Hydroloth - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

For you today is the process and steps that went into the frog monster, Hydroloth. The Hydroloth appears in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and I first shared it with you in June of 2018. It has taken a little time to finally make it back for its process post, but better late than never. For those that do not recall, the Hydroloth is a froggy demon monster that has been part of the Dungeons & Dragons mythos for some time. As part of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, the Hydroloth made its 5th Edition debut and received a bit of a redesign and a fresh coat of paint. While some of the redesign work was done before accepting the assignment, as you will see below, I got to push it a little further. To start things off, here is my final painting for the Hydroloth.

Hydroloth

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This Hydroloth process post marks the completion of my process posts for my work on Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes was an enjoyable assignment, and the kind I look forward to when D&D assignments come my way. To start things off, I gathered some extremely unflattering reference photos of myself living my best demon frog monster life. From the offset, I began pushing this monster's anatomy a little to make it more of a physical threat. If I recall correctly, some of the concept work for this monster was a bit frumpy. Please understand, the work was top-notch and fantastic, but the monster came off, to me, as a little nonthreatening. I attempted in my reference and thumbnails to give it a bit more menace, both potential and real. This monster needed a little more 'RAWR.' To that end, I played around with the size and position of the head, began enlarging the mouth, and make it a little more muscular. Here are how the thumbnails turned out. 

 

Hydroloth - Thumbnails

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

I must have been onto something because I was asked to revise thumbanil 'A' and make the Hydroloth even more menising. The Hydroloth has traditionally had blunt frog fingers and toes, which continued to the concept work I was given. Production requested that the Hydroloth receive some proper claws on its fingers and toes, make sure the eyes were fixed on the viewer, and to provide it with a lot of sharp teeth, bumps and spikes, and texture. I was happy to do all of the above. Here is the updated thumbnail I submitted. 

 

 

Hydroloth - Revised thumbnail

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

This revised thumbnail was approved without further comments. I was ready to move onto the final drawing—the drawing portion of the assignment continues to be my favorite part of the entire assignment. Recently, I have made time to get more out of this part of my workflow. While I can't share anything now, hopefully, in the not too distant future, I can share those drawings with you. For now, here is the final drawing for the Hydroloth.

 

Hydroloth

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

With an approved drawing and a clear path to completion, it was time to start painting. As with nearly all of these isolated monsters, it is a painless and straightforward process to create the final painting. Yes, there are exceptions to this, but for the most part, I enjoy the speed and ease associated with this type of assignment. Also, this type of work is guaranteed to be focused entirely on the monster. I came here for the monsters, and isolated monster paintings do not let me down. All that said, here is an animated look at the Hydroloth painting coming together.

 

Hydroloth - Process

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

If you have watched several of these, you will see that I have a set production process. I have a preset collection of layers and styles that I drop into all of my files as I begin the painting. I talked a bit about this in 2013 when I answered questions about my file setup. This previous post should address any questions about my layers. Here again, is the Hydroloth final painting in all its froggy goodness.

 

Hydroloth

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes 

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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