien...

 Bosom Buddies
Art by Christopher Burdett
Characters © 2012 Justin Peterson

Once again, I can not recommend the comic stylings of Justin enough. His work is super awesome and in VNM v2 he takes it to a whole new level of awesome! Here is a pic of the cover of VNM v2 (just so you know you are buying the right graphic novel!).

 Very Near Mint volume two by Justin Peterson

If you blow past all the amazing comic art in VNM v2 and get to the back you will see my pin up in all its glory. I am told volume 3 of Very Neat Mint will be in the works before we know it and I hope that I have a chance to contribute to it! I will do my best to reel it in a bit with any new pin up, I may have gotten a little too wacky with this last one... or maybe not?

 Very Near Mint volume two Pin up!

One more time, just in case you missed it before, if you are interesting in more information or in purchasing a copy of any of Justin's books, head over to the Adventuring Company website!

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

Fresh from the drawing table... Roper!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a Roper! 'Q' only had one creature and that was taken care of the first time through, so we are jumping ahead to 'R'. 'R' has a hand full of interesting monsters and I have been hemming and hawing about which to do next. In the end I went with the creature that had tentacles! I present to you my version of a Roper... 

Roper
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

I am pretty sure I started drawing this but along the way my brain turned off and I just got lost in swirly twisting tentacles. Not sure how much of a redesign this is or how good of a drawing it is... there are just a lot of tentacles. It came out a little flatter then I had planned, but the other aspects: lots of eyes, tentacles, and a spiraling mouth that runs the length of its body all made it in. I imagined the Roper as being the manifestation of some some deep horror berried deep in the ground and the Roper is just a hint of want dwells below. The fowl taint has reached up to corrupt a section of the cave and woe to the adventure who finds themselves within the grasp of a Roper. 

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.        

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday for something new! Until then...

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

My life as a crappy artist - Eli Demon

You of course remember the Eli Demon from episode 9, Harm's Way, from season 5 of Angel, right? Any good Angel fan would, right? I barely recall the dang thing and I designed it. So that everyone is on the same page, this is the Eli Demon...

 That's no demon, that is just a guy with some dirt on his face...

I was able to find some time to take a fresh pass at another monster that I designed while working on Joss Whedon's Angel series. This time around the Eli Demon was the lucky winner. Here is my original design for the Eli Demon from 2003...

Wait, the design looks more like a demon and just a guy with dirt on his face, what could have happened?
© 2004 Almost Human

The Eli Demon was to be a Demon working at the evil law firm that Angel and company take control of. He was to be a subtle demon that was mostly human. Apparently off camera he did some bad stuff and Angel set and example of him to the rest of the firm ringing in a new way of doing business. Fair enough, I got to work on a 'subtle' demon design and came up with the above image. Apparently my subtle design was not subtle enough for everyone. Clumsily, behind my back (I say clumsily since I heard the entire conversation I was not to be overhearing) the sculpture was instructed to ignore my bad design and do something VERY subtle. First off, the sculpture on this is an amazing artist and has gone on to do some AMAZING things with WETA in New Zealand and is not at fault in any of this. The thing is, subtle just does not work for TV. Especially pre-HD TV. The rule of thumb in the shop was if you wanted to know how something was going to look once it was filmed and aired you just needed to squint your eyes at whatever you were working on. Squint your eyes at the top photo of the finished demon... yeah, looks like a dirty guy with some spots. And guess what? On set and once filmed production made fun of the demon saying that it... LOOKED LIKE A GUY WITH DIRT ON HIS FACE! For things to read on TV you have to make them a little over the top, add a bit more contrast, make them a bit more brighter. In a movie you can go to town with subtle when there are close up and the image is shown dozens of feet high. My design was overruled, the sculpture was backed into a corner, and the makeup appliances were made flesh tone... all resulting in a very dirty man demon. All things aside, here is something... newer, for the design of the Eli Demon...

Taking the Eli Demon back!
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

Since I never had an opportunity to actually draw this design I was really more focused on drawing the actor and having fun. I stuck with the original direction of the old design but made it more exaggerated.  More is more after all. Some of the drippy skin above the eyes in the original also made him feel a little sad. Funky faced demon guys say, "RAWR!" This design would have gone over even worse, but I sure had some fun drawing it.

I sometimes forget which demons I have photos for and which I do not. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually had some pics of the Eli Demon because I figured finding him online might be tricky. Not only did I have some set pics, but I had some wacky off camera fun...

 Oh look, it is too dirty faced guys hanging out... wait, one of those guys has no body...

That is all for another exciting Wednesday, 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

Snake Curse - Process

I have for you today the second of the process posts for the recent work that I produced for the Halls of Undermountain. Today we turn up the gross factor with the dreaded Snake Curse!

Thumbnails started things off as always. Well... I should say reference photos really started things off, but we will get to those in a moment. Once I had a feel for the physicality of the scene in my head and in photos I got to work on some thumbnails fleshing out my ideas. The piece is really about the exploding dwarf, but I wanted to be a little more involved then just a medium shot with the dwarf spilling all over the place. I thought having a foreground and background figure could allow some nice overlap as well as place the dwarf more within a space. After playing with the elements and options I had a really good feeling about 'C', and once submitted, 'C' was the winner...

Snake Curse - Thumbnails

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

Now it was time for the drawing. This piece is all about snakes, and I knew I wanted to have a LOT of them. When I think about snakes I think about scales and when I think about a lot of snakes I grit my teeth and accept there will be lots of scales. This is when a fully fleshed out drawing can really help out. More and more I am realizing just how integrated my drawings are in my final painting. The details and work I am putting into my drawings are as important to my paintings as is the actual paint work I do later in the process. I can leave the details as they are, paint over them, or emphasis them as needed. I have it before and I will say it again, the more time and effort I put into taking reference, working out the thumbnails and fleshing out the drawing the quicker and easier the painting is for me. The drawing was completed, turned in, and approved...

Snake Curse - Drawing

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

Let's jump back and have a look at some of the reference. More silly pictures of me acting out the scene. I am NOT posting the dwarf pictures... I have to have some secrets, and they were just a little too over the top for me to comfortably share on the internet. I did end up piecing together three separate photos to make the final dwarf reference. The upper body, lower body and left arm were all from different photos but provided me with the pose I really wanted for the piece. The other two figures were a lot more straightforward. There was a second pose for the rear figure I also really liked, but this one was the final winner...

Props, costumes, and correct lighting all help inform the reference which then better informs the painting. Everything works together to help me understand how different materials and forms will be affected by the scenes lighting.

Now it is time to for the bulk hard work, the painting. Nothing has changed from my usual progression. Manipulated drawing, under painting, main paint level, adjustment and fix layers. You can see more detailed break downs of all this HERE, HERE, and HERE. Though the differences in some of the later steps might seem hard to distinguish, there is a lot going on to the over all brightness, contrast, and detail level of the piece. Just like magic the images appears before my unbelieving eyes...

Snake Curse - Painting progression

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

As will all my work I try to manage my time to allow me to finish the piece well before the deadline so that I can put it aside for a few days. This allows me the chance to see it again with fresh eyes and get a better look at for mistakes and areas that need to be adjusted. This use to allow me to catch some pretty big errors sometimes, but as years tick by thankfully the bigger issues are resolved long before the painting stage. Mostly these days the fresh look allows me to catch little things and to make adjustments that help the overall piece. Remember to 'kill your darlings' and if it is not working, fix it. It does not matter how long you worked on it, if it is wrong, it is wrong, make it right. And try to have some fun...

Snake Curse

© 2012 Wizards of the Coast

For the record, I am very much aware that a snake either opens its mouth or sticks out its tongue, but it does not do both at the same time. If this does in fact happen in one of my paintings, this was done purposefully for my own reasons.

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

ArtOrder - Art Test - Orc Cook

It has just come to my attention that is has been over an entire year since I last participated in an ArtOrder challenge. I knew it had been a little while, but not over an whole year! At least I am doing something about it...

If you missed it, there has been a lot of talk in the circles I find myself about the ArtOrder challenge that just wrapped up, if you missed it you can read all about it HERE. Basically the challenge was to take one of about seven subjects and make your own version of it. I obviously went with the Orc Cook. Speaking of which...

 Orc Cook
No one ever tells the cook to roll initiative.
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

If you would like to see all the submissions the entire line up of the challenge is over on ArtOrder! Be sure to head over to take a look at everyone's hard work! If some of all this sounds familiar you might be remembering a post from last month in which I talk about my approaches to humanoid monsters. Needless to say there are some silly pictures out there of me posing as an Orc cook... and no, they will not be coming to the blog anytime soon.

Hopefully it won't be another entire year till I participate again in an ArtOrder challenge! Big thanks as always going out to Jon Schindehette for all he does with ArtOrder and for doing these great challenges!

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

Vampiric Thirst - Blood Moon sneak peak

The rules for the the newest expansion to Talisman, Blood Moon, went up online last week and to my surprise one of my one of my unreleased pieces appears to be included in the new expansion. As previously mentioned here on the blog I had three dragons produced for the Dragons expansion get pushed to later set(s). The Vampiric Dragon is the first of the three to reappear. Keep in mind I started this piece WAY back in December 2010 - so it is a little out of date, though it is brand new to the blog...
 

 Vampiric Thirst
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

I had not worked on this new expansion, so it is nice to see that I will still have new work in it. I am not sure if any of the other dragons will be making an appearance as well in Blood Moon, only time will tell. The gap of an year and a half can really point out changes in process and techniques in approaching a painting. The fact that I just completed two new dragons for a project only helps point out the road I have traveled - but for now you will have to take my word on that. Here is a snippet of the Blood Moon rules featuring my dragon...

 Blood Moon rules

If any more of my dragons appear in Blood Moon you will hear about it here on the blog!

That is all for another exciting day on the blog, be sure to stop by on Friday for another new item! Until then...

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