NEW Eidolon Miniature

Today, I am pleased to share a new miniature based on an illustration I did for Dungeons & Dragons back in 2018. While the mighty Eidolon has received two miniatures to date, this is the first to include the shattered brazier in my painting. To start things off, here is my illustration of the Eidolon.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

The Eidolon is a spirit or undead force that inhabits inanimate objects, such as a giant statute that was originally depicted on the original D&D Player's Handbook cover. While the statue on the cover of the PH has been a known image for decades, it was such an honor to design and illustrate it, standing up and getting ready to make the player's day a whole lot more interesting. Here is the new Eidolon miniature in all its glory.

The new Eidolon is larger than its predecessor.

 

Oh! But that is not all. They also made an official miniature depicting the statue from the cover of the Player's Handbook. It is cool to see this original version as a miniature after all these years.

Player's Handbook Cover Statue in plastic form!

Finally, all the different versions of this statue and the Eidolon.

They turned out beautifully!

That is 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

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures - Eidolon

I don't get into gaming stores as often as I used to, and the past fifteen months certainly haven't helped. Now that things are beginning to improve, I recently once again found myself in a gaming store. As I was taking in the many delights and noticing how many products I contributed to, I came across something that caught my attention. It was a new to me miniature that was based on my Eidolon from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. You might be aware that the Eidolon has already been made into a miniature, but this one is a little different. To start things off, here is the illustration for the Eidolon.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I am often out of the loop on what is actively happening in the tabletop gaming world as my head is down working. I was slightly aware of the unpainted series of D&D miniatures, Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures, but I haven't looked too closely into them. Much to my surprise, while standing in the gaming store recently, I was surprised to see the Eidolon. I, of course, had to pick one up. Here is the unpainted Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures release of the Eidolon.

 

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures - Eidolon

I thought something was a little off when I first looked at this mini. Maybe the detail was a little crisper; perhaps they changed the height, whatever it was, I couldn't put my finger on it at first. Eventually, I realized that the pose is flipped from the pre-painted version and my illustration. The eyes are consistent, but everything else is inverted. I like this aspect a lot. It gives you a different version of the same miniature, so there can be some variation at the table if there is more than one in a gaming session. I will need to pay a little more attention to the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line to see what else might be out there. Lastly, here is the pre-painted miniature of the Eidolon for comparison.

 

Eidolon Pre-painted Miniature

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

D&D Monster Cards - Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes - Return of the Hydroloth, Sacred Statue, and Choker

Within the past two years, give or take, a D&D Monster Card deck was released for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Included in this deck are three of the monsters that I painted for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Where are the rest, you ask? That is a story or another day. As I have mentioned countless times, being in a book is fantastic, but there is just something extra special about having my work as a miniature or a card. While my first introduced to D&D through books, I once played countless hours of card and miniature games. Maybe that is where this comes from? With the release of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes Monster Deck, my Hydroloth, Sacred Statue (Eidolon), and Choker ger their own cards. Here is a look at the deck box and the cards.

 

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes Monster Deck

 

 

Hydroloth

 

 

Sacred Statue (Eidolon)

 

Choker

Of these there monsters, all but the Hydroloth has been made into a miniature. In my book, that is not too shabby, and it is always fun to see my monsters make the rounds. Here again, is the final art that I created of these three monsters.

 

Hydroloth 

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes 

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin 

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

 

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin 

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

 

Choker

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin 

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

That's 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

Eidolon - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

Today I have for you a monster that was released just over two years ago, the Eidolon. This iconic animated statue was part of my work on Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. I am sure there are few within the D&D community that is unfamiliar with the cover of the original Player's Handbook that featured the aftermath of a battle involving Lizardmen. The backdrop of this cover is a giant statue with gem eyes, and a pair of adventures are removing the gems. For this assignment, I was asked to depict that statue, having decided it was tired of losing its eyes and stood up. What a perfect D&D assignment! Before I get too far ahead of myself, here is the final painting for the Eidolon.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Starting things off, I did a photo shoot where I made my best impression of an animated statue in my underwear. You will have to use your imagination on this one. Most of my reference photos will never see the light of day. Maybe in the far future, I will put out a retrospective, and I will include all my super silly selfies. Who knows. Anyway, I did the photo shoot, and I got to work on some thumbnails. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted for the Eidolon.

Eidolon - Thumbnails

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Sometimes with thumbnails, I see more there than the client sees. They are roughs that will lead to a more fleshed out drawing. It is only natural that production needs to know what they are getting into and request updated thumbnails. In this case, they needed to make sure they were getting a big rocky animated statue and not a Mexican wrestler. Totally understandable, and now that I look back at the thumbnails, I can totally see it. They liked where 'B' was going and asked that I made it a bit squatter and less human and make sure I bulk it up and make it more rock-like. I updated the thumbnail and resubmitted it.

Eidolon - Revised thumbnail

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This new version was accepted and approved. There was one final note as I moved into the drawing. Production asked that I smash up the brazier a bit as if it was dropped as the statue stood up. Simple enough and adds so much to the narrative of the piece. Here is the final drawing that I submitted.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Before I share the process that went into making this piece, I wanted to share the first version of this painting that I submitted. It is directly based on the drawing and depicts the statue having a long flowing loincloth. Once the final painting was submitted, there was some concern that a link between the crotch and the fire would be drawn by people looking at the image. Specifically, they wanted to avoid anyone using the phrase "fire crotch" in regards to this illustration. Fair enough, and as a professional, I made the change. It required minimal editing on my part since I am working digitally. Sadly, in the end, there have people still making the "fire crotch" comment to me and about the painting believing they are funny.  Here is the original version of the Eidolon.

Eidolon - Original version

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

The painting of this piece was very straight forward, even including the change to the loincloth. Due to the way I structure my Photoshop file, the final silhouette of the figure will be present throughout the animated process. It would actually take a bit of work to revert it to the original version then show the full extent of the edits. Just note that most of the final steps of the painting only involve the loincloth, fire, and leg area. This was when I was editing the image. Here is the animated process of the Eidolon painting.

Eidolon - Process

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

For those interested, I recently shared the miniature that was based on this painting. Lastly, I will leave you once again with my final painting for the Eidolon. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes was a great project to work on, and I was able to make so many fun monsters.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

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

Eidolon Miniature

Today I have for you the closest thing that there will likely be a miniature of myself. I illustrated the Eidolon for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. If you are unfamiliar with the origins of this particular creature, you must only look back to the original Player's Handbook to see a giant statue holding a brazier that it losing one of its jeweled eyes. At some point, that statue got fed up and decided to toss the brazier down and seek its revenge. That was where I came in and my painting.

 

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

In the past, I have talked about my surprise that some of the monsters that I have designed and painted were turned into miniatures. This particular one seemed like it could eventually end up as a miniature, and I am happy to see that it did sooner rather than later. As I have mentioned many times here on the blog that I use myself for nearly all reference required for my monsters, this makes this particular mini the nearest I will come to be cast in plastic. Not that this is in any way a direct self-portrait, there are physical tells in the pose and posture that have carried over to the mini that I see as being me. It's the little things. Here are some images of the final production miniature of the Eidolon.

Eidolon Miniature

 

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

Eidolon Miniature by Miguel Zavala

I recently came across another cool custom miniature by Miguel Zavala. Miguel has created many custom 3D Dungeons & Dragons miniature models that are available for printing. This time around, he made an Eidolon based on my illustration in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes that came out last year. I think he did a terrific job on it and I wanted to share it here on the blog.

Eidolon Miniature by Miguel Zavala

Image courtesy of Miguel Zavala

Pretty cool if I do say so myself. If you have a chance, you should check out more of Miguel's work. Here is my painting of the Hellfire Engine so you can see how faithful he was to the original.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes - Eidolon

Last year I had the joy of working on Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, the newest supplement for Dungeons & Dragons. I created five monster illustrations for the book and had a fantastic time doing so. A huge thanks go out to Kate Irwin for including me on this project! Today I have for you the mighty Eidolon...

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2018 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This was a fun one and hit me in the D&D feels. If you are familiar with the long history of D&D you should see a striking resemblance between this animated statue and the statue on the cover of the First Edition Players Handbook. In fact, I was asked to make this Eidolon look exactly like the station on the Players Handbook... if it had just stood up and was about to cause some trouble. You might notice that there is a different length in the loin cloth from the drawing to the final... that is a story for another day.

Keep an eye on the blog as I share the rest of my contributions to Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes!

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