The project that will never be... Part 2

While at Gen Con I unexpectedly got permission to share with you the following images that I produced for a project that will never be. I got this permission under the agreement that I can not discuss ANY details about this project... not even the company I produced these for. SO, with that in mind I ask that you not try to guess who or what this was and for whom they were produced. I would hate to have to pull this post down.


Earlier this month I shared with you the first of these two unproduced pieces. While the creation of this one was not as colorful as the previous one I shared, there was still a lot to time, work, and effort put into these drawings. SO, nearly 3 years after creating this I can now share it with you. This project may not have worked out the way I had hoped, but at least now I can share with you all the work I did...

Unproduced figure #2

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

Unproduced base #2

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

As before, here are some of the initial concepts that I did for this piece. Again, I was working on paper throughout the entire concept process... cause I like to draw and stuff...

Unproduced base concepts

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

Unproduced figure concepts

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

What was lost to the trials and tribulations of production cancellations now drift off into the microcosm of the internet. ...to be as unseen there as it was unseen in a stack of papers in my house...

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

Deviants - OHOTMU Reduxe

I have recently contributed again to the extremely awesome The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe REDUXE Edition (OHOTMU Reduxe) blog. You will remember that this blog is redesigning, reinventing, and otherwise recreating all of the entries in the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe. My previous batch of aliens can be found HERE and HERE. For my thrid, and more likely final contribution I tackled HUGE group of crazy mutant alien proto human things... I present to you my take on the Deviants...
 

Original illustrations by Sal Buscema and Joe Rubinstein - © Marvel Comics

Redesigns - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Original illustrations by Sal Buscema and Joe Rubinstein - © Marvel Comics

Redesigns - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

These all took a bit of time to finally finish up... I have in fact been working on these off and on since April! A labor of love. Now that they are done I am a little surprised how much I put into them. They were fun... but 18 is a lot of portraits. Here are some larger uncropped image of them all so you can get a better look at them...

Kro, Tode, Ghaur, and Ransak the Reject Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Cataphrax, Ranar, Aholau, and Vira Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Dragona, Erishkigel, Zakka, Shelmar, Toro Rojo Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Broop, Sluice, Ragar, Karygmax, Yrdisis Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

That is 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

Ecology of the Neogi

It looks like that I contributed more then the cover to Dragon Magazine issue 427! I had expected this article to appear next month, but it looks like "Ecology of the Neogi" arrived a month early. If this piece looks a little familiar, you are correct! Back in July the good folks over at WotC previewed the drawing of this piece as a teaser of things to come. That time has arrived finally and here is a Neogi riding an umber hulk...

Ecology of the Neogi - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

This was my first opportunity to work on a Neogi, but more important to me, my first chance to work on an official D&D umber hulk (RAWR)! For me the umber hulk is one of those super classic monsters and it has captured my imagine from the very beginning. I was happy to paint a spider eel riding an umber hulk any day of the week!

This piece actually has a rich and complex thumbnail / sketch stage that I will be looking forward to sharing with you in the coming weeks. There was originally a third element to this illustration... that in the end became problematic. But more about all this soon!

As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction!

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday for some more 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

Theros Prerelease

I was invited to attend the Theros prerelease this past weekend at a local gaming store, Gamescape. It was a really fun experience and was a great way to reconnect with the player side of Magic the Gathering... since I have not played Magic in 17 years. The player's excitement and energy surrounding the game was rather intoxicating and I eventually found myself playing a game after a very long hiatus. Also, after a very long wait, I was able to hold my first two Magic cards in my hands. I got to sign loads of my cards and meet a lot of local player and in general had a really fun time of it! Many photos were taken, and here are some of the highlights...

I was given a table to show off my work from Theros, peddle my wears, and sign cards.

My wife was a good sport and kept an eye on things as I wondered about in between signing cards.

It is almost time for the first round of the Prerelease to begin!

Let the games begin!

The wife is learning all about how to play Magic... which she compared to learning algebra. But I think she might have a future on the tournament level of play!

Thanks to Aras for showing her the game!

It was all too much, I had to get my hands on some cards!

PIZZA APOCALYPSE! What every Magic prerelease needs... a mountain of pizza.

This picture does not do justice to just how much pizza there was... and at the speed it disappeared.

I signed whole schools of hippocamps and herds of catoblepas... catoblepases... catoblepi...

One unexpected perk... I got to collect the cards created by my friends and art pals!

Even more cards by friends and art pals! ...now to get them all signed :)

It was only a matter of time... I found myself playing Magic after a 17 year gap. Thankfully I was playing a game of Two headed giant (a two person team plays another two person team) so I had a more experience partner.

I did pull one of my cards... so I guess I am playing black/green! RAWR!

It all seems so familiar and so different to be playing again... but I did not have too long to worry about it, a big dragon killed us in two rounds shortly after this picture was taken. I will need to get a little more familiar with Magic before I play again.

A huge thanks to Ben Bloodworth, everyone at Gamescape, and to all the players for making my first prerelease such a fun and exciting time! Fun times, memories, and I got to go home with some of my cards... I could not have wanted or hoped for better!

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

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

Theros - Toned Paper Magic the Gathering Drawings

With the prerelease for Theros beginning tonight I thought I would share with you today my toned paper drawings for the two pieces I have in the set. Not sure what else to add about these... I am really happy with how they turned out, especially the Catoblepas. It just exudes "RAWR!". That is always good in my book! ...oh, these are also still available if any one would like to own them! :) 

"Loathsome Catoblepas" - Magic the Gathering - Theros

12 x 9 - colored pencil on toned paper

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

"Breaching Hippocamp" - Magic the Gathering - Theros

12 x 9 - colored pencil on toned paper

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

As a reminder, for those in the Tallahassee / North Florida areas, I will be attending some of the prerelease events for Theros this weekend ...starting TONIGHT at midnight! I am being hosted by the most excellent gaming store, Gamescape and you can get all the details over on their Facebook event page!

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

Bestiary: Lost World - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

After posting my first Magic the Gathering cards on the blog on Monday I was wondering what I was going to do today that could hold up against that news. Well, a quick glance at the Dungeons & Dragons website solved my dilemma... My cover to Dragon Magazine issue 427 is now out! And look, there are LOTS of monsters on it...

Bestiary: Lost World - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Besides being the cover for this month's issue of Dragon, this illustration is also the main piece for the article, Bestiary: Lost World. Not only did I get to paint hobgoblins and goblins but I got to design and illustrate three brand new prehistoric D&D monsters (RAWR)! This was a big piece for me... on many levels and I am very happy with how it turned out. I have produced a lot of single monster pieces over the years and this asked a lot more from me. Here is how the illustration looks cropped down for the cover...

Dragon Magazine Issue 427 Cover

The D&D home page today! RAWR!

I am looking forward to sharing with you the process that went into this piece. I did a bit of design work on the three prehistoric D&D monsters and I have been looking forward to sharing it. The final drawing that I did for this piece was also larger then my usual drawings since there is so much more going on. Hopefully I will have the process post for this piece on the blog in the coming weeks!

I would like to extend a HUGE thanks to Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction on this piece! This piece was a big step forward for me and I am glad I have shown her I was ready and prepared for this assignment.

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday for some Magic drawings! Until then...

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

Magic the Gathering - Theros

Over the weekend all of the new Magic the Gathering set, Theros, was spoiled online. These means I can now share my other card from the set as well as both of my card's official names and stats!

My second Theros card that has been hiding under the waves of it's NDA is the Breaching Hippocamp. I am very happy to share this fishy horse monster (RAWR!). The Breaching Hippocamp was the second MtG piece that I was assigned and it was up to me to design and illustrate it! This of course is what I love to do best! Here is how it turned out...

"Breaching Hippocamp" - Magic the Gathering - Theros
PRINTS available at OMA!

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Breaching Hippocamp

I am really looking forward to sharing with you the process that went into designing the Breaching Hippocamp. Not only because it was fun and I am really happy with how it turned out... but also because I did so much work! More about all this in the coming weeks!

You  may recall the Catoblepas that I was able to share with you a couple weeks back. Well, it is now officially the Loathsome Catoblepas and has stats as well!

"Loathsome Catoblepas" - Magic the Gathering - Theros
PRINTS available at OMA!

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Loathsome Catoblepas

I will be sharing the process for the Loathsome Catoblepas piece as well, though it is a lot more straight forward.

It is a real honor to be part of Theros and to be in a set with so many talented and amazing artists. Many thanks goes out to Jeremy Jarvis for including me on this set! I look forward to what the future holds with my involvement with MtG... but more about that on another day...

For those in the Tallahassee / North Florida areas, I will be attending some of the prerelease events for Theros starting this Friday night at midnight! I am being hosted by the most excellent gaming store, Gamescape and you can get all the details over on their Facebook event page!

If you can not make it I will be sure to take some pictures and share my experiences here on the blog, this will be my first time attending such an event and this should be a learning experience!

That is all for another very 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

Toned Paper Kitteh

Wrapping up another exciting week on the blog I have for you another toned paper drawing that I produced for Gen Con. This time I revisited the Agathion Familiar that I originally produced for the Chronicles of the Righteous from Paizo Publishing. People love cats so I thought it would be fun to rework my bad black kitty drawing on toned paper and here is how it turned out...

Mystic Kitty

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

Original "Agathion Familiar" sketch © 2013 Paizo Publishing

My assumption paid off... This piece got a lot of attention at Gen Con and eventually ended up going to a new home in England. I think I mentioned this before, but this is based on our little bad black kitty, Stinky. He is all black and does not emit shadowy smoke... but other then that... RAWR!

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

Star Wars - Edge of the Empire - Beyond the Rim

My contributor copy of Beyond the Rim (the newest source book for Star Wars - Edge of the Empire RPG) arrived on Monday, so I am happy to be able to share my contribution today! I was able to produce two figure pieces this time around, a naughty naughty Nexu (BAD KITTY!) and a Trandoshan that is TOTALLY not me standing in the yard... nope, totally not that...

Nexu

© 2013 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Rival Explorer (totally not me standing in the yard dressed this way)

© 2013 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Needless to say, these were really fun and I always love to paint me some Trandoshans. Trying my best to illustrate the entire population of Dosh single handed. Hopefully when I look back my Trandoshans will look different from each other and I am just not painting the same one over and over again... Bossk on my mind. I took some photos of the art in the book so you can see how it was used. They ended up a lot larger then I had expected! Which is really cool... that Nexu is HUGE! No one is going to miss that one...

I CAN HAZ WHOLE PAGE?

Ready for adventure!

Thanks goes out to another exciting Zoe Robinson for another exciting Star Wars project! There will be more Star Wars on the blog in the fullness of time... RAWR!

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

The project that will never be... Part 1

While at Gen Con I unexpectedly got permission to share with you the following images that I produced for a project that will never be. I got this permission under the agreement that I can not discuss ANY details about this project... not even the company I produced these for. SO, with that in mind I ask that you not try to guess who or what this was and for whom they were produced. I would hate to have to pull this post down.

Way back in late 2010 (has it really been that long?) I was asked to design some turnarounds and I threw myself into the project and gave it all I had. After an unexpectedly huge set of revisions AND that project eventually getting killed after I had done my part... well, I was a little bummed out. BUT, nearly 3 years later I can now share my efforts on the project that will never be. It did not work out the way I had hoped, but at least now I can share with you all the work I did...
 

Unproduced figure #1

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

Unproduced base #1

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

Here are some of the initial concepts that I did for this piece. Now a days I do all my early concepts and thumbnails digitally to save time and to make it easier on myself... not on this project. I was working on paper the entire time. I wanted to make a paper trail for the entire process... a process I almost never got to show off...

Unproduced base concepts

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

Unproduced figure concepts

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

SO... I mentioned an "unexpectedly huge set of revisions" earlier. There some confusion, a miscommunication, a change of plans... something... and after I had produced the figure's turnaround, which as you can see evolved juuuuuuuust a little bit of drawing, I had to start over and redo it all. Apparently I and the client were on two separate pages as far as the piece was going to look in the round. I was of the school of "ALL THE TENTACLES" and they were of the school of "some of the tentacles"... of course the clients wins and I redrew it all. Lesson learned! I introduced a new work flow for these types of projects. Here is how the first version turned out so you can compare and contrast...

Unproduced figure #1 - VERSION 1

The copyright is held by a company that asked not to be named

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

Wookiee Gunner

What better way to conclude an exciting week on the blog then with a Wookiee! Today I have for you a piece I put together to have at Gen Con which you may have already gotten a glimpse of, my toned paper Wookiee Gunner...

Wookiee Gunner

12 x 9

colored pencil on toned paper

Original "Wookiee Navigator" sketch © 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

The Wookiee Gunner may be familiar to you for other reasons too, since it is based off of the Wookiee Navigator that I created for the Star Wars Card Game. Apparently this Wookiee is getting around a lot more then I originally knew. After Gen Con I got a message from Sam Flegal (this becomes even more relevant as you read on). The message included a photo of a Star Wars card with the image of the Wookiee Navigator and the card title of "Gunner". I was dumbstruck! Turned out the card comes with the Slave One, Star Wars miniatures expansion. How cool is that! Here is a look at the card and the mini...

Slave One and Gunner from the Star Wars miniatures expansion

Gunner! that happens to be a Wookiee...

Speaking of Sam Flegal... as mentioned in my Gen Con coverage, Sam is now the happy owner of the Wookiee Gunner! The circle is now complete, when the Wookiee Gunner left me it was but the learner, but now... it is the master. Or something like that...

Wookiee adaption program

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

Star Wars - Edge of the Empire

An exciting week on the blog! Yesterday saw my first Magic the Gathering card and today I have for you my contribution to my first Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire! My contributor copy of the book finally arrived yesterday so I am in the clear to share these with you... though they may look familiar since I snapped some pictures of the book they are in while at Gen Con. These of course are much better images of my work and you can see what they originally looked like. Without further delay, here are some Star Wars lizard monsters...

 AT-PT

© 2013 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

 

Barabel Enforce

© 2013 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

No matter the universe, time period, or technology level... I love working on lizard monsters... RAWR! These were really fun to work on and I have a lot of really fun and really silly photo reference that I took for these. Maybe I will share some of that reference when I post the process for these in the coming weeks. If those Trandoshans in front of the AT-PT look familiar, that is because they went with me to Gen Con...

Trandoshan Hunting Party

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

Original "AT-PT" sketch © 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Special thanks goes again to Zoe Robinson for this assignment and getting me the pieces that I would most enjoy and get the most out of. I look forward to sharing with you more of the work Zoe has been giving me! But that will have to wait for another day...

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