Monday, April 29, 2024

Pocket Squares - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of the numerous pieces of spot art throughout the book. This supporting image is trying to find its exact home in the book. It could go well in the Cryptic Knight section, the Arrival section, or any number of spots. In the fullness of time, I will figure out where it needs to live. Depicted here are very common and sometimes hazardous extraterrestrial items that find themselves all over the Grand Bazaar. They are deminisal storage cards that can become lost or discarded by those that bring them to the planet. The mathematics needed to create them is one of the stepping stones to interplanetary travel so that they can be found in nearly all space-traveling species. Strangely, when their name is translated, it almost always ends up being something close to 'pocket' and 'square.' I present the Pocket Squares.

Pocket Squares
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
9 x 12 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Contact me regarding availability
© 2024 Christopher Burdett
 
Pocket Squares - Drawing 
9 x 12 - Pencil on paper
© 2024 Christopher Burdett
 
This is one of the many pieces I completed so far this year. It has been a blur of pencil and paint. Nice to finally be sharing them. Here is a look at the sketch for the Pocket Squares to show where it began.
 
Pocket Squares - Sketch 
 Digital 
 © 2024 Christopher Burdett 

As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape. Additional fun fact: While this is the same paper I have used for my work on the Grand Bazaar, this sheet and several others recently used was from a larger piece of Rives BFK that I have had since college, so over twenty years old. I am not sure if it is the age of the paper or if the paper is made differently now, but water does not go down on this paper the same way as all the others of the same type I use. So there was a lot more drying time and a lot of impatient waiting to see if the washes went down correctly and if the pencil was blending the way I desired. In the end, there was no deviation from the image I was able to achieve, just some uncertain moments of waiting for things to dry.
 
Pocket Squares - Process
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

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 26, 2024

From the Archives: Devlin - Angel Season 5

Well, it looks like I am on a roll now with sharing old Buffy and Angel work over here on the blog! To keep things going, I have for you today another monster I worked on during Season 5 of Angel. This particular monster is from the same episode as the Lorne Hulk, Episode 5, Life of the Party. This is a demon named Devlin who comes to the Halloween party wearing the face of a human as a costume. Devlin's choice of costume didn't sit well with Lorne, which meant Devlin was due for a run-in with Lorne Hulk.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many talented artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought this thing to life. This time, I painted the makeup that you see in the episode. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA. That said, I believe that David Meng designed this one, but I do not remember the sculpture.

The makeup is more of a mix between a mask and makeup. It pulled over the head in one piece and blended onto the actor's face around the mouth and right eye. The left eye was not glued down and needed the makeup artist to apply makeup around the eye hole. I no longer have the concept design files for this one and only a few shop photos. I am actually surprised I was able to find some images of the makeup on set being worn by the actor. I present to you, Devlin.

Here is Devlin on set in full makeup and contacts - RAWR!
As mentioned, I did not design or sculpt this one, but I did paint the makeup. Sadly, the set photos are all blown out, and the skin tones of the 'costume' are lost, but thankfully, I have my photos of the makeup before it went to set (see below).

A front view of the Devlin sculpture.

As you can clearly see, this is, in fact, the Devlin sculpture, but from behind.

One more for good measure of the front, but a little closer.

No, for my part in all of this, here is the painted Devlin makeup in the shop. You can see the unpainted edges of the makeup that will be glued down to the actor's face, and then makeup will be applied to blend it all together.
 
Another image of the painted makeup, but from the side. I mixed iridescent pigments into some of the paints and sprayed the pigments thin down with alcohol to give it a shiny, reptilian look and feel. A lot of this makeup was covered up with a sweater and a button up. It is amazing how much of our work was obscured by wardrobe on these shows.
 
Lastly, another blown-out image from set - minus the contacts.

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! 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 24, 2024

Limited Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel Art NOW AVAILABLE!

Before Pensacon, I shared with you that I would be debuting some of my original concept art from working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel at the convention for the first time ever. The convention has come and gone, and since not all of the pieces sold at Pensacon, I have put those select pieces on my store. I am testing the waters with these to see how they sell and what kind of interest there is in them. I have a lot more, but for now, those pieces are fine in the flat file. All of these shown here are now available on my store.

17 x 13 - Gouache, colored pencil, and ink on paper
This is original concept art that I created for the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was one of the artists working to design the Beljoxia's Eye creature for episode 11 - Showtime. This image concept was started traditionally and finished digitally due to time constraints.

11 x 14 - Watercolor, colored pencil, and ink on paper
This is original concept art that I created for the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This was part of the work done to design background demon masks that were to be worn by extras and stunt actors.

11 x 14 - Watercolor, colored pencil, and ink on paper
This is original concept art that I created for the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This was part of the work done to design background demon masks that were to be worn by extras and stunt actors.
 
11 x 14 - Colored pencil and pencil on paper 
This is the original concept art that I created for the fifth season of Angel. This was part of the work done to design background demon masks that were to be worn by extras and stunt actors. We were attempting to subtly reuse elements from makeup and masks that we had previously created.

11 x 10 - Colored pencil and pencil on paper 
This is the original concept art that I created for the fifth season of Angel. This was part of the work done to design background demon masks that were to be worn by extras and stunt actors. We were attempting to subtly reuse elements from makeup and masks that we had previously created. 

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 22, 2024

The Completed Circle - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of the numerous pieces of spot art throughout the book. As with last week's piece, this is for the beginning of the book in the A World of Stories section. This is the centerpiece for book two, the tale of The Completed Circle, the oldest existing written story on the planet. Or, should I say, what is left of it. All remaining copies, unfortunately, were severely damaged so long ago that there is no record of the destroyed bit. But there will be a lot more on that in the book. The Completed Circle was written on scrolls housed within one large case and adorned with a Sekkine Viper biting its tail.  I present The Completed Circle.

The Completed Circle
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
9 x 12 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Contact me regarding availability
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

The Completed Circle - Drawing 
9 x 12 - Pencil on paper
© 2024 Christopher Burdett
 
This is one of the many pieces I completed so far this year. It has been a blur of pencil and paint. Nice to finally be sharing them. Here is a look at the sketch for The Completed Circle to show where it began.

The Completed Circle - Sketch 
 Digital 
 © 2024 Christopher Burdett

As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape.

 
The Completed Circle - Process
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

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 19, 2024

Recent Magic the Gathering Artist Proof Art

Today, I have recent Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added art to their backs. All available artist proofs and art options can be found on my store. I present a selection of art on the back of Magic the Gathering cards.

On the back of this Shifting Shadows card, I was asked to recreate the card art with my version of a Dratini and Dragonite Pokemon. If you know me, then you know I was excited about this one.

On this Ancient Carp card, I was asked to have the little lost humunculus Fblthp having a run in with the carp... NOMS!

That's all for another exciting Friday on the blog. See you back here next week! 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 17, 2024

From the Archives: Lorne Hulk (Thing) - Angel Season 5

A recent conversation brought up the Lorne Hulk (or Thing or Behemoth; it went by several names while we worked on it and afterward), and while I was already planning on digging this one out of the archives to share, it gave me a little fire to do it sooner, rather than later. For those keeping track, this monster appeared in Season 5 of Angel in Episode 5, Life of the Party. The empathic demon Lorne was having sleep issues, and due to this, his subconscious manifested at a Halloween party and went on a rampage.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many talented artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought this thing to life. This time, I was the designer, and I may have painted the makeup, but it was over twenty years ago, so who knows. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

This one went through several versions as production asked for something particular and then freaked out when we gave it to them. After changing it, production freaked out that we, once again, gave them what they wanted. Mix, repeat, repeat again and again - AH! The good old days! I have never seen these episodes and have no idea how this thing turned out, save from some set photos. One of these days, I will need to watch these series in their entirety to see the fruits of so much labor. Let's start things off with the concepts for Lorne Hulk.

Lorne Hulk - Design A

They wanted the Hulk - a massive green man-monster that could rampage through the episode, causing all sorts of chaos. So that is what I gave them. The body would need some padding, but if they hired someone like, say, David Mattey, you were practically nearly here. Big Dave was the perfect choice for this. He was a friend of the shop, a great guy, and had the chops to be this monster. We would need to make gloves, or possibly articulated giant hands, oversized shoes, and some other tweaks to create the illusion of him being even bigger than he already is. 

Lorne Hulk Head - Design A

The head design was shot down almost immediately. They wanted it to look like Lorne but bigger. No extra horns, distortion or mutation, no fun, nothing interesting. Oh well.

Lorne Hulk Head - Design B

Now for the wackiness. First, they didn't want big hands and feet. But everything else stays the same. Uh... okay. I guess we can do that. So, that is what we sent back to them. Oh, and I updated the head in this one.

Lorne Hulk Head - Design C

As a surprise to no one, they realized their idea looked ridiculous. So, they scrapped it all and just wanted it to be a regular guy-looking monster. You know, just like the regular Lorne... but mad. So, that is what we sent them. Shocking to no one, they freaked out that this was just Lorne and that this monster needed to be a giant and scary. Did I mention it needed to be GIANT!!?! So, we sent them the first design again. And they seemed to like it a lot more now. I am sure there was some sort of agreement made, but I was not there.

Lorne Hulk Head - Design B

This was the revised head design that production approved. It was even more simplified as things moved forward. They didn't even make any new horns. We reused horns from the Bohg'Dar demon.

Lorne Hulk's original drawings

While I did my finishes and edits on the computer, I did a lot of the original concepts on paper. They are hidden away in my flat files. Safe for a later date when I finally decide to part with them.

Lorne  Hulk makeup sculpture

I do not recall who sculpted any of this, and I have no images of the cowl being sculpted, but I have this one image of the face makeup. Speaking of the cowl...

Lorne Hulk makeup and cowl

Since Lorne was a returning cast member, his makeup had to be consistent over years of shooting the show. This meant that the Lorne Hulk needed to be that same color. Here is the painted makeup and cowl that was worn by Big Dave.

Wardrobe tests and fitting

We made the padding and undersuit to give the monster more bulk, and the wardrobe department made the suit to make the one worn by Lorne. To marry these two things, everyone came to the shop. Here, we see Big Dave padded up and getting the final adjustments done to the suit.

On set ... well, at the trailers

Here, we see Big Dave in makeup with Darnell Shepherd from the shop. Darnell is excellent and does awesome hairwork. I was not on set for this episode, and I actually have no idea why I wasn't there. Likely I was needed at the shop. As you can see from his non-green hands, we did end up making large gloves for the Lorne Hulk.

Okay, now we are on set!

Finally, the Lorne Hulk is on set and at the party. Big Dave is in full makeup and wardrobe with Jim Ojala from the shop. Jim has his own shop now and is a super cool guy. This looked like a fun day on set, and I would have liked to be there, but I have enough fun memories of being on set; it is good that others had a chance, too.

Big Dave as the Lorne Hulk on set doing his thing. The hands and feet could have been bigger, but he looks good, and at the end of the day, that is something.

David Mattey as the Lorne Hulk and Andrew Hallett as Lorne


Sadly, we lost Andy in 2009. Andy was one of those humans that was happy whenever I saw him. He didn't need to remember me; I was just one of the makeup FX guys, but he made a point to say hello to me whenever we crossed paths. I remember one day, I was driving on the lot, the Angel trailers were right near the side entrance at Paramount, so we could just drive in if we needed to pick up or drop off, and I was in my car talking to another person from the shop that was on set that day. Andy turned around and walked back over to us to say hello and made a point to make sure we were seen and acknowledged for the work we did. It meant so much to me. Not many of the actors on the projects I worked on did that. He was one of the good ones.

Big Dave has had some serious health issues, too. If you can, there is a GoFundMe for his medical bills and needs. Big Dave has played many fantastic monsters, and I was fortunate to work with him on several projects. He put the fear of God in me when he goaded me into attacking him with a fake weapon. Big Dave was FAST and skilled. It was all over before I was even aware it had begun. It was astonishing and horrifying. He could use your help.

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

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Infinity Con 2024 Guest Announcement!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be returning as a guest to Infinity Con this coming July 6th and 7th in Tallahassee, FL. Inifinity  Con is a fantastic event and it is always a joy to share my work with those in Tallahassee. Getting to sleep in your bed while also doing a convention is also a treat. I will be bringing the Grand Bazaar with me again, so you can expect books, art, enamel pins, and a lot of new art! I will share more details when they are released, but mark your calendars, and I will see you at the Donald Tucker Civic Center in a couple of months.

 
Come see me and many others at Infinity Con this July 6th and 7th!

That's all for an exciting Tuesday on the blog. See you back here tomorrow for a treat from the archives. 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 15, 2024

The Tools of Storytelling - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of the numerous pieces of spot art that will be through the book. This one is for the very beginning of the book in the A World of Stories section. This piece shows off a varity of tools and materials used to tell stories: styluses, brushes, skulpting tools, paints, Shapermade inks (likely not too carcinogenic), and musical instruments. But in all seriousness, you might want to stay away from that Shapermade ink. I present The Tools of Storytelling.

The Tools of Storytelling
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
9 x 12 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Contact me regarding availability
© 2024 Christopher Burdett
 
The Tools of Storytelling - Drawing 
9 x 12 - Pencil on paper
© 2024 Christopher Burdett
 
This is one of the many pieces I completed so far this year. It has been a blur of pencil and paint. Nice to finally be sharing them. Here is a look at the sketch for The Tools of Storytelling to show where it began.
 
The Tools of Storytelling - Sketch 
 Digital 
 © 2024 Christopher Burdett

As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape.

 
The Tools of Storytelling - Process
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

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