Looking Back: Gateway to Psychosis - Dreamblade

I was recently reminded that the Dreamblade miniature game celebrated its 10 year anniversary recently. Too bad the game was cancelled almost 9 years ago. As you may know I did a lot of work on this game and it was both my first project in the gaming industry and my first job with Wizards of the Coast. After all these years I have yet to share all the work that I have done on Dreamblade. This has some to do with the lack of a blog or Facebook back in 2006, a lingering (misplaced) embarrassment for my older work, and the fact I forget that I STILL have work sitting around. I thought it would be fun to dig up some of the piece I have never shared anywhere and go ahead and post them on my blog from time to time over the coming months. To start things off, here is my design for the Gateway to Psychosis that I originally created in 2005 and was part of the first series of Dreamblade miniatures...

Gateway to Psychosis

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper

© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This was a weird one. It was a Land miniature and effected the location on the board that it held. They wanted this one to be a crazy door opening with tons of tentacles and crazy stuff pouring out. The walls needed to be covered in reliefs of madness and chaos. The Land minis come late in the production of the first set of Dreamblade. I never knew if they were part of a second wave of concepts, a late addition to the game mechanics, or if someone else passed on them and they came to me late. I was so green and clueless back then and I was still developing my drawing style, it is amazing I ever got anything approved or finished. But somehow I did and every moment was exciting and new and I was learning SO much about design, drawings, and my own limits when it came to making art. Here is a look at the entire turnaround with the reliefs for the back of the wall...

Gateway to Psychosis Turnaround

9 x 12 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)

© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I was really happy with how the final miniature turned out. At this time in my career it was not uncommon for the miniature I was design to evolve a little further after the designs left my hands. A little extra bend here, a little extra twist there... to make them work better as a mini. Case in point with this one, the door was opened a bit more to make it a better looking miniature...

Gateway to Psychosis Miniature

I was always amazed how faithful some of the sculptures were with my scribbling. All the crazy relief line work I did more or less made it into the final miniature. For better or for worse. I know now I REALLY needed to have made all that stuff a bit larger and more simple, but it somehow turned out and they got it all in there. Here is a look at both sides of the Gateway to Psychosis miniature...

Gateway to Psychosis Miniature

I was rather gonzo for Dreamblade when it came out. It was my first gaming project, it was miniatures, and it was one of the first professional art projects that I worked on where my individual creative voice could be seen. I scoured the web for announcements, poured over every articles, read every magazine story, and in general looked for any and all signs of my miniatures. This led me to finding some interesting things. Here is a production images of the Gateway to Psychosis miniature that was part of a preview article on the WotC website back in 2006. The article and site are all gone, but I saved as much as I could...

Gateway to Psychosis Sculpture
Image courtesy the Wizards of the Coast website circa 2006

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