Beastly Rifleman

My studies continue and this time it is a dog with a gun! You might remember my related posts about the Beastly Caster, Beastly Fighter, Beastly Archer, Beastly Scribe, Beastly Pirate, Beastly Rider, Beastly Mercenary, and Beastly Thug. 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 ninth of my studies...

Beastly Rifleman

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

History + monster = Beastly Rifleman... There are many historical sites in Florida, and one just so happens to be on the other side of my town. I was touring the site with visiting family a little while back and I made sure to take lots and lots of photos of the reenactors in period dress. A pair of gentlemen giving a rifle demonstration really caught me eye and imagination and this is the first piece based off them. If the indication was any example of the functionality of the period firearms I would take my chances with a bow and arrow. Really interesting and informative! HISTORY!

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

Mist, Steam, and Water Mephits - Prcoess

Back in March I shared with you the nine Mephits that I designed and illustrated for Dragon magazine issue #421. Since there are nine of them I am going to slit them up and share the process that went into making them through out this week. Today I have for you the last three Mephits, the Mist, Steam, and Water Mephits. As a reminder, here is how the final illustrations turned out...

Mist, Steam, and Water Mephits

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

As before, we start things out with some good ole thumbnails to see where the monsters take me. I worked on all of these in the order I have been posting them... basically alphabetically. By the time I got to these last Mephits I was beginning to suffer a little Mephit madness. They were all beginning to blend together and I was worried that they were beginning to be in the same poses and were not unique enough from each other. In the end I think I had just been staring at them all too long. Here is how the thumbnails turned out for the last three Mephits...

Mist Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

  Steam Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Water Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

The thumbnail that got away was option "B" of the Steam Mephit. I know it is not very different from "A", but it had a flow and movement I really liked. In the end the winners wereMist "B", Steam "A", and Water "B". With that all settled I moved onto the final drawings...

  Mist Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

  Steam Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Water Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

As with the rest of the drawings these were all approved without issues and I moved onto the final illustrations. This week the Mist Mephit won this week's process progression place...

Mist Mephit - Process progression

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

The finals were all approved save for a couple little tweaks. Two of the tweaks were that the Mist and Steam Mephits were too dark. As you can see above the last step shows how much I lightened the piece to meet approval. The original Steam Mephit was about a dark as the final Mist was and to be lighten a lot as well. This was easy enough to handle since I was working digitally... I shudder to think if I was working traditionally...

That's 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

Fire, Ice, and Magma Mephits - Prcoess

Back in March I shared with you the nine Mephits that I designed and illustrated for Dragon magazine issue #421. Since there are nine of them I am going to slit them up and share the process that went into making them through out this week. Today I have for you the second set of three of Mephits, the Fire, Ice, and Magma Mephits. As a reminder, here is how the final illustrations turned out...

Fire, Ice, and Magma Mephits

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

These three Mephits are running hot and cold... But seriously, these Mephits were a great exercise in creating different materials and effects. I have a ton of great magma and lava reference now. That stuff is really fun to paint. As before, I got started on some thumbnails to get things rolling...

Fire Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Ice Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Magma Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

I will say I had high hopes for Fire option "C". There was just something about it that I really liked... something about the feet just being fire and the body reforming from the tops of the 'ankle' flames. Also, who doesn't just love a tongue made out of fire? The idea of Magma option "C" seemed like a really cool design before I began working it out on paper. I imagined a lower torso made out of rock with a bowl like waist. The lava upper body would be coming out of the container that the lower body like a fountain of magma... but I am not sure I really hit the mark with this thumbnail. I should have spent some more time working it out... but by the time I was finished with it I was liking "B" a lot more.

When it was all said and done, Fire "B", Ice "A", and Magma "B" were the winners. I moved onto creating the final drawings...
 

Fire Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

  IceMephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

 

Magma Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

The drawings were all approved and I was given the go ahead to work on the final illustrations. As before, I am posting one of the three as a process progression. I was really happy with how the Magma Mephit turned out so here it is from start to finish...

Magma Mephit - Process progression

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Again, in just eight easy steps... not really. This one took a little longer then the rest do to all the smaller forms and textures in the whole. I was worried that in the end it would become a jumbled mess and not read well. Hopefully I succeeded in not making it a mess...

That is all for another exciting Wednesday, see you back here on Friday for the last three Mephits! Until then...

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

Air, Dust, and Earth Mephits - Prcoess

Back in March I shared with you the nine Mephits that I designed and illustrated for Dragon magazine issue #421. Since there are nine of them I am going to slit them up and share the process that went into making them through out this week. Today I have for you Air, Dust, and Earth Mephits. As a reminder, here is how the final illustrations turned out...

Air, Dust, and Earth Mephits

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

I was given very simple open ended descriptions for all of these which allowed me a lot of room explore my take on the Mephits. I tried to give a range of cautious to a little wacky on all of these to see what the art department was looking for.

Before I began to work on any of the Mephits I did a photo shot with both myself and my wife in front of the camera. I wanted to work out some poses that I planned to use and to see what else happened while I moved around in an open space thinking about each of the different kinds of Mephits. I recommend doing this! Not only does it produce the unexpected, it helps you get physically into your subject matter and generates a bunch of reference that you can use for the assignment and hopefully on other projects.

Once the photos were taken and sorted I got to work on thumbnails for all of the Mephits...

Air Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

  Dust Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

  Earth Mephit - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

"A" was always a 'safe' concept and by "C" I was trying to push things to see what works and does not work. For each of these "A" was the winner. I would have really liked to work on "C" of the Air Mephit... but that is how it goes. Once I had approved thumbnails I moved forward on the final drawings.

Air Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Dust Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

 

Earth Mephit - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

There were a LOT of transparent and translucent Mephits. I think this is the most transparent and translucent monsters that I have even created and they were all in once assignment. Most of my monsters tend to me a little more... solid. All of the drawings were approved and I moved onto the finals. Since there are so many Mephits I chose one of each set of three to share the process progression. The winner from this set is the Earth Mephit...

Earth Mephit - Process preogression

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

In just eight easy steps you to can have your very own Earth Mephit... or not. Of the three, this one took the most time to complete. The Dust Mephit seemed to be done before I even began it. There were some very different completion times for these illustrations. Which is to be expected with this many different materials and capacities.

That is all for another exciting Monday, see you back here on Wednesday for another three Mephits! Until then...

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

A Cyclops - Learning to Draw

It has been awhile since I did one of these... Today I have for you another of my attempts to learn to draw better monsters. You may remember my posts about the Scary Monster, Kangachicken, and Astrobird as I explore the very awesome 'How to Draw MONSTERS!" by Robert Pierce. I have had some more time to pour through the pages of this most excellent book and I have worked up another of the monsters found within. As a reminder, here is the book I am referring to...

'How to Draw MONSTERS!" by Robert Pierce
© 1984 Field Publications

This time around I went with the timeless classic, the mighty Cyclops. Stick with the iconic monsters and you can't go wrong! Again, my hats off to you, Mr. Pierce, you would have made the six year old me extremely excited about drawing monsters with this book. Lets see how it is done...

How to draw a Cyclops by Robert Pierce - in six easy steps!

© 1984 Field Publications

Seemed pretty straight forward! I got to work on my very own Cyclops and this is what I came up with...

A Cyclops - Step Seven - RAWR!
© 2013 Christopher Burdett

As before - and I will repeat each and every time I do one of these, I have nothing but complete admiration for the works of Robert Pierce and mean for this to be a celebration of his work and the joy of drawing. Expect to see more tributes to Mr. Pierce's work here on the blog in the future!

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

Smaug the Golden - Process

Back in March I shared with you the two Smaug pieces that I have in the second Hobbit themed expansion to the Lord of the Rings living card game, On the Doorstep. Today I have for you the various production steps and process progression for the first of my two Smaug pieces, Smaug the Golden. Before we get started on how I went about creating it, here is how the finished piece turned out...

Smaug the Golden

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

When I was first contacted to design and illustrate Smaug I knew I had to take the assignment and I also knew I had to NOT think about the fact that I am designing and illustrating Smaug... There is just so much baggage and history associated with certain projects and subject matters. For me to get through them it is best to not think too much about them and focus on making something 'cool' rather then making 'the MOST recognizable dragon in popular culture'. I needed to paint a really awesome giant red dragon laying on a pile of gold... okay, I can do that. The fact that it is Smaug with all his history and the various interpretations is not unimportant. I will make better work when I am concerned about the composition, light, color, and mood rather then worrying about the fact that this is Smaug from the Hobbit.

I went into this project with some thoughts and ideas about what I wanted to do with the look and feel for the dragon - much of which I would later go onto flesh out and build upon when I later worked on the three Smaug pieces for the Battle of Lake-Town deck. As always, I stated with some thumbnails. I was trying some things out and seeing what works and what does not at this point. There were several versions that were deleted before these three were submitted...

Smaug the Golden - Thumbnails

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

As you can see there are double crop points on the images. The square is for the client use and the larger rectangle is the size I will creating the art for myself... and for the client if they want to use if for additional purposes. There is no point in doing paintings of Smaug if I can't get something that will be usable beyond the life of the trading card. Option "B" was picked and I moved forward with the drawing...

Smaug the Golden - Drawing

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

I did just a little work on the drawing... This is where I finally worked out all my idea and decided on a final look and direction of my interpretation of Smaug. From this point on all my other Smaug work will refer back to this drawing and the eventual painting. I turned the drawing in and it was double checked on the card template to make sure I was good to go for the final illustration...

Smaug the Golden - Drawing mock up in template

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

Check twice, cut once...  Looks like I was not looking closely enough at all the chrome that these cards have and to make sure Smaug's nose was not hidden the art had to be shrunk to a smaller size then I anticipated. Move forward I needed to add the appropriate amount of additional image at the bottom. Remember kids, your art director kills a kitten every time you don't use the supplied templates! Think of the kittens and use you templates...

Now that I have an approved drawing with the caveat to add additional imagery to the bottom I moved forward with painting the final piece...

Smaug the Golden - Precess progression

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

It has been a while since I did the original for this so I am not really sure how long it actually took, but it feels like it went really quickly all things considered. I remember doing a lot of sitting and staring to make sure it was working and read well. Enough can not be said for simply sitting and reflecting on the piece. Not all the work is done with your hands. That stuff between your ears has a lot of work to do on a painting too. Sitting, staring, reflecting, and thinking are all important steps in the painting process. ...for me at least.

Here is how the final art turned out on the card...

Smaug the Golden in hand card form!

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

Engaging AUTOPILOT!

For the next two weeks I will be taking a break from the internet and will be offline. But what about the blog you ask? FEAR NAUGHT! I am setting the blog up to be on autopilot and it will be posting new content while I am offline! Everyone needs a little break once and awhile, and the next two weeks will be mine. I will be leaving my monsters in charge of things while I am away... so hopefully everything will run according to plan...

While I am away the monsters will play... no, more like eat my computer...

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

While the blog will be auto generating content there will be less of a web presence about the posts. Notifications about my posts will not be appearing on Twitter and Google+ and will only be appearing once a day on Facebook and my Facebook fan page. ...this is just for your information in case you might miss something.

I will be back at the helm of the blog come the beginning of May and will address all internet correspondence then. Have fun without me interwebs! I will see you in two weeks...

That is all for an exciting Monday, Autopilot will 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... Basilisk!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a Basilisk! Just like the fourth letter "A", letter "B" was voted upon by the fine folks over on my Facebook Fan Page. The Basilisk narrowly beat out several other monsters to be this weeks winner... I present to you my version of a Basilisk… 

Basilisk

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Let's get this out of the way... historically, the BASILISK and the COCKATRICE have been portrayed VERY similarly and at times have been almost interchangeable. Since I have already redesigned the Cockatrice and brought a lot of my own tricks and bad habits into it I thought I would go to the source material for the Basilisk. The Basilisk is said to be the king of the serpents... though it is (almost) always portrayed with legs... lots of them... and wings... Poor monster must have gotten mixed up with a crazy wizard or lost a bet with a devil. No matter what, make sure you avoid its gaze... that is still a problem...

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

Alien Races - Horusians to Judans - OHOTMU Reduxe

I have recently begun contributing to an extremely awesome blog, The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe REDUXE Edition (OHOTMU Reduxe). If you are not familiar with it I highly recommend taking the time to head over and check it out! Even if you are not a huge fan of the Marvel Comics universe it is worth your time to check out all the great work and a very impressive project in both size and quality. I have a love for revisiting, reinventing, and redesigning and this blog offers me a great chance to have some fun and let loose on unfamiliar source material. For me first contribution I tacked a group of aliens, I present to you my take on the Alien Races - Horusians to Judans...

Original illustrations by Kyle Baker and Joe Rubinstein - © Marvel Comics

Redesigns - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

These were incredibly fun to work on and I am looking forward to having the chance to do more... so hopefully in the coming weeks I will have that chance! Here are some larger images of each of my redesigns so you can get a better look at the finals...

Horusians Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Hujah Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Interdites Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Judans Redesign - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Since most of my illustration work is fully painted these days it was really nice to be able to cut loose and have some fun digitally inking my drawings and then doing looser color work to create the finals. Really left me wanting to do more work like this. Not only is it quicker in many aspects, but it was just fun to create a more graphic image. Here is a look at the drawings and ink work that went into each of the alien redesigns...

Horusians pencil and ink work - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Hujah pencil and ink work - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Interdites pencil and ink work - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

Judans pencil and ink work - © 2013 Christopher Burdett

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

P’an Ku - Coils of Madness announcement

On April 1st the internet is a tricky place to navigate. When I saw that AEG had announced their next expansion to the Legend of the Five Rings CCG, Coils of Madness, I knew it was no joke. Last year I was asked to update the art for the great mad dragon, P'an Ku and I am happy to see it was used as part of the launch art for announcing the expansion. Here is how P'an Ku turned out...

P’an Ku

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

This was an incredibly fun piece to work on and I am thrilled to be able to share it with you now. I have to admit, I REALLY enjoy drawing and painting dragons that are more in line with the traditional Asian esthetic. I have another piece in the set... but that will have to wait till the set is released. I am on good authority that P'an Ku is going to get some face time in the marketing of the set... which is pretty exciting! P'an Ku has already appeared over the on the L5R website... and is judging you...

P'an Ku sees you surfing the web... and disapproves of your internet search history...

Expect a lot more about P'an Ku and my other piece in the set as we get closer to the release date of the set! RAWR!

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... Ant (Giant)!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is an ANT (GIANT)! It begins again! We are back to the letter "A" and the beginning of the fourth pass through the original D&D Monster Manual. This time around I let the fine folks over on my Facebook Fan Page vote on which "A" monster would be redesigned next. The Giant Ant had a strong and early lead in the voting and never lost its momentum... I present to you my version of a Ant (Giant)… 

Ant (Giant)

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

"Hey Mr. Giant Ant you got a little something on... your... head... RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" Why have just a giant insect when you can have a giant insect infected with a fungus that takes control of it and turns it into a zombie to do its bidding? Still playing around with the idea that the Ant was not even a giant begin with... it was the fungus that turns it into a giant. This of course gives the fungus a bigger and better zombie to do its bidding. ...and to infect EVERYTHING it can! At this point I will blame this all on some crazy old wizard... since crazy old wizards are responsible for these kind of things. Or a Mind Flayer, a Mind Flayer may have done it... but it TOTALLY was not the Myconids... NOPE... not them...

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