Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Mumoku no Oni - Process

Earlier this month I shared my new Legends of the Five Rings CCG monster, the mighty Mumoku no Oni, today I have for you the steps that went into making this creature. Here is the how the Mumoku no Oni turned out...

Mumoku no Oni
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When tasked with designing a monster fit to destroy an entire province you gotta go big or go home. Admittedly, I immediately started thinking about dinosaurs and the big man himself, Godzilla. L5R is set in a fictions place similar to medieval Japan... how can I NOT think of Godzilla? The key is then to not make a Godzilla, but to think about the idea of Godzilla and dinosaurs and make something bases on those ideas and feelings. With this in mind I got to work on some thumbnails...
 
Mumoku no Oni - Thumbnails
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

To be honest I felt like I was all over the place on these. (A) was a little too much dinosaur and the angle was a little too straight on. (B) was getting weird but the angle was better. (C) ...well, it did get my 'RAWR!' of approval in the thumbnail... so I guess I was liking where it was headed at the time. Sometimes I will nail the idea on the very first thumbnail and the the rest are just spinning my wheels. Then there are the times I have a couple bad ideas in me that I have to get out of the way to get to the winning thumbnail. It turned out to be a case of the latter this time around. Production picked (C) and gave me the thumbs up to move onto the drawing...

Mumoku no Oni - Drawing
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When working on the drawing I looked mostly at the dinosaur Ankylosaurus for general mass and anatomy but for the spirit of the beast I thought about my memories of Godzilla's monster pal, Anguirus. I did NOT look at any images of Anguirus while working on the drawing to prevent too much influence and bleed over. I wanted to harness my feelings about Kaiju and create something new for L5R without pulling too much from actual Kaiju. This is why I looked mostly at Ankylosaurus to influence the major forms in the drawing. 

The drawing was quickly approved and I was able to move forward onto the actual painting. Here is how the painting progressed...
 
Mumoku no Oni - Process progression
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When preparing to paint I looked at a lot of skinks and lizards to base the coloration of Mumoku no Oni. I wanted to do something bold with the head and I knew the tongue needed to be unique. There are some great lizards out there with blue tongues and there are awesome red headed skinks. The world around us is an amazing and complex thing and all the problems we are looking to solve have been worked out several times already by mother nature. While there are many unbelievable things in nature with a wide spectrum of unexpected shapes, sizes, and colors of things, looking at reference insures we choose a BETTER red for the head and not a random one from the color wheel or paint tube. Look twice, paint once!

As you can see above, in just six easy steps I finished the painting... Okay, not really, but it should give you a feel for the progression. It did come together very quickly and except for the removal of the long vertical spike directly behind the beast's head the piece is unchanged from start to finish.  Again, here is how the final piece turned out...
 
Mumoku no Oni
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I also was able to get a better image of the card so you can see how it looks in handheld version...
 
Mumoku no Oni in handy card form
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

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, February 25, 2013

Court of Stars: The Carrion King

The Febuary issue of Dragon magazine is out and I am happy to share with you my contribution to this issue. Dragon #420 features the article, Court of Stars: The Carrion King, and as you may have guessed, the Carrion King is a monster! I was tasked with designing and illustrate the lord of the myconids, the Carrion King, and this is how it turned out...

The Carrion King
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

When I received this assignment to design a giant mushroom monster I knew it was going to be a fun one. I have always been a fan of the myconids and try to work them into my D&D campaigns whenever possible. So it was a real thrill to be tasked with designing the lord of all myconids! The fact that it is a giant multi-bodied slightly insane lord of all myconids made it that much better! Oh, and there is a gnome there to... silly gnomes. As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction!

In the coming weeks I will have for you a full break down of this assignment and share my designs, sketches, and process steps for this piece. 

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, February 22, 2013

Beastly Thug

My studies continue and this time it is an Echidna with a dagger! You might remember my related posts about the Beastly Caster, Beastly Fighter, Beastly Archer, Beastly Scribe, Beastly Pirate, Beastly Rider, and Beastly Mercenary. 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 eighth of my studies...

 Beastly Thug
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

I have been carrying around a picture of a baby echidna in my resource folder for awhile and I have been wanting to do something fun with it.  The stars aligned and this happened. Look out! He is going to shank you with his dagger. Turning a cute little baby echidna into a blood thirsty knife wielding brute seem TOTALLY a natural and logical direction to take this piece. My work schedule for the last couple months has been very full so I have not had much free time to draw for myself. When I was able to make some time for this piece it came together very quickly. It might not be apparent but I was trying some different mark making out on this piece just to see that results they offered. Use reference, try something new, and be happy with the results, pretty sure I covered all the bases on this one. Not sure I can add much more this drawing... except echidnas are neat and have some really unexpected anatomy...

That's all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday for some new work! Until then...

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

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Fleshworm Broodsire - Dreamblade

Picking up where I left off last Wednesday I have for you another look at an old Dreamblade miniature design that I have never shared here on the blog and a redesign with my current skill level and design tastes. This week the miniature getting the spotlight is the mighty Fleshworm Broodsire.

I designed the Fleshworm Broodsire as part of the core set designs in 2005 but the miniature was not released until the first expansion, Baxar's War. To be completely honest there is not a lot really wrong with this design - in my opinion. It is old and my design tastes have changed, but this is a solid piece, all things considered, and resulted in a neat miniature. Yes, it could be better, but it could have also been worse... looking at you, Bound Cleaver... ANYWAY, here is the final design for the Fleshworm Broodsire...

Fleshworm Broodsire
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Giant morbidly obese human torso on the body of a giant worm with three worm heads... done, done, and DONE. You will notice that there is a little crushed monster under him and that he has one hand stuck in the ground. This miniature has a game mechanic that allows for it to be removed from the game and all creature in your graveyard to be returned to your reserves. There was a lot to include in the design, but I managed to get it all in there.

I did do an earlier pass on the design. It turned out to be much too spread out to fit on the miniature base and I was asked to condense the footprint as well as some other minor tweaks. Here is the original concept for the Fleshworm Broodsire...

Fleshworm Broodsire - original concept
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As you can see it was pretty much all there in the original concept and I just had to rearrange the pose to better fit the base it was going on. The miniature turned out well and was faithful to the design, Here is how the final production miniature turned out...

Fleshworm Broodsire - miniature

Let's now fast forward to 2013 and see how I would approach this monster now. As I have mentioned before I think this is still a solid piece as it stands... yes, I will do things differently from a design stand point but this does not reduce the merit of the original. It can be hard to look back at old work and not see it all as crap... it is not all crap, some of it is just old. The Bound Cleaver I shared with you last week in more in the crap pile while the Fleshworm Broodsire is just old. The distinction between the two categories can be a little grey... but it is there. All that aside, here is my redesign of the Fleshworm Broodsire...

Fleshworm Broodsire Redux
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

One thing I would like to mention before I do a comparison is that there are no short cuts in art, no tricks, no gimmicks, AND ESPECIALLY no way to circumvent the hard work and time it takes to improve. No matter what anyone tells you or tries to sell to you as a short cut. You are only cheating yourself in the quest for a short cut. If you have to redraw something, take the time to redraw it. Unless there is a hard and fast issue with a deadline, there is no reason not put the pencil to the paper and start over. That said, here is a then and now comparison of the Fleshworm Broodsire...

Fleshworm Broodsire comparison

A lot of the update revolves around the design of the monster. Symmetry is boring! It has three head? Nothing says they have to be the same or equal. I looked at some crazy worn heads while I was at it to better inform and influence my choices in the design instead of just pulling things out of my head. I also better incorporated the heads into the body and continued the texture and details into the rest of the body. This better makes it feel like a whole and unified creature. I went ahead and reduced the number of fingers so that they could be larger and more detailed when it came to the mini. Made the brass knuckles more intimidating. Wrapped the tail around the opposite side of the arm digging in the ground to make it stand out better. Not sure if it would have been approved, but I made the hand in the ground appear to be digging in the ground rather then just shoved under the ground. In my opinion this adds clarity and interest. I also have added a lot more surface detail to the entire piece to add interest. Finally, I gave the pose a little more lean, curve, and twist to hopefully make it feel less stiff.

I think that is enough to chew on and think about for now...

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, February 18, 2013

BLOG-a-versary!

Yesterday was the actual day, but today works just as well. This time way back in 2009 I thought I might start up a blog... Well, today marks the beginning of year five and I have 660 posts now in the archives. It seems so surreal every time I hit one of these milestones because I am still not sure how I got to this point. How have a filled this blog up with so much content? How have I been able to get three posts up a week for all but a few occasions? Why do you all keep coming back to read my ramblings and look at my silly monsters?

Whatever the reasons of how, when, and why it does not change the fact that the blog is still going and it does not seem like it is running out of steam just yet. A hearty THANKS to EVERYONE who comes to the blog, comments on the posts, and in general lurks around this thing that I am creating. I couldn't keep doing it without you all.

I think I will wrap things up with images of the local mastodon skeleton that is apparently hiding in plane sight just a few miles from my house. You never know what you are going to find lurking outside your front door...










Mastodon skeleton and Giant Armadillo replica
Photos © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Again, many many thanks to everyone that frequents the blog and I hope the tales of my successes and failures help you all in your own journeys as artists or at least off some amusing entertainment!

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, February 15, 2013

Fresh from the drawing table... Ochre Jelly!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a OCHRE JELLY! Finding myself again at "O" I happy to see a lot of monsters still to pick from. From the iconic Orc, the wily Otyugh, or even an Octopus (GIANT) I am not without plenty to choose from. In the end I went with a monster type I have not yet tackled with this project, the ooze. The Ochre Jelly is at least to me a VERY iconic ooze so it seemed like a perfect choice this time around. I present to you my version of a Ochre Jelly…     

 Ochre Jelly
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

The Ochre Jelly has always been described as a large amoeba-like ooze that is... um, OCHRE in color. I really like the idea of it being some horrifically huge amoeba that is... wait for it, OCHRE is color. But what if it has some translucency to it? Like it was some terrible ravenous aspic oozing through dungeons ready to pounce and devour on anything that it came accross. Oozes are cool and scary in and of themselves, but if you could see their workings, if they were something more complex then a slick of goo... now you got yourself a thinking (at primitive levels) monster/animal that is unpredictable and must have some purpose in the ecosystem.

Come to think about it... the ecosystem of D&D is a horrifying thing. No wonder groups of 'heroes' are running around the countryside killing anything that moves. If there were giant amoebas in every dark subterranean place you would get a little jumpy and fast to act with your sword...

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

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Dreamblade that never was - "Bound Cleaver"

I produced a lot of work for the Wizards of the Coast miniatures game Dreamblade and I have mentioned it MANY times here on the blog and elsewhere. It sometimes feels to me like this blog is just full of nothing but post about Dreamblade and yet there is work from the game I have never shared here. There are many reasons why my work from a now long gone miniatures game has never appeared here but more and more the main reason is that I am embarrassed by the quality of the remaining pieces (but not always). As the work on the game becomes 6 - 8 years old, it is hard to not see a widening gap in the quality level of the work compared to my current work... and maybe that is the perfect reason to share it.

Today I have for you a piece that was never actually released as a miniature. It was a design I came up with on my own that production purchased for me around the time I was working on the second expansion of the game in late 2005. I titled the piece "Bound Cleaver" and it was a appropriate name seeing how the figure was bound and had a big axe...

"Bound Cleaver"
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I can spend a lot of time going over this old drawing tearing design, anatomy, and technique apart but that really won't accomplish anything. I drew this in late 2005 and it is what it is. I remember working on this drawing and the other from this expansion very clearly and I was trying to do the best I could as fast as I could.

Jump ahead to 2013. I revisited the "Bound Cleaver" design so that I could have content to post here on the blog - one of my personal assignment to work on my design skills, give me some perspective on my work and progress, and to make sure I allow myself time to draw on my own time. This new version came together rather quickly, probably quicker then it took me to create the original to tell you the truth. Here is my updated concept for the "Bound Cleaver"...

"Bound Cleaver" Redux
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

If you take anything away from this post, and it is the thing that I am trying to force myself to take notice of and remember... No matter what skill level you are at, if you want to improve, YOU CAN. It just takes time and hard work. There are no shortcuts. It takes everybody different amounts of time and different amounts of hard work, but it can be done. Here is the evidence...

"Bound Cleaver" comparison

I think I can now talk a little about some of the changes and some of my thoughts on this piece. The original idea behind this is sound and I am still excited by it, but I did not push it far enough in the original version...

First off, DESIGN... The straps in the original are all uniform and generic, and frankly look like rubber bands. This can be fixed by making the straps more diverse in size, direction, material, and detail. If this guy is bound up why does he not use that free hand holding the axe to unstrap himself? Good question! Strap his hand down to the axe. The locks are a great idea and detail, move them around the form for interest to make it look and feel more secure. That axe... add  a bit more style and look at some actual axe reference before just making marks on the paper. Also, make sure you are consistent with the perspective on the axe so that the axe head and handle are not at different angles. Lastly, You have a monstrous abomination that is strapped and bound tight hopping around on one leg with a huge axe in his massive arm... why not add to it by putting the salvation to his torture in sight with a ring around his arm containing all the keys needed to free himself... yet he has no way of doing anything about it... 

Second, ANATOMY... This is a lot more straight forward... look at and practice rendering more interesting and believable anatomical forms. Push the anatomy to give a much bigger threatening arm for the axe. Broaden the chest to show strength and make it a more threatening form. Better realize the face and provide more form and correct anatomy - look at reference. Why not show ears and hair from head as the skin is pulled back and strapped around the body. Give everything more of a bend and twist to make the entire form more interest and flow. Knees and elbows can bend, locked joints make things look stiff.

I know improving is hard work. It has taken me a lot of time and work to get to where I am and I know I have plenty of room to keep pushing and growing and it will take more hard work and time for me to get there. Keep up the fight and keep up the drawing!

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, February 11, 2013

Mumoku no Oni - Torn Asunder - L5R

Torn Asunder, the newest expansion for the Legends of the Five Rings CCG will be out later this month and I have one card in this set. The card was spoiled online late last month and I thought I might as well share the big guy. I present you with the mighty Mumoku no Oni...

Mumoku no Oni
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I created this piece last June and it was a lot of fun. It was described as a province killer and I hope it lives up to that description! It certainly says, "RAWR!". Once the set is out and I have a copy of the card in hand I will share the process as well as some thoughts on creating the piece. When creating a giant monster that is destroying a fictitious medieval Japan it is hard to not look to certain sources for reference. More on this in the coming weeks. For now I will leave you with an image of the card...

Mumoku no Oni in handy card form
© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

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, February 8, 2013

The Badger Returns - Pathfinder NPC Codex

I was recently at the bookstore flipping through gaming books when I unexpectedly noticed my name in one of them. The Pathfinder NPC Codex came out in the last several months and I am pleased that I have a piece show up in the book. The fact that the piece included is three years old… well, at least I have a piece appear in the book. Back in 2010 I did a bunch of work for the Pathfinder Gnomes of Golarion book and one of the piece was a badger! As the name of this post suggests, the badger returns…

BADGER! Back by popular demand! Or not…
© 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC

This was a fun one to work on back then, though I was asked to take out the mushrooms I originally had in the piece. It is always nice when a piece deems worthy enough and useful enough to make a return appearance. It also shows me just how much I have learned in the last three years, which is good, but it leaves me wishing I could have replaced the image with one that reflects my current skill level. But that is just me being a whiney pouty pants who wants perfection… I am thrilled that I have something in a book filled with great work from very talented artists. Thanks to those involved for including my piece!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, I will see you back here on Monday for hopefully a week of fun stuff! Until then...

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

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Live by the social media sword… Die by the social media sword

I have been thinking about all this for a while and I think it is finally time to post about it because it seems to me at least to be getting worse. I touched on some of this back at Illuxcon, but didn't have the time to expand on it too much or to get all cranky about it from my porch while I yell at the kids on my lawn.

Okay, we all have websites, fan pages, twitter accounts, blogs, face-spaces, web-books, all that stuff… and we ALL want everyone else to see them, go to them, 'like' them, comment on them, etc. We all want to be 'friends' with our peers, other working professional, and our heroes in the industry. Even if we have never met them in person. There is a ton of this social networking and internet interactions going on right now. I find myself too often confronted by what I would consider social flubs that could easily be prevented. Basically, here are some things that really push my buttons online and if you do them with me you will find yourself 'unfriended' and/or blocked. Having talked with my friends and peers about this I know I am not alone in these feelings. While most of these things are Facebook oriented they are all a good rule of thumb when handling yourself online, especially with strangers, professionals, and people you would like to work with.


1. Remain Professional - Until you REALLY get to know the other person through repeated communications or through an extended working relationship maintain a professional attitude and communication style with people. You can not go wrong with this. It is very hard to over share or say the wrong thing when you approach all communications with a purely business or professional viewpoint. The person that just accepted your friend invite that you have never met, that lives on the other side of the world, is not your BFF (yet) so treat them with a high level of respect and courtesy. ESPECIALLY if you want to work with them. ESPECIALLY if they live in another country and may have different interpersonal customs or practices.

2. Ask First - You want to have an artist look at your work and hopefully give you a critique? You want them to answer a question about the industry, a client… or just about anything that will require time of the other person? You need to first introduce yourself and ask permission BEFORE just sending them a link or attachments of your work for them to look at. This, like so many other points I will cover can really be dealt with by asking yourself, "If some stranger on the internet did to me what I am about to do to someone else, how would I feel?" OR the good ole 'do onto others as you would have them do to you'. A simple introduction and then asking permission first goes a long way.


3. Anticipate NO - This goes back to point 2. We are all busy. We all have deadlines, family, work, stress, fun, hobbies, etc… and some stranger contacting us on the internet asking for part of our very limited spare time is going to end up on the bottom of the 'to do list'. You have to expect that in the end you will get more answers of no then yes. Or at least folks will just not get back to you or forget. I tell people all the time that I will try (and I mean it), but if they don't hear back from me in a month or so, just to send me a friendly reminder - I got busy and forgot. Get to know people, it is a whole lot easier to get someone to talk about your work once you are friends (real, not just on Facebook).

4. NO TAGS - DO NOT, and this is a biggie for me, DO NOT tag me in your post, your art, your ANYTHING on Facebook that you want me to look at or see if we are strangers and have never communicated before. You will be unfriended immediately. This hits points 1 and 2 dead on. For me this is extremely unprofessional and you did not ask first. Do I know you? Are we friends? Then I don't mind the tags too much. I know MANY other people who feel the same as I do on this and I know others who don't mind at all, but they are in the minority. You may be really proud of what you just finished and would really like to show it to me… that is what a personal message it for, that is what an email is for, that is what posting it on your own wall is for. 


5. Do NOT Thread-jack - Want to get an artist to look at your work? Want people to 'like' your fan page? Want people to check out your updated website? The place to brings these things up in NOT in the comments of someone else's post or image. This has happen to me too many times and it has resulted in someone being unfriended immediately. This is inappropriate on every level. A personalized direct message or other form of direct communication is where this type of interactions needs to take place, PERIOD.

6. No Mass ANYTHING
- This ties into points 1, 2 and 4. I have been guilty of the crime of mass emails to let people know something I worked on is out, but this was only people I knew AND this was before my blog, my twitter account, and my Facebook fan page. Do not tag everyone you know on Facebook on an image or post. Mass emails and tagging can really be annoying and are unwanted by many, weigh the pros and cons of doing very carefully. I will post stuff endlessly on my own twitter account and Facebook wall but it ends there. I do not invoke the tag or directly post to anyone else when it pertains to my web promotions. There is a fine line between promotion and harassing spam. 


7. Invite ONCE - Oh boy, this is another big one for me. Everybody is making Facebook fan pages lately and everybody is sending me invites to 'like' them. Here is the truth of the matter, I barely can keep up with all of my friends pages. This means I can not 'like' and follow every page that I am invited to follow. Just not going to happen. There is no need to tell me about how I can 'like' a page and then hide it… it is my account and my choice on what to 'like'. Do not expect everyone to just like your page just because you sent them an invite. I have plenty of friends, ACTUAL friends, that don't 'like' my fan page, and that is fine! It is their choice. Here is how this goes horribly wrong… I received an invite to like a person's page 4-5 time IN ONE DAY. I had to send them a message insisting they stop. This type of behavior is inexcusable. I send out invites to like my fan page once a month and I try very hard not to invite anyone more then once.

8. Don't stalk
- That artist you have never met that does the art you really like… yeah, don't be that person that 'likes' EVERY SINGLE THING they post or say online. You can feel that way, but you will get noticed and it gets creepy. Again, think about how it would feel if there was some person you never met 'liking' every single thing you posted on Facebook… creepy, right? Just dial it down a little, even though fan comes from fanatic it does not mean you need to stick to the original meaning. You are not going to get to be pals with someone by liking everything they say and do. 


We all have to learn how to manage ourselves online and how best to conduct ourselves. I have made plenty of mistakes while online and I learned from them. We don't have to be perfect and everyone comes from a different place and has different expectations of their online interactions. Keeping a level of professionalism with the people you interact with as well as a healthy level of respect for everyone will go a long way. Of course, these are my opinions, take them for what they are worth...

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

Monday, February 4, 2013

Very Near Mint volume 3 - Kickstarter

If you are familiar with the blog then the names Very Near Mint and Justin Peterson might be familiar to you. If not, Very Near Mint is an AMAZING series of graphic novel by the ridiculously talented Justin Peterson. Justin currently has a new Kickstarter up to fund the publishing of the third volume in the Very Near Mint epic super amazing trilogy! The good news is that the book is already funded, the BETTER news is that are also a bunch of great additional rewards already unlocked that you can receive by funding at the right price point! Head over to the VNM volume 3 Kickstater for all the details!!! ALSO, if you are thinking to yourself, "But I don't have volume 1 or 2, why would I fund volume 3?", don't worry, Justin has you covered!

Cover of Very Near Mint volume 3
© 2013 Justin Peterson

If all the additional prints, cards sets, and name badges aren't enough of an incentive to own a great book like VNM, then maybe the fact that my art is in all the volumes will help seal the deal. I have contributed a pin up for all the volumes of VNM (and Uncanny VNM) and I am happy to say that I will have a piece in Very Near Mint volume 3! Here is a look at my previous contributions...

My previous contributions...
Pins ups for VNM vol 1, Uncanny VNM, and VNM vol 2
Characters © 2013 Justin Peterson / Art by Christopher Burdett

The piece that I have produced for Very Near Mint volume 3 will be in full color and will fracture some things I have not drawing since I was a youth and have been itching to revisit. I am really happy with how it turned out and I think Justin is as well. I will leave you with a sneak peak of things to come...

Crappy sneak peak of super awesome amazing brand new pin up for VNM vol 3!
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Again,  head over the Kickstarter to take advantage of all the bonus Kickstarter exclusives as well as help fund this amazing book! What are you waiting for??? GO NOW!

That is all for another exciting Monday, 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, February 1, 2013

Fresh from the drawing table... Neo-Otyugh!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a NEO-OTYUGH! Let's get this out of the way, it can be pronounced /ˈɒtjəɡ/ or /ˈɒtjuː/...or how I pronounce it /UH-teh-Jah/. Arriving at "N" again I realized the picking were getting slim. So I picked NEW of the Otyugh. After the Neo-Otyugh, "N" has only a sexy lady monster, a scary old lady monster and a horsy monster left for me to tackle. Decided to go with the tentacled horror while I could! I present to you my version of a Neo-Otyugh…     

Neo-Otyugh
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

That fact that I designed my Neo-Otyugh before first designing my Otyugh was not lost on me. The whole time I was working on this every time I would make a design choice I would stop myself and then dial it up a notch more. A few more tentacles? NOPE, a WHOLE LOT more tentacles. There is a part of me that is a little worried that when I get back around to doing the Otyugh that it is going to get up looking frumpy compared to this one. This is just something I will have to be mindful of when that time comes. Going into this one I thought it was going to be really straight forward and pour off the pencil... I was wrong. There were a few discarded starts for this monster and a lot of it had to go with coming up with a pleasing anatomical arrangement and composition. You can't just throw tentacles onto something just anywhere! There is a flow and method to the tentacle madness... RAWR!

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