Friday, April 28, 2023

From the Archives: Spider Monster - Angel Season 4

I am still surprised that after twenty years, I still have not shared everything that I worked on during my time in the film industry working in Los Angeles. When I am looking through my archives, I have to cross reference this blog to see if I had or had not shared something. To my surprise, I found a large build that we did that I have not shared yet. I am genuinely baffled that this has not been shared, as it was such a massive project that required all hands on deck. From the archives, I present to you from season 4 of Angel, episode 20, the Spider Monster (more on this name in a moment).

Before I go too far, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many talented artists and technicians. I was one of many that brought these things to life. This time, I was involved with designing, various shop duties, and set work for this creature. After twenty years, I only still possess a couple of the names of the others involved with this work. Therefore I am unable to properly give credit to the others involved. I am sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA. 

This particular monster was linked to two others I designed and worked on. There was a story arch in season four that took Angel to a temple and portal that had him interacting with the High Priest and the Keeper of the Name. If you look closely at the photos in the latter post, you will see a sculpture that might remind you of a particular Spider Monster.

As I have said, this was a massive project, and we only had a couple of weeks to complete all the work. The Spider Monster was known to us at the Centaur Bug, Centerpede, and the Centaurbug. I have no idea when it became known as the Spider Monster, but that appears to be the official nomenclature. Not only did we need to design and build a suit and makeup, but this creature also required articulated extending legs that were puppeteered on set. There was also a stool that connected to a socket of a seat base built into the suit so that the actor could sit while in the suit. From my experience and the reaction of the actor, this was not the most comfortable suit that we made, but at the end of the day, no suit is comfortable to wear. I have a lot, and I mean a LOT of images for this creature. I had to be selective about what I shared, so without further yammering from me, here is the Spider Monster. 

Spider Monster on set. The digital team removed the human legs in any shot they were visible. You will note the control rod from the boot to the tip of the foreleg. This assisted in making the movement more natural and realistic.

This masterpiece (j/k) was the beginning and end of the official design work I put into this monster. In an earlier version, the entire body shape would be different and more centipede-like. This was the nasty tip of the tail. This direction was scrapped, and other designs were made.

Although I would remain in LA for another year and a half, things were already becoming problematic at work. I will leave it at that for now. I was removed, against my wishes, from design duties on this monster after the first version was shelved. I still wanted to continue working on designs, so that is what I did. On top of my other duties, I was creating more designs for this monster. Some of these I did at home on my own time. The two images above were my first explorations of the new direction. 

This version had different options for the arms. These are my favorites, so I will spare you the other versions. I displayed these at work to show that I was still a needed team member. These designs only enlisted derisive comments from the shop's leadership.

My final design was by far the strongest of what I created.

There were three or four sculptures that tackled the suit all at once.

Looking back, I am always amazed at how much the shop could get done on such tight deadlines.

And the back side of a Spider Monster.

There was only one leg sculpted. It was cast four times and made into different legs. Work smarter, not harder!

If I remember correctly, both hands had to be their own sculpture. There was an effort to see if we could get away with only one, but in the end, they needed a left and right.

Actor Jeff Ricketts expressing his option of the test fitting. His opinion of all of this remained unchanged.

A better view of the stool that clicked into the monster's butt.

I still really like the color scheme and look of this suit. I have no memory of painting on it, but that is not to say I didn't. If I did, i would have been shadowing the lead painter.

And the back of the suit with the interchangeable butt cover. The nubby tail would cover the socket for the stool.

A photo to show off just how bad of an edge the cowl and suit made. This was on set between takes.

A better photo of the face, teeth, and cowl. The face was silicon, and the rest was foam latex.

I have no memory of the shirt I am wearing or what I am doing to the monster's butt.

Monster on set between takes. This shows off the overall form of the suit and legs very well. This is still some quality work. It is nice to look back on and to have been a part of it.

This is still one of my favorite photos of the monster. It has a very human feel for something very much not human - a theme that can be seen in my work ever since. The blurry fellow next to the monster was the cool assistant director. Sadly his name is lost to me.

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

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Infinity Con 2023 Guest Announcement!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be returning as a guest to Infinity Con this coming July 8th and 9th in Tallahassee, Fl. I have had a ton of fun at this convention, and I get to sleep in my bed when it is over - you can't beat that combination. I will be bringing the Grand Bazaar with me again, so you can expect books, art, enamel pins, and a lot more! I will share more details when they are released, but mark your calendars and I will see you at the Donal Tucker Civic Center in a couple of months.

Come see me and many others at Infinity Con this July 8th and 9th!

That's all for an unexpected Thursday on the blog. See you back here tomorrow for a blast from the past. Until then...

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

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Rediscovered Art Now Available - Star Wars

With the completion of my studio last year and my return to conventions, I have been digging through many files, boxes, and art and doing a great deal of organizing. With all this comes the resurfacing of older art and art that I had assumed was gone. I have previously shared some L5R work I located, but this time I found work that is near and dear to me. I have for you a selection of paintings and drawings that I produced for various Star Wars games.

Star Wars Imperial Assault - Ahsoka Tano Ally Pack
14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Art Director - Deb Freytag
© 2017 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
 
Star Wars LCG - Ancient Rivals
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games 
 
Star Wars LCG - Meditation and Mastery
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
Fortified Holding Cells
SOLD
Star Wars LCG - Ancient Rivals
17 x 14 - Pencil on paper
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games 
 
Concussion Rifle
SOLD
Star Wars LCG - Galactic Ambitions
17 x 14 - Pencil on paper
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games
Hunter in the Night
SOLD
Star Wars LCG - Meditation and Mastery
17 x 14 - Pencil on paper
Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

That's 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, April 24, 2023

Bribe Taker Drawing, Artist Proofs, and Framing Solutions

I recently had the great pleasure of fulfilling the art wishes of a friend of mine. I have known Aras Aziz for many years, and he is an active member of the Magic the Gathering community. He had wanted to win the Bribe Taker drawing when I auctioned it last year, but unfortunately, he was outbid. Jump ahead to this year, and he was able to track the art down and purchase it. Aras approached me to recreate the art for the Bribe Taker across two artist proofs of the card, one bordered and one borderless. There was no way I could say no! I present the framed art, cards, and two-up art reproduction artist proof drawings.

Bribe Taker art, cards, and artist proofs withdrawing
Photo courtesy Aras Aziz 

I think it turned out beautifully, and I am thrilled with how happy Aras is with it all. Here is a close-up of the drawing (and painting) I did of the Bribe Taker on the back of two artist proofs.

Bribe Taker across two artist proofs.
Marker, ink, and acrylic paint

This one was a bit of a challenge. The drawing needed to match a finished illustration, which is being drawn on two small cards. While it has gotten easier for me to work at the small scale of the APs, this one required a lot of extra time and attention. In the end, it all worked out. Aras is happy, I am so glad, and he has a stellar piece on his wall. Here are both cards separately to get an even better look at it all. 

Halved Bribe Taker for all you half of a Bribe Taker needs.

And yes, my store says I no longer offer this option. This was a special case for a friend, who asked very nicely.

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, April 21, 2023

Talisman Adventures: Myths and Monsters - The Return of the Firemane, Rock Mauler, Amber Dragon, and Shadow Dragon

It recently came to my attention that last year the Talisman Adventures RPG came out with a Myths and Monsters book, and some of my old Talisman art is in it. It has been over a decade since I worked on Talisman, but I did do a couple of okay pieces. It is always fun to see ancient work used again. It must mean that it wasn't completely horrible. Starting things off, here is the cover of the book.

Talisman Adventures - Myths and Monsters

Talisman was the first Fantasy Flight game I worked on in 2009 as I changed the direction of my career in the tabletop gaming industry. The game was familiar to me since I had played it many times when I was younger, which made it more exciting to finally be able to work on it. I was still getting my feet under me artistically in 2009, but there are some glimmers of the artist I was to become in there. Here are the final paintings for the work appearing for an encore showing, the Firemane, Rock Mauler, Amber Dragon, and Shadow Dragon.

Firemane
Talisman: Sacred Pool
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Rock Mauler
Talisman: Highland
© 2010 Fantasy Flight Games

Amber Dragon
Talisman: The Dragons
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

Shadow Dragon
Talisman: The Dragons
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

Lastly, here is how these pieces appeared in the book. There is some cropping, but that is to be expected. It is interesting to see what they used and didn't use. I did produce some much better pieces for the game, pieces that could have been used in the new book but weren't. That is all out of my hands, and at the end of the day, none of my concern. This was work for hire, and I have no control, say, or remittance to be had. That said, it is good to see the Rock Mauler again. Not really a good painting, or design for that matter, but I clearly remember working on it and the struggles I had.

The monsters in handy dandy book form.

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

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

"Recent" Magic the Gathering Artist Proof Drawings

Today I have "recent" Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added a drawing to their backs. If you want to get any of these, just head to my store. I have been producing many of these lately, and I am properly behind in sharing what I have been working on. As you may have seen, I am now offering color drawings on the card's back, which is nearly all I have been doing. Most of what I am sharing today was created before the color option was available. I present a selection of monster drawings on the back of Magic the Gathering cards.

The Bribe Taker remains a fan favorite.

The egg tokin continues to be popular as well.

Another egg tokin, but this time with a slightly different egg motif.

That's 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

Friday, April 14, 2023

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Script Sides

On Wednesday, I shared details and photos from a book focused on some of the seasons I worked on Angel. Today I have a little surprise I left myself in that book. That surprise? Oh, it was just some script sides from the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer script sides in all their tiny photocopied glory

Script sides were handed out daily so that everyone on set knew when and where they needed to be on any given day of shooting. When I say everyone, I mean everyone except makeup effects. We got our info through our supervisors at the shop or the ADs yelling at us on set. This script side was found sitting on top of a full garbage bin. It was in great shape, we were filming the series' final episode, and something inside me told me that I needed to grab it because, you know, it might mean something to someone later. For me, it is a time capsule to a particular time and place in my life.

You better be mindful of your call time! 8 AM for the 2nd Unit and 8:30 AM for the Splinter Unit.

As you can see from the image above that this was from Thursday, April 17th, 2003. That would make it nearly twenty years ago from this blog post. They put the weather and sunrise and sunset on it as well. Not sure if this is still done as all this information is in our pockets now, but it was interesting to be in such a big industry as technology was making a massive change. I watched cell phones move from novelty and luxury to required equipment while I was in LA.

As you can see, this was from the episode Chosen, the final of the Buffy series.

The fun thing is that this is a stack of photocopied sheets of paper that are cut down and stapled together. It would be so easy to duplicate, but you need the authentic source material to do that... and you would need to know what these things look like... and all the circled and crossed-out sections. You can't make this stuff up. These are weird little objects directly tied to the show and its creation.

Random page is random.
I chose this page randomly to take a photo of and realized I was there on the soundstage when it was filmed. I heard the line said by Buffy/The First multiple times as they worked the shot out. Fun memories!

This is such a simple and small object, but it has so many memories tied to it, and when I look at it, they all come rushing back. I had so many fantastic objects slip through my fingers when I worked in LA. So many irreplaceable things that I took for granted that would now be cherished heirlooms. So many opportunities were lost, but in the end, I had this tiny stack of paper. But that is okay. This is still good. These pages may not be flashy or all that interesting to most, but they mean a great deal to me now.

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week - likely Wednesday. Until then...

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

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Angel: The Casefiles Volume 2

I have mentioned previously here on the blog and elsewhere that I am still going through a lot of files, boxes, shelves, and random stuff, months after my studio was completed. Over the last two decades, I have accumulated a lot of art-related items, artifacts of my career, and strange oddities. Going through it all, organizing it, and putting it away has been an ongoing chore. I am sure I could be done with it all by now, but I have wanted to make art, so the cleaning has been dragged out. 

Today I am sharing an item I knew I had, but it was lost on a shelf for a while. This book was published in 2004, and I picked it up likely in 2005, long before we all shared everything we did on social media. Jump ahead nineteen years, and I am going to now share the book, especially as it has been newly rediscovered and is currently on a shelf in the studio. The Angel Casefiles were a pair of books (alas, it appears that the third book that would have completed the series was never made) that focused on the Angel television series and offered commentary, behind-the-scenes details, and interviews with people involved with the show. I mention all this because I worked on the show and am in the book. Let's start with a look at the cover, and then I will share some relevant details. 

Angel - The Casefiles Volume 2
I found this at the local Borders books store when they existed. I likely bought it on a Friday night after eating dinner. I remember this because it was a common practice to hit the bookstore after dinner and before a movie when we had time and energy to do such adventurous things. At the time, a lot of content was still being created based on my work in the film industry, so I would keep an eye out in bookstores for anything associated with my work.

Here is a page with lots of photos. I have marked them to talk about them. (A) is the Beast on set (90% sure it is the stunt Beast), and he is touch ups by one of the union makeup artists. The union folks were not from our shop and could touch the actor from the neck up. As we were not in a union, we could touch the actor from the neck down. The union folks put the makeup we made and painted onto the actors, and we put the suits, gloves, and feet on them. Sadly I do not recall this person's name, but I worked with him a lot. He was a good guy and had loads of stories, and worked on many projects. (B) is a photo of the set on location in Chinatown in LA. With enough money and pull, you, too, can dig a massive hole in the middle of an alley and shoot the monster emerging into the world. This was a fun night on set to say the least. (C) is the stunt Beast. Again, I am blanking on this person's name, but he, too, was fun to work with and had a million stories - like getting hurt when he was dead-dropped off the ship's side in Speed 2. (D) Allan Holt and I are on set making sure the Beast's horns are screwed on. The actors wore fiberglass caps with two metal posts attached where the horns would slide over and screw into place. We were constantly putting them on and taking them off, losing screws, dropping screws, and gluing the horns into place - after which we would have to pop them off. 
 
UPDATE - I have since been reminded that the stunt Beast, whom we worked with a lot on the show, who worked on several other shows we worked on, and who went on to do a lot of other cool stuff, was named Scott Workman. He was an awesome guy and a fun and friendly presence on set. He passed in 2013. 

Here is a close-up of the photo of Allan and I. Consentration personified... or not.

While I am not in this photo, I was there that day on set, tending to the monsters. The Keeper of the Name was one that I designed, painted, tended to, and eventually puppeteered. KotN was the quiet type and let his fists do the talking. I have stories from this day, but I will share them another time when I am not posting something publically on the internet.

Another photo of another monster on the same day as the previous photo. The High Priest was another of my creations, though I do not believe I painted this one; I only designed it and tended him on set. The weird thing to me is that I very clearly remember this photo being taken. I was only feet away when they did a little photo shoot. I would love to know if the people behind the book were given permission to photograph the show or if this was the work of the unsung set photographers. Most likely the latter, but it is nice to see some of these images making it into the wild.

Lastly, another photo of Allen and me with the Beast. It was tough working with the Beast as he was constantly hungry, and he was not picky about what he ate. Joking aside, the stunt Beast and the main Beast, played by Vladimir Kulich, were great to work with, and we had a lot of fun on set with these two.

More and more, it feels like another life lived by another person. I have the memories, but this is so far removed from what I do now. I am still making monsters and telling my stories, so there is a consistent line through my narrative, but I am a one-person operation making books. It is a fun journey all the same! But the story does not end here, for I found something in the pages of this book that I had hidden from myself, and on Friday, I will share it with you all.

That's 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