The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: Tentacles

Showing posts with label Tentacles. Show all posts

Friday, May 26, 2017

Tentacle Carrion Crawler Miniature

Close to a year ago I mentioned that a miniature was in the works based on an illustration that I created for Michael Bielaczyc and his Sagaborn RPG. Jump ahead and they are now available! If you are so inclined, you can head over to eBay to get one for your very own. The Tentacle Carrion Crawler miniature comes unpainted, but here are some images of a painted up one for your viewing pleasure...

Tentacle Carrion Crawler painted miniature

Images courtesy of Michael Bielaczyc

I grew up on metal monster miniature and I absolutely love designing them and having my work turned into them. My first work in the gaming industry was designing miniatures and it has shaped the course ever since. Here are some images of the miniature in the raw, as it were...

Tentacle Carrion Crawler unpainted miniature

Images courtesy of Michael Bielaczyc

Lastly, here is the original illustration that I did that the miniature is based on. Hard to believe it has been four years since I work on this. Time does fly sometimes...

9 x 12

Pencil on toned paper

That's all for another exciting week on the blog, Monday is a holiday so there will not be a post, 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

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The Dead Gulch Kickstarter and other Uteria news

I recently had the pleasure to work with Michael Bielaczyc again on some monsters for a project he currently has up on Kickstarter. I contributed a pair of monsters for a new adventure, The Dead Gulch, set in the World of Uteria, which is a Pathfinder compatible world. You might remember my work in the past on Elves of Uteria. This time around I created a demon possessed undead baby and a beast of burden...

Lakava - The Dead Gulch

9 x 12

Pencil on toned paper

Thundrom - The Dead Gulch

9 x 12

Pencil on toned paper

The Dead Gulch Kickstarter is still active and I strongly encourage you to head on over, check it out, and hopefully financially support it on its way to being funded. There are a ton of talented folks involved with this project and it should be another excellent project set in the World of Uteria! What are you waiting for? Go check it out NOW!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaelbielaczyc/the-dead-gulch-a-story-driven-pathfinder-mystery-a

The Dead Gulch - A Story Driven Pathfinder Mystery Adventure Kickstarter!

In related news, a piece that I did for Elves of Uteria will be making an encore appearance in The Dead Gulch, but that is not all... the Tentacle Crawler is getting turned into a miniature! As a refresher, here is the illustration of the Tentacle Crawler that I created for Elves of Uteria...

9 x 12

Pencil on toned paper

Here is a look at the sculpture that will be used for the miniature. I can't wait to get my hands on these! I love miniatures of all kinds and I love miniatures based on my designs even more. Hopefully those attending Gen Con will have the opportunity to get their hands on these bad boys! RAWR!

Tentacle Crawler miniature sculpture courtesy of Michael Bielaczyc

Soon there will be miniatures!

As soon as I have more news about all of these Uteria related happenings I will be sure to share it here on the blog!

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, January 7, 2015

Tentacled Eye Ball

Dealing with life events today. Been spending a lot of time with family and distracting myself with monster drawings. Here is one of those distracting monster drawings...

Tentacled Eye Ball

9 x 12

Pencil on paper

Original for sale over on my web store!
© 2015 Christopher Burdett

Giant eye ball, CHECK. Tentacles, CHECK. Mouth full of teeth, CHECK. I guess all the basics are covered and the drawing is all done. This is also the first completed drawing and monster for the year, for what that is worth. RAWR!

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

Friday, August 1, 2014

Elves of Uteria

Late last year I shared with you some work I was doing for Elves of Uteria as I was working on it... because the work was not covered under an NDA (which is AWESOME!). Elves of Uteria is now out and I got my hands on a copy and wanted to share the work again as a whole for those that may have missed it...

Elves of Uteria

(Michael Bielaczyc & Dane Clark Collins)

Buy it, play it, love it! RAWR!

I was asked to join the project by the most excellent, Michael Bielaczyc, and I was thrilled to join the team and make some monsters. In total I designed and illustrated three monsters and they are still some of my favorite drawings from last year. Here again are the three monsters and an image of the page they appear on in the book for added fun...

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

Drekava... just hanging... waiting to swallow your soul...

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

Devouring Ooze is doling out the free hugs...

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

Tentacle Crawler arrived late for that whole free hugs thing... so it is here to eat you face...

If you have a chance you should really check out the book! Thanks again to Mike for including me on the project!

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

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Star-Touched Grove - Process

Way back in November of last year I brought you a piece I did for Dungeon Magazine illustrating a tentacled bear and his pet porcupine grub. Two great things that go better together! RAWR! Today, at long last, I have the process and steps that went into this piece. So that we are all on the same page, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Star-Touched Grove - Dungeon Magazine Issue 219

Stop me if you have heard this before... I started this piece off with some THUMBNAILS. Imagine that! Anyway, the assignment was to depict a druid that had been corrupted by the taint of the far realms and in his bear form (wait for it) HE HAS TENTACLES! The druid also has a couple of little porcupine grub pals and at least one needed to be in there too. I got some of my favorite bear and insect reference together and got to work on some thumbnails...

The Star-Touched Grove - Thumbnails

"B" was the instant favorite and was selected for this assignment. It was time for some drawing... and that was what I did. Here is how the final drawing for this piece turned out as I built up the details and fleshed out the piece...

The Star-Touched Grove - Drawing

The drawing was approved without issue (if I remember correctly) and I was good to go on getting started with the painting. In just 10 easy steps you too can have a tentacle bear... or not. Here is a progression of the image as I painted it...

The Star-Touched Grove - Process steps

This piece was really straight forward. The biggest over all issue was to make sure everything read well since there were two creatures, lots of tentacles, and a tree leaking star juice in the background. I like to crop in really close to my subjects... and this can both help and hinder me, but in the long run I have made it work. As an added bonus, here is an animated version of the painting coming together...

The Star-Touched Grove - Animated progression

The painting was turned in and accepted without revision. Well, there was one note, and that was from Kate, my AD on this piece... she really wanted to see the nose of the bear to be blue to match the tentacles. Unfortunately, she was overruled by other folks at WotC and the nose remained as I had painted it. She sent me a mocked up image with the nose blue and I agreed with her, it would have been fun to see a blue nosed tentacle bear...

If only... the blue nosed tentacle bear...

As always, this piece turned out as well as it did because of the ever present and helpful art directors at WotC, thanks Kate! Again, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Star-Touched Grove - Dungeon Magazine Issue 219

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

Friday, March 21, 2014

Taking a break: Portal Tentacles - Angel Season 4

As mentioned on Monday I am taking a little break on the blog since I am a little overwhelmed elsewhere. In my absence, here is some stuff I have never shared from my days in the Makeup FX industry! Today I have for you the Portal Tentacles from Angel season 4.

For this monster of the week I was the lead on the design, (if I remember correctly) did some of the shop tech, went to set with it to help out, and did some of the puppeteering. All the other aspects of production... sculpting, painting, casting, and rigging were all handled by the other skilled artists at Almost Human back in 2002.

Enough talk, here is the Portal Tentacles...

Angel season 4, episode 5... most likely NOT remembered for the digital tentacles coming out of portal. Must be a really angry Grell back there... OH, did I say that out loud?

My crappy crappy crappy design.

I finally get to design tentacles professionally and this is all I come up with... SO SAD.

Things to know:

1 - I was made to add the photo of the actress by my boss... because REASONS.

2 - My signature was HUGE when I opened this file and just now shrunk it out of embarisment.

3 - LENS FLARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another thing to know... a VERY HEAVILY Photoshopped version of my design actually appears briefly in the episode as an book interior illustration of the tentacles. Looks better here...

While most of the tentacles ended up digital... we did make several practical tentacles... some have armature wire and could be posed, one was a cable puppet, and one was designed to be cut in half.

Digital tentacles attack! RAWR! The close ups and where the actors are directly interacting with the tentacles are our work.

Ever wonder what it would be like to work on TV and movies with monsters? It is a whole lot of this... A WHOLE LOT of sitting and waiting.

And the most horrifying image I came across when digging these images out... oh look, it is a younger version of me that happens to be blonde and at least 75 pound heavier... maybe more. That tentacle hanging off there is now helping... and I am not even going to start on that hat and goggles... RAWR!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you hopefully 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

Friday, February 28, 2014

Beholden - Tentacles on Toned Paper

I sometimes feel like everywhere I turn I am tripping over monsters and monster drawings... and sometime I am actually correct. At some previous date I had a spare moment and began doodling some tentacles and eye and after a just a little bit of drawing stuck the doodle in the back of my sketchbook and forgot all about it. Jump ahead and while flipping through my sketchbook I rediscover my tentacle monsters. Jump ahead even further and I finally had enough time pieced together to have finished it...

Beholden

9 x 12

Pencil on paper

Funny thing is, it is back in my sketchbook. I needed to slice off a little down one side and it is in a bag and backboard for transit to a paper cutter and it has not managed to escape my sketchbook again. I am horrible about carrying around huge stacks of drawings with me from projects that I am working on... which become drawings from projects that I have finished... which become drawings from projects that I finished two months ago. Maybe I am trying to raise my own Pokemon... I choose you, Beholden!

Here are some images I managed to take of this drawing taking shape. There is a weird gap in the process which I could have sworn I took images of. One of the great mysteries that will never be solved... where did those images of that one random drawing go??? Anyway... here are some images of this drawing taking shape...

Beholden - process images

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

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Fishy Look

I am no closer to replacing my car, but I am ready to get back on the horse and get this old blog moving again. Today, I have for you a doodle that turned itself into a full drawing. ...or should I say that I was drawing without a goal and by the time the dust cleared I had this...

9 x 12

colored pencil on toned paper

Not sure what to say about this piece... TENTACLES! ...um, yes, I was was drawing some tentacles and lots of eyes and having a lot of fun and just didn't want to stop working on them. Usually how these things happen. Not sure why he feels the need to cover up his tentacle shame. I have some photos of the drawing taking shape...