The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: October 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Role Play - Dice Portrait Tees - Kickstarter

Good day, adventures! I must draw your attention to a Kickstarter that is relevant to my interests! Warrior, artist, and friend, Lee Bretschneider is currently raising funds to create a line of shirts based on his Role Play dice portrait work. Those familiar with the blog should recognize Lee's name since I have mentioned him here over the years regarding this work at Adventuring Company, participation at Geek Night, and journeys through dungeons that I have mastered. You really should take the time to check out the shirts and the great video that Lee did for his Kickstarter... AND you really should help fund this... cause I want some of these shirts!

Role Play - Dice Portrait Tees

Here is a look at all the designs Lee is planning on creating when he gets funding for his project. I am partial to D4, D6, D10, and D12... but they are all great! You know you want them too!

Again, take a moment and head over to Kickstarter to have a look at Lee's project, the shirts, the video, your options, and all the great add ons! If you somehow missed the link until now... Role Play - Dice Portrait Tees! Make this excited adventurer even more excited and get his project funded!

Lee Bretschneider - human barbarian / halfling rogue

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, October 28, 2013

ImagineFX 102 - Be Clever With Your Colors tutorial

Want to learn ALL my secrets? Want to see how I go about making a painting from start to finish? Want to hear me rant for an hour and a half like a crazy person as I narrate and discuss my painting process? Then you NEED to pick up the December issue of ImageFX (#102)! That's right, in issue 102 of ImageFX I have a 4 page tutorial focusing the creation of a battling pair of monsters... did I say monster?! Yes I did, and here they are...

Be Clever With Your Colors - Tutorial

If words and pictures on paper are not enough for you, there is also a ton of supporting files, brushes, and a video containing a screen capture of my painting process available as well! As previously promised above, I ramble and rant like a crazy person throughout the entire video! YAYS! That aside, you do get see just how I create a painting from start to finish. When you are the newsstand be sure to keep an eye out for this lovely cover...

The December (#102) issue of ImageFX

BUY IT NOW! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?

My copy of ImagineFX #102 arrived over the weekend and it was definitely an unexpected surprise. I am not sure this issue is even out in the US yet. To give you a sneak peek of what you can expect from me in issue 102 here are some poor scans of my article...

Be Clever With Your Colors - Tutorial pages 1-2

Be Clever With Your Colors - Tutorial pages 3-4

To get the entire experience as well as the rest of the magazine full of other GREAT article and information I strongly suggest you picking up a copy as soon as possible. For those who just can't wait to experience me ranting and raving, here is the accompanying youtube video that goes along with this tutorial, now you too will know all my secrets...

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, October 25, 2013

Edge of the Empire - AT-PT - Process

Last month I shared with you my contribution to the Edge of the Empire core book. Today I have for you the process that went into the second of those two pieces... the AT-PT. Like the Barabel Enforcer, this piece is a little old by current standards, I worked on this during May of 2012. Just so we are all the same page, here is how the the final AT-PT turned out...

AT-PT

This piece got the usual treatment of a reference shoot followed by some thumbnails. The assignment for this piece was to show the AT-PT walker and a couple Trandoshan hunters out on in a jungle. The piece was about the walker... I of course informed my art director that by giving me this piece I would HAVE to make it about the Trandoshans. She understood and gave me her blessing. I could not simply make an illustration about a big dumb walker when there were two super awesome lizard aliens to paint! In fact, these were the first Trandoshans ever assigned to me, so it was a big deal. So with all that in mind and NO pressure to make some cool Trandoshans, I got to work on some thumbnails...

AT-PT - Thumbnails

I think I was really excited about option "C" if I remember correctly... so option "A" was picked and I was given the green light to move forward. As promised... here is some of the reference shots that went into this piece. More images of an idiot running around in the yard with plastic weapons... scaring the neighbors... freaking out the squirrels...

AT-PT reference ...or, some idiot in the yard with toy guns

Now that I had an approved thumbnail and plenty of reference it was time to draw me some Trandoshans. I still have not been able to find any of my old Star Wars drawings. I hope they are not all lost to the ages. Anyway, here is how the final drawing for the AT-PT turned out, it was approved without revisions...

AT-PT - Drawing

With all the steps completed and approvals received it is now time to paint. As mentioned above, since this piece is from May 2012 which means it was put together in an outdated fashion. It does not include the value and chroma buildup that you have seen in all my process post from work completed after June 2012. It is still fun to see the piece come together all the same, here is the AT-PT taking shape in six easy steps...

AT-PT - Process

I believe this piece was approved without revision and was very well received by production. So well received in fact that it was one of the preview art pieces used when the game was announced on the FFG website last year. Here is how the final turned out again for your viewing pleasure (RAWR!)...

AT-PT

As an added bonus, here again is the toned paper drawing that I did that was inspired by my work on this piece...

Trandoshan Hunting Party

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

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, October 23, 2013

Kickstarter: Lands and Legends - Volume One

*EDIT* - The Kickstarter for this book is currently down and is getting reworked to better show just how great this project is. The book is still getting published, the Kickstarter is just down for the moment.

There is something huge up on Kickstarter right now that you need to check out! Lands and Legends: Volume One is an EPIC collection of artist making beautiful art... and I am lucky enough to count myself among the legion of top artists involved with this project. Just take a moment to look at Kickstarter page to see the names involved in this and you will know how great it is going to be...

Lands and Legends - Volume One

Fantasy Illustration Library

I am creating a brand new monster piece for the book and am really looking forward to making the piece worth being in a book surrounded by so many huge names in the illustration industry. Now is your chance to head over to the Kickstarter page and support this project and become part of what will hopefully be the first of a huge library of amazing art books.

What are you waiting for? Head to Kickstarter 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, October 21, 2013

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire - Specialization Deck

Last weekend I was perusing the local gaming and comic store and they had a huge selection of of Specialization Decks for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. Since they come in handy dandy resealable clam shell cases I was checking out the art (with permission of the owner of course!). I got to the deck for Explorer / Trader when something caught my eye...

Convincing Demeanor

(A taste of bigger things to come)

My, what a handsome Arconan! Oh wait, I painted that Arconan... In fact, this is a close up from a much larger Star Wars piece I did for another Star Wars project. I thought about sharing that piece here today, but I was unsure if I actually could and I also wanted to wait for the original project to be out anyway. This piece means a lot to me for a lot of reasons, first and foremost because it marks the first of my Star Wars pieces that I really started to push to make them "mine". I started adding a lot more into them then was required to make them more interesting, dense, and have a more interesting narrative. ...but more on all that later...

Next time you are at your local gaming store be sure to check out all the Edge of the Empire Specialization Decks! ...Or at least the Explorer / Trader deck for sure!

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire - Specialization Deck

Explorer - Trader

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, October 18, 2013

Ungoliant's Spawn - Process

Way back in May I shared with you a big spiky spider that I did for the Lord of the Rings card game. Today I finally have for you the process that went into the piece as well as a look at how things didn't go as planned for this particular piece. So that we are all on the same page, here is how the final for the Ungoliant's Spawn turned out...

Ungoliant's Spawn

RAWR! Giant spider! Hard to go wrong with an assignment like that... but I almost found a way, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning with some good ole thumbnails like I do every time I start an illustration. As with many other of my assignements for LotR the dimensions of the final card art needs to be more of less a square. I don't really want to make square illustrations. To make sure everyone is happy I plan out the piece to work in the required square and a personally more desirable rectangle. If I remember correctly this assignment came to me with a bit of urgency and I hit the ground running. I turned over the thumbnails rather quickly and included notes if my frantic scribblings were a little to chaotic...

Ungoliant's Spawn - Thumbnails

Option 'A' was a quick winner and I was sent on my way to make the final drawing... which I did... As mentioned before, this assignment had a bit of urgency around it. Which means I probably felt rushed... which means I probably didn't spend as much time as I should have on the drawing. This was my first mistake. Not a huge mistake... but like a snowball rolling down hill it soon got bigger. That was all still ahead of me, here is the final drawing...

Ungoliant's Spawn - Drawing

Now that I had an approved drawing I made some edits to the mouth of the spider and got started painting. When this was painted I was still using my older process. I touched on this last week as well. In six easy steps the spider took shape and came together really quickly...

Ungoliant's Spawn - Process Steps

Wait... wait... I said something about things not working out and almost messing up this painting, didn't I? Yes I did! Going into this assignment I had the big idea to do this piece traditionally. I got permission from my art director (Thanks, Zoe!) and she gave me the blessing to proceed... as long as I left time in my schedule to do it digitally is things hit the fan (this is when I pause and look you meaningfully directly in the eyes).

SO... I got started working on this piece in real paint. At this time I had a couple traditional pieces under my belt and I was feeling rather brave. What is the worse that could wrong? I would have to paint a giant spider twice... right... yeah... hurm... Anyway, I had a clear vision of what I wanted this piece to look like (see above process and finished piece to see what that clear vision actually was) and I got started painting...

Ungoliant's Spawn traditional process steps of what was never to be.

Yeah... I had lost control of my color almost immediately, among other things. That mouth that I rushed was causing me a lot of problems and I was trying to fix it in the paint which was causing more problems then it was solving. Needless to say, there is a lot of local color issues, color temperature issues, and a general lack of cohesiveness trough out the image... as well as the little fact the piece was spiraling further and further away from where I actually wanted to go.

After a lot of work and struggle and some soul searching I decided to abandon my first attempt at making a traditional piece for a client and go back to my digital strengths. I of course quickly banged out a final piece that was better then I actually expected it to be as well as a piece that was very well received by the client. This left me a little frustrated to say the least. Since this personal set back I have produced two completely traditional pieces for clients, the most recent for Fantasy Flight Games. So in the end it all worked out and I just needed more time and practice. ...you know, that thing I have talked about time and time and time and time again here on the blog, all you need in the end to succeed is a lot of time and hard work. Maybe I am not just rambling incoherent nonsense here on the blog... or maybe I am and I just got one thing right...

Here again is how the final Ungoliant's Spawn turned out as well as a very bad scan of how the final card turned out with the cropped down selection of the art...

Ungoliant's Spawn

Ungoliant's Spawn in handy dandy card form!

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, October 16, 2013

Children of Yuletide

I am proud to announce that I am talking part in the group show, Children of Yuletide, next month in Philadelphia! Children of Yuletide features 21 artists depicting Pagan/Non-Abrahamic winter festivals (and monsters) from around the world. Who are these artists? Well, have a look at this list... Alan Brown, Christopher Burdett, Mike Bukowski, Jeanne D'Angelo, Keely Dolan, Heather Gargon, Eden Gorgós, Justin Gray, Kat Gun-Art, Gunsho, Sam Heimer, Trevor Henderson, Jeremy Hush, Alina Josan, Erin McCown, Brynn Methany, Alicia Neal, Paul Romano, Dylan Garrett Smith, Ketch Wehr and Jenn Woodall.

The very talented Mike Bukowski is curating this show and he made the MOST excellent poster...

CHILDREN OF YULETIDE

Opening reception November 15th 7pm - 9pm

Grindcore House

1515 S 4th St Philadelphia, PA 19148

I will not be there, but my art will be. I am very excited about the piece I have in the show and I have been working on it for awhile now. I am keeping my piece under wraps until the show opens, but I will say it is a piece for subject matter that I have been wanting to tackle for a LONG time. It is also the largest drawing I have done in... well... a VERY long time. Those watching my Instagram and Facebook Fan Page carefully will have seen several sneak peeks of what I have cooking up. If you missed them... here they are...

Secret feet...

Secret face...

More secret feet... in a basket...

Once the show opens I will post my piece here on the blog, and hopefully a kind soul in Philadelphia will send me some pictures of the opening so that I can share them here as well. If there are anything new to share as the opening approaches you will see it here on the blog! 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

Monday, October 14, 2013

Hornbills for you on my LEVEL UP day

This is my LEVEL UP day, so I am spending it offline as I use up my new skill points and assign another years worth of XP to the correct stat blocks... spoiler alert, I am putting it all into monster making. Today is also the calm before the storm. I have managed a small window of downtime right before the maelstrom of monsters begins (RAWR!). So... in my leave, here are some ground hornbills to make it all better. Kind of like a Hobbit birthday, I am giving you something... Look at all that AWESOME reference. These are from the Atlanta Zoo, enjoy!

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, October 11, 2013

Edge of the Empire - Barabel Enforcer - Process

Last month I shared with you my contribution to the Edge of the Empire core book. Today I have for you the process that went into one of those pieces... the wily Barabel Enforcers. This piece is a little old by current standards, I worked on this during May of 2012. That is so long ago I was using my now out dated method of building up my paintings. Just so we are all the same page, here is how the the final Barabel Enforcer turned out...

Barabel Enforcer

The broken record that I am (and a repository for outdated metaphors!), I started off everything with some good ole thumbnails. Before the thumbnails I did take a lot of reference photos of a handy Barabel Enforcer analog that I had laying around (more on that below). I worked up three thumbnails that I thought were interesting and would be fun to work on. Remember, never turn in anything you would not want to have to take to completion... if you really don't like one of your thumbnails they will be sure to pick that one and you will have to take it all the way to a finished piece. If I remember correctly, at the time I was really more excited about option 'A' and 'C'... so in the end... 'B' was picked and I was given the green light to move forward

Barabel Enforcer - Thumbnails

Did I say something about reference?! I sure did! Some project do not require a lot of reference and other projects require a huge amount... and sometimes there are projects that are best resolved by dressing up like an idiot and running around with a knife and a good blaster at your side. Here is the main reference for this character...

Barabel Enforcer reference... or some idiot running around in the yard with a knife.

Now that I have reference and an approved thumbnail it was time to get started on the final drawing. This has suddenly gotten me thinking about all the Star Wars drawings I did back in the early 1980's... I wonder if any of them are tucked away somewhere. I will need to look into that... Anyway, here is how the final drawing for the Barabel Enforcer turned out, it was approved without revisions...

Barabel Enforcer - Drawing

With all my steps completed and approvals received it is now time to paint. As mentioned above, since this piece is from May 2012 it is actually put together in an outdated fashion. It does not include the value and chroma buildup that you have seen in all my process post from work completed after June 2012. It is still fun to see the piece come together all the same, here is the Barabel Enforcer coming taking shape in six easy steps...

Barabel Enforcer - Process

There was one small revision to the brow and eyes after the final was turned in, but that was corrected in minutes. After that the piece was approved and turned in... and a year and a half later it is on the blog. Here is how the final turned out again for your viewing pleasure (RAWR!)...

Barabel Enforcer

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday... kind of. Until then...

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

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Elves of Uteria and other notable Kickstarters

I was being all mysterious and vague on Facebook and Instagram earlier this week about a project I was working on which I could share my work with you as actively working on it. A rarity to say the least! Well, the cat is out of the bag, I am working on some monsters for The Elves of Uteria RPG...

Michael Bielaczyc has made my involvement public! Thanks, Mike!

Now that everybody knows what I am working on, here is a better photo of the little demon I am currently working. Very much in the early early stages. He is smiling... how bad could he really be?!

Expect to see more for these monsters as they take shape on the coming weeks! It will be a nice treat to share these drawings with you as they take shape! RAWR!

While on the subject of Kickstarter and crowd funded projects I have two more projects to direct your attention to! Back in August you may remember me mentioning Strange Nature, a project that is very near and dear to the very talented Jim Ojala. Unfortunately, the first attempt to get funded fell short, But Jim is not going to let that hold him back! He is back and in the final hours of another push to get his project funded and it is almost there! He needs your help NOW to push it over the finish line.

STRANGE NATURE by Jim Ojala

I would be remiss in not mentioning project, especially since I over looked int the first time it was up for funding. Scotty Fields, another of my super great coworkers from when I worked in Los Angeles has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan film.

Blood Brothers FX Presents A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fan Film

Be sure to take a moment and help out Jim and Scotty to help them make they projects a reality!

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, October 7, 2013

The CRUNCH!

Since Gen Con my schedule has slowly been getting more and more full. I was planning for things to really shift into high gear this very week. Unexpectedly, things got going weeks ago and I am already in the thick of things... with more and more coming very. Why am I telling you all this? Good question...

This blog is a real labor of love for me and I have been keeping it going with posts three times a week since 2009. For the next three months... at least through mid/late December, if something is going to have to give in my schedule it will unfortunately will have to be this blog. I do not plan to interrupt my blog posting routine, but I just want to let you all know that if things get really crazy in the coming weeks you might notice some disruptions. I have plenty of content prepped for posts and I have new work about to drop any day now, so it will ultimately be down to having the time to get something onto the blog.

Lots of really really exciting things on the horizon and I am already looking forward to 2014 and what I will have to share with you! In the short term, if you notice any disruptions in the blog, please remember it is only temporary and that things will be back to normal soon enough! For now, I will leave you with an edited view of some of the things going on in my studio space over the weekend...

CRUNCH TIME... or the very full plate...

That is all for anther 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, October 4, 2013

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Process

Back in July I brought you The Anatomy of Elemental Evil from the article of the same name in issue #425 of Dragon Magazine. Today seemed like as good a day as any to share with you the process that went into this piece! To start things off let's have a look at how the final Anatomy of Elemental Evil turned out...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil

As always... I started off everything with some good ole thumbnails. This entity was described as a massive column made of lava, steam and tentacles. Determining if this was a massive column made of tentacles or a massive column that has tentacles was a big element of this piece. For the thumbnails I was erring on the side of made of lava and has some lava tentacles. I was also beginning to realize that this piece was quickly becoming a landscape rather then a monster portrait...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Thumbnails

"C" was the winner and it was finally decided that this was in fact a massive column MADE of tentacles AND lava. I can get behind that. There was a request to give a piece a little more of a tilt and I could proceed forward with the final drawing. Speaking for drawings... here is how it turned out...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Drawing

The drawing was approved without any revisions and I was all set to paint some lava tentacles. When I was working on this piece I had recently finished a ton of Mephits, one of which was made of lava. This allowed me to hit the ground running with the painting since I had already worked out a color palette and texture scheme. With many materials it is more about hitting the correct pattern of light or warms and cools to get it to ready correctly. Lava is one of those materials. With the main material of this piece all set I was ready to make a painting in 10 easy steps...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Process steps

There is a lot going on with this piece and it was important that I was in control of it all. There needed to be steam, lava, water, floating rocks, brimstone falling from the sky, and that massive column of tentacles. One of my bad habits that I am always trying to be conscience of making sure that I don't repeat shapes and movement in things like tentacles. Are they all the same size? Are they all bending or curving in the same direction? Be mindful that you make them different and interesting! Repetition can be good... and it also can be very distracting and bad. Just go ask Greg Manchess. Again, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil

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