Never Shared - Coils of Madness Packaging

Recently while doing some cleaning and organizing, I came across some card packs that I had completely forgotten about.  Not only were they forgotten, after a quick search, I realized I never shared them. These card packs have been tucked away for seven years, and now they are finally getting a little attention here on the blog. Way back in 2012, I worked on the Legend of the Five Rings expansion, Coils of Madness. One of the main pieces I produced for that set was the great mad dragon P'an Ku. The set was eventually released in 2013, and my P'an Ku art was heavily used on the card packaging as well as the card box. I feel like this may have been lost on me at the time because this is something that does not happen with my art with any frequency. Here is a look at the packaging for Coils of Madness.

P'an Ku snapping at you from the front of the packs.

P'an Ku wraps around to the back.

P'an Ku is the featured art on the top of the card box as well.

For an eight year old painting, I still really like this piece. Sure, there are things I would do differently now, but for card art, it still looks great, and I love I doubled down on yellow and made this piece so warm. I really thought this piece was going to be huge for me. I made a ton of prints and playmats of this image, and I just had a feeling this piece was going to sell really well for me. That is not how it ended up working out. When the playmats eventually sold out about five years ago, I never had them reprinted. The prints sold very slowly from the beginning, and I was finally rid of the last ones in February at Pensacon when the last one sold from my deep, deep discount bin. Not the fate I had envisioned for P'an Ku, but that is how it is sometimes. This piece seemed to tick all the boxes for a fan favorite, but the fans were never there. Goes to show that you can never honestly know what will be successful and what will not. Here is the final art for P'an Ku's Madness, as well as the card it appears on. 

P’an Ku's Madness

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

P’an Ku's Madness in handy card form.

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

Gen Con 2013… the journey begins!

On our way to Gen Con!

Driving has made things a lot different so far this year. We are able to bring so much more… and boy have we… but I then have had to drive through Atlanta. Flying through Atlanta is always an easier experience compared to driving through it. Miss your exit in 70 mph traffic? Why not stop suddenly and turn slowly… what is the worst that can happen?!

Driving allowed us to the pleasant treat to stay with Sam Flegal and family. Much sushi was had! Our visit has definitely made the trip up north to Indianapolis way more enjoyable. We have a bit more driving ahead of us and then set up our journey to Gen Con is almost done. …but more on this soon.

Here are some images from the days travels…

I miss the time when the quality of the restaurant or hotel was based on the size of the rocket out front.

The perfect keepsake to remember my trip to Gen Con 2013?

Meanwhile in Atlanta…

I will always carry a torch for Hotlanta.

Some of Sam Flegal's skull pets.

More skull pets… they all say, "RAWR!"

P'an Ku appeared at dinner and commanded me to eat ALL the sushi…

That is all for another exciting Wednesday, see you at Gen Con! Until then...

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

P'an Ku's Madness - Process

With Gen Con next week I am busy getting all my art ducks in art duck rows... which can be hard with all the waddling and quacking. But more on all this soon, in the meantime, I have for you the process that went into a recent dragon piece that is getting a lot of attention... P'an Ku and his MADNESS. I produced this piece for the Legend of the Five Ring expansion, Coils of Madness. So that we are all on the same page, here is how the final P'an Ku turned out...

P’an Ku's Madness

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

When I was assigned this piece I was told that this character is kind of a big deal and that this expansion revolves around him... and that the art I produce just may be used in marketing and packaging... NO PRESSURE though. Good thing I knew all I really needed to worry about was making a kick butt dragon and since Eastern dragons have the proper number of limbs and no wings I knew I was golden. As with all my work the thumbnails started things off...

P’an Ku's Madness - Thumbnails

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

I really knew what I wanted to do with this piece and I worked it all out in my first thumbnail. For better of worse. I have talked about this elsewhere here on the blog, and I don't really encourage it, but sometime you get the best idea right away and you need to run with it. I think in reality that the BEST idea comes from effort and work to distill and work through the bad ideas to get at the heart of the piece. ...or you just really know what a big crazy coiling dragon needs to look like and you work it all out on the first pass. I didn't just want to submit a single thumbnail so I worked up a second that I thought would be just as interesting, one where the dragon is coiling around crazy rock formation. For the life of me as I look back at my own thumbnail I can not really tell what is going on in it. His head is kinda just floating off... Glad option "A" was picked! Next stop, Drawing Town, population 1...

P’an Ku's Madness - Drawing

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

This is one of those drawings that is a treat to work on. The only real concern is getting all the scales right. Which I more or less kind of managed to do. Hard to go wrong with a big twisty dragon drawing. It just drips with 'RAWR'. Now that I have a drawing and it is approved it is time to get started on the painting...

P’an Ku's Madness - Process

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

Again, this piece kind of created itself, I just had to put the time into it to make sure it reached the finish line. I knew what I wanted to do with it and what it would time to get there. From the thumbnails I am often thinking about color and focal point for the piece. I was told this dragon is more associated with the color green in the art order, so I looked to actual representations of green Eastern dragons when preparing to start on this piece. So in eight easy steps the piece came together... or not really. It takes a lot of time and work... but it does get easier over time and the hard parts are easier to work through. Fun fact, once I got started in the actual painting layer (image step 6 above) I got it into my head that I had drawn the scales on the arm coming at the view backwards. That I drew then pointing in the wrong direction and proceeded to paint over my under painting correcting this error... which of course was WRONG. I was busy painting the scales in the wrong direction. Luckily I came to my senses before things got too crazy and I get my head back in the game and remembered I had draw everything correctly the first time.

I was really happy with how the piece turned out on the final production card. It looks really good in person. I am also looking forward to seeing it in person elsewhere at Gen Con next week. I have on good authority there may be a sharp looking poster with a certain dragon on it... more on this soon hopefully! For your viewing pleasure, here is the final card for P'an Ku's Madness...

P’an Ku's Madness in handy card form!

Those of you familiar with the blog will remember this from last week but it is relevant here too. I revisited the drawing of P'an Ku and worked it up on toned paper to take with me to Gen Con. I will have the P'an Ku black and white drawing, prints, and some other surprises with me at Gen Con, but I thought this finished drawing would be a real nice piece to make and have there with me.

Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited)

  12 x 16 - pencil on paper

P'an Ku © 2013 AEG

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

Did somebody say toned paper DRAGON?!

The toned paper monsters keep coming as Gen Con gets closer and closer! Today I have for you a mad dragon. I originally created this dragon piece for the Legend of the Five Rings card game. I was really happy with how it turned out and it has been really well received by people so I thought I would revisit it. After some tweaks to the original sketch I set about doing a large version of it on toned paper and here is how it turned out...

Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited)

  12 x 16

colored pencil on toned paper

P'an Ku © 2013 AEG

Everybody just loves dragons and I more then happy to oblige. So far this is the largest toned paper piece I have done... though I have plans to work a bit bigger very soon. I have to say I am really happy with how this is all progressing. It is just too much fun to work on the toned paper. To be honest I am having some trouble going back to the white paper I am have been drawing on for years. Not sure what that is about... but I better shake it off soon because I need to start making some NEW drawings and not just going back to stuff I have already completed. But for now... I am having a lot of fun! More of these VERY SOON!


For those attending Gen Con you will have a chance to see the Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited) in person and even buy it and take him home with you! Give the Dragon Madness (P'an Ku revisited) a good home!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday for a brand new monster! Until then...

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

P’an Ku - Coils of Madness announcement

On April 1st the internet is a tricky place to navigate. When I saw that AEG had announced their next expansion to the Legend of the Five Rings CCG, Coils of Madness, I knew it was no joke. Last year I was asked to update the art for the great mad dragon, P'an Ku and I am happy to see it was used as part of the launch art for announcing the expansion. Here is how P'an Ku turned out...

P’an Ku

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

This was an incredibly fun piece to work on and I am thrilled to be able to share it with you now. I have to admit, I REALLY enjoy drawing and painting dragons that are more in line with the traditional Asian esthetic. I have another piece in the set... but that will have to wait till the set is released. I am on good authority that P'an Ku is going to get some face time in the marketing of the set... which is pretty exciting! P'an Ku has already appeared over the on the L5R website... and is judging you...

P'an Ku sees you surfing the web... and disapproves of your internet search history...

Expect a lot more about P'an Ku and my other piece in the set as we get closer to the release date of the set! RAWR!

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