The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: On the Doorstep

Showing posts with label On the Doorstep. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Smaug the Magnificent - Process

Back in March I shared with you the two Smaug pieces that I have in the second Hobbit themed expansion to the Lord of the Rings living card game, On the Doorstep. Today I have for you the various production steps and process progression for the seconf of my two Smaug pieces, Smaug the Magnificent. Before we get started on how I went about creating it, here is how the finished piece turned out...

Smaug the Magnificent

Smaug the Golden was the first of my Smaug pieces and I looked to what I was designing and establishing in that piece to influence the direction of this card. All that said, during the thumbnail stage of this piece I was still exploring what I wanted to do with Smaug. Speaking of thumbnails, here are the three that I submitted for Smaug the Magnificent...

Smaug the Magnificent - Thumbnails

As mentioned before in the process of Smaug the Golden I included double crop marks on the thumbnails to indicate the size I was going to produce the actual painting at and the size required for the assignment. At the time, I think I was really interested in working on option "C". Funny, looking back at it now, I think I ended up doing something similar for the second set of Smaug pieces for the Gen Con set. As you can clearly see, option "A" was the winner and I moved forward on the drawing...

Smaug the Magnificent - Drawing

These were really fun to draw to say the least. I also thought I had done my job in providing a large enough image to allow for me to create the image I wanted and the image the client needed. Only one way to find out, stick the drawing in the template...

Smaug the Magnificent - Drawing mock up in template

Oh well... the image was not large enough on three sides, could have bee worse. The drawing was approved as long as I made sure to extend it as indicated in the mock up to fulfill everybody's needs and wants. The only thing left to do is paint this bad boy. For those that may have missed it, I went into a lot more detail about my drawing prep and my under painting process on this very blog last Friday. Here is a look at the process...

Smaug the Magnificent - Precess progression

In six easy steps... If I remember correctly, I think I ended up fighting with this one more then its partner, Smaug the Golden. For me, Smaug the Golden was such an iconic depiction that anything else just seemed to fall flat. It totally could be me... or not... but this was definitely not my favorite of my Smaug pieces. They can't all be your favorites, I guess. Here is how the final art turned out on the card...

Smaug the Magnificent in handy card form!

As an added bonus this art was reused as a part of the decklist insert that comes with the game. So I guess my views of this piece were not shared by everyone! Of course, I guess it is hard to hate a fire breathing dragon...

Smaug the Magnificent in handy informational insert form!

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

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Smaug the Golden - Process

Back in March I shared with you the two Smaug pieces that I have in the second Hobbit themed expansion to the Lord of the Rings living card game, On the Doorstep. Today I have for you the various production steps and process progression for the first of my two Smaug pieces, Smaug the Golden. Before we get started on how I went about creating it, here is how the finished piece turned out...

Smaug the Golden

When I was first contacted to design and illustrate Smaug I knew I had to take the assignment and I also knew I had to NOT think about the fact that I am designing and illustrating Smaug... There is just so much baggage and history associated with certain projects and subject matters. For me to get through them it is best to not think too much about them and focus on making something 'cool' rather then making 'the MOST recognizable dragon in popular culture'. I needed to paint a really awesome giant red dragon laying on a pile of gold... okay, I can do that. The fact that it is Smaug with all his history and the various interpretations is not unimportant. I will make better work when I am concerned about the composition, light, color, and mood rather then worrying about the fact that this is Smaug from the Hobbit.

I went into this project with some thoughts and ideas about what I wanted to do with the look and feel for the dragon - much of which I would later go onto flesh out and build upon when I later worked on the three Smaug pieces for the Battle of Lake-Town deck. As always, I stated with some thumbnails. I was trying some things out and seeing what works and what does not at this point. There were several versions that were deleted before these three were submitted...

Smaug the Golden - Thumbnails

As you can see there are double crop points on the images. The square is for the client use and the larger rectangle is the size I will creating the art for myself... and for the client if they want to use if for additional purposes. There is no point in doing paintings of Smaug if I can't get something that will be usable beyond the life of the trading card. Option "B" was picked and I moved forward with the drawing...

Smaug the Golden - Drawing

I did just a little work on the drawing... This is where I finally worked out all my idea and decided on a final look and direction of my interpretation of Smaug. From this point on all my other Smaug work will refer back to this drawing and the eventual painting. I turned the drawing in and it was double checked on the card template to make sure I was good to go for the final illustration...

Smaug the Golden - Drawing mock up in template

Check twice, cut once... Looks like I was not looking closely enough at all the chrome that these cards have and to make sure Smaug's nose was not hidden the art had to be shrunk to a smaller size then I anticipated. Move forward I needed to add the appropriate amount of additional image at the bottom. Remember kids, your art director kills a kitten every time you don't use the supplied templates! Think of the kittens and use you templates...

Now that I have an approved drawing with the caveat to add additional imagery to the bottom I moved forward with painting the final piece...

Smaug the Golden - Precess progression

It has been a while since I did the original for this so I am not really sure how long it actually took, but it feels like it went really quickly all things considered. I remember doing a lot of sitting and staring to make sure it was working and read well. Enough can not be said for simply sitting and reflecting on the piece. Not all the work is done with your hands. That stuff between your ears has a lot of work to do on a painting too. Sitting, staring, reflecting, and thinking are all important steps in the painting process. ...for me at least.

Here is how the final art turned out on the card...

Smaug the Golden in hand card form!

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

Monday, March 4, 2013

The Hobbit: On the Doorstep

Smaug, the dire menace of Middle Earth... You might remember the Smaug pieces I shared with you last August that I produced for the Gen Con 2012 Battle Laketown deck. At the time I mentioned that these were by no means the only or even the first Smaug piece that I had in store. Months before I produced the pieces for the Gen Con deck I was asked to design the great dragon Smaug and produce a pair of cards for On the Doorstep, the second of two Hobbit themed LoTR card game expansions. Here is how those first Smaug pieces turned out...

Smaug the Golden

Smaug the Magnificent

For me, there is no more of an iconic image of Smaug then of him slumbering on his treasure. It was hard to not jump at the assignment when I was told that this very image was one of the pieces available... also, getting to design and establish the look of Smaug himself was pretty hard to turn down. This of course led into me working on the Gen Con deck that allowed me to revisit and build upon the design I started with these two cards.

As with the other LotR pieces I have been producing I made the pieces nice and big for myself which then gave production a lot more to work with. Here are scans of the final cards so you can see how they turned out...

Smaug in handy card form... RAWR!

I will be bringing you a closer look at what went into these pieces as well as some other related images and notes in the near future. Make sure you keep an eye on the blog! A huge thanks to Zoe Robinson for getting me involved with this project! One of those projects you just don't want to miss out on.

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