All good things come to an end. Today I am looking back at the final Dreamblade miniature
design that I have never shared before here on the blog. I worked on Dreamblade from June of 2005 till January of 2007 and it was an amazing crash course in designing, drawings, and working in the game industry. Ten years later I have finally shared all of the work that I created for the game. Not sure why it took so long, but it did and it is weird that it is now over.
Here is the design for
the Hiveling Overlord which
was part of the second expansion set to Dreamblade, Chrysotic Plague,
released
back in
2007...
Hiveling Overlord
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The Hiveling Overlord, which was originally called the Spider King, was a really weird one to work on and definitely was a challenge for me at the time. Thankfully I was getting smarter about designing and evaluating my own work. Here is the description that I was given when designing the Hiveling Overlord...
"A burn victim "sits" with arms folded, looking forward, a slender sword clutched to his breast. His legs end at the thigh in ragged (but bloodless) stumps. However, growing from the king's shoulders are a set of spider-like legs, that provide all the support and mobility required. The king wears a crown that seem to be spider legs growing from his brow."Like I said, this is a weird one. I got to work on the the design, but from the beginning I was just not feeling it. I felt restricted by the margins of my paper. I was not feeling the overall design and form. I was spinning my wheels even though I ended up with a finished drawing. I looked at it... looked some more... and came to realization that it was not working and that I needed to start over. I made a quick scan of the drawing for the achieves, but it went no further. Here is my abandoned first concept for the Hiveling Overlord...
Hiveling Overlord - Abandoned first design
9 x 12 - Pencil on paper
© 2006 Wizards of the Coast LLC
I immediately got out larger paper and began working up something that was bigger and had more space to live. I addressed everything that bothered me about my first design and pushed it all further. I was instantly happier with what I was creating and I knew that I made the right decision to start over. A lesson that is hard to learn and sometime harder to live by. Here is the version of the Hiveling Overlord that I turned in for review...
Hiveling Overlord - Original
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper
© 2006 Wizards of the Coast LLC
As you can see the version I turned in and the final version are a little different. I was asked to revisit the hilt of the sword to make molding and casting easier and some 'ground' needed to be added so the miniature would stand on the base better. Other that that the design was accepted as is and I was given the go ahead to move forward on the rest of the views. Here is the full turnaround for the Hiveling Overlord...
Hiveling Overlord Turnaround
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper (multiple sheets)
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC
Not sure if this miniature ever made a big space on the game scene. For me it always felt it was under the radar both game wise and design wise. Never caught anyone's attention. I sometimes forget this one is mine. Not sure why, but that is how I have felt regarding this miniature. Who knows, maybe there are a ton of people there that totally loved this one. Here is how the production miniature turned out for the Hiveling Overlord...
Hiveling Overlord
And just like that, my posts regarding Dreamblade come to an end. Maybe sometime new will surface in the future, maybe a long lost secret will emerge, or maybe I will find myself revisiting one of the these old designs to see how I would design it years later. You never know... but for now, I say goodbye to Dreamblade, you were an amazing project to work on, if only you had survived a little longer...
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
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