The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: Zoe Robinson

Showing posts with label Zoe Robinson. Show all posts

Monday, March 20, 2023

Drogon Tattoo

In 2010 I painted the three dragons from A Game of Thrones for the card game for the first time. This, of course, included Drogon, and in 2011, the cards were released featuring my paintings. They were a fan favorite immediately, with Drogon becoming the top favorite. Sometime after that, I was approached by Mat McCarthy regarding usage rights for a tattoo. As this was work for hire, that is all out of my hands; I gave him my blessing. For years I have been reluctant to design tattoos or have people use my art in such a manner. It had everything to do with not feeling comfortable with art I do not think it is my best to be permanently put on someone's body. As my skillsets improved over the years, my no-tattoo stance has softened. I am still not designing them, but my existing art is available - but you need to contact me first, and I would like images of the final results. To start things off, here is the final art for the first Drogon painting that I created.

Drogon
10 x 8.3 - Digital

Art Director - Zoe Robinson
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

If I dug through enough messages and emails, I could figure out when Mat approached me, but that is irrelevant to the story. Mat wanted Drogon on his body, and I was finally at a point I could give him my blessing. This was years ago, but as of 2016, Mat had a significant amount of the tattoo finally created. Mat shared the images again, which is how I finally saw them. He shared that the piece is still not completed. I think it looks fantastic all the same, and he agreed that I could share the images of his tattoo. Without further yammering on my part, here are the images of the Drogon tattoo.

Images courtesy Mat McCarthy

Many thanks to Mat for the use of the images and for liking this piece enough to get it over a good bit of his body. It is an honor and very humbling.

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

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

A Smuggler Returns in Star Wars Destiny

I have had a piece recently resurface in the new Star Wars card and dice game released by Fantasy Flight Games, Star Wars Destiny. Originally painted in late 2011 and then finally published in late 2013, my Hidden Cache art has a new life as the Smuggling card. Good to see that my Mon Calamari smuggler is now finally getting some attention... six years after I painted it. Here is a look at the new card...

Smuggling card from Star Wars Destiny

Much like my Wookiee Navigator / Gunner card the Hidden Cache card did not get much attention and flew under the radar, but on its second printing in a different game, it is gaining some notoriety. Both the smuggler and the Wookiee were created for the Star Wars Card Games and then went on to a higher profile life in Destiny and X-Wing (respectively). Funny how that works. Here is the original art for the Hidden Cache, notice the crazy wide proportions of the art added before the final templates for the card game where locked down...

Hidden Cache
Edge of Darkness LCC Expansion
10 x 6.5 - Digital

If you are interested I posted the process and steps that went into this painting here on the blog back in 2014. You can get a glimpse at how I use to do things back in 2011. I still have the toned drawing that I created in conjunction with this piece. Always loved how it turned out and still surprised I still have it...

Hidden Cache - Toned drawing

14 x 11 - Pencil on paper
Original - SOLD

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

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Forest Awareness - Star Wars - Process

This was suppose to go up yesterday, but I had a day job photo shoot I was on all day and getting this post queued up slipped through the cracks.

In May I first shared with you my Forest Awareness painting for the Star Wars LCG. Today I have for you the process and steps that went into making this painting. This is another older Star Wars piece that was finally released and now I finally am getting around to sharing the process. To start things off, here is how the final painting of Forest Awareness turned out...

Forest Awareness

Star Wars LCG - Press the Attack

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

This piece was a straggler that was done shortly after my Ephant Mon and Wicket paintings that I have previously shared. Star Wars cards come out in six pack blocks which are built around a theme, one set per month (give or take) for six months. An entire card block worth of art is commissioned all at once, so art can take a long time to come out.You never know if your card will be in the first pack or the last pack. Then there are times when the details, names, titles, etc change in production and then you never know what is going on. It's fun that way! Like I said, this is another card I did a while back that is just recently getting an official release.

This was an interesting one. The art order was really wide open and simply called for an Ewok doing something smart or knowledgeable in the forest. There were suggestions of the Ewok leading Rebels through the forest, hunting, tracking, etc. I talked a bit with Zoe about the direction to go with this one and we finally both agreed on an Ewok following track. Also, since the art order was open and allowed for it, I suggested that I make the Ewok a named and recognizable Ewok and I got approval to make it Teebo. With all that taken care of it was time to get to work!

Starting things of we have some thumbnails... because that is ALWAYS how I start these things off. I shot some weird selfies of myself crouching in my studio doing my best Ewok impression and then got to work. Here are how the thumbnails turned out...

Forest Awareness - Thumbnails

Looking at the thumbnails you know that option 'A' was the winning one. I still really like option 'B' and wonder how it would have turned out if we had gone in that direction. I liked the idea that Teebo is sniffing the air and getting his barrings on the animal that he is tracking. Oh well, what could have been. No matter, we have a finiahed painting of 'A' to look at. With a thumbnail approved, it was time to get drawing...

Forest Awareness

Star Wars LCG - Press the Attack

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

They get no more straight forward than this. Translated the thumbnail into a finished drawing and it was approved. Added lots of details, worked out some stuff and at this point it was just a matter of getting started on the painting. Which I did. Here is the Forest Awareness coming together in 16 easy steps...

Forest Awareness - Process progression

This one had a little bit of an uncertain start. If you notice I was definitely going in one direction with this piece at the beginning - blue sky, a cool color scheme... and it was just not working. Hard to tell here, but it was really not working for me. It also felt odd, off, and maybe a little to similar to my Wicket piece. I wanted to do something different and something cool. I pushed the sky yellow and warmed a lot of things up and the moment I did this the painting began to come together. After this choice to go yellow the only other hurdle was to get the foot prints to work the way I wanted them to. The foot prints seemed to take way longer then they should of. Oh well... thems the breaks. Here is an animated progression of the painting to better show it coming together...

Forest Awareness - Animated process

As an added bonus, I happened to have taken a photo of my work space when I was finishing up this painting. Not sure if it will unlock any secrets, but if should give you an idea of how I work... or at least how a worked a couple years ago.

Forest Awareness - Work space

Here again is the final painting of Forest Awareness and the final production card that it was used on...

Forest Awareness

Star Wars LCG - Press the Attack

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

Forest Awareness in handy dandy card form

That is all for another exciting Thursday 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, November 16, 2016

Ephant Mon - Star Wars - Process

In April I first shared with you my Ephant Mon painting for the Star Wars LCG. Today I have for you the process and steps that went into making this painting. Like my Wicket W. Warrick painting from last week, Ephant Mon is nearly two years old now. I worked on it at the end of 2014 and now at the end of 2016 I am sharing the process. I have come a long way with my traditional work in this time, so in some ways this is a look back at how I use to paint, and not how I currently paint. To start things off, here is how the final painting of Ephant Mon turned out...

Ephant Mon

Star Wars LCG - So Be It

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

I relied heavily on my action figures to be the reference and compositional tool for this piece. While the painting was to focus on Ephant Mon, I really wanted to add several other characters into the piece that I wanted to paint. To come with a successful composition and arrangement of figures in the painting I set up action figures and moved them around till I was happy. I took a lot of photos and tried out many options. If these figures had been all more humanoid I would have used myself for the reference and acted out the scene, but since most of these aliens were very much not a standard humanoid form the action figures were a perfect solution. Here are some of the photos I used for reference (notice my wedding ring being used to prop up Ephant Mon)...

Ephant Mon reference images

With plenty of reference to work from it was now time to work up some thumbnails. I needed to work out some interior architecture as refine some of the poses, details, value structure, and compositional elements. Here are the final thumbnails I submitted for this piece...

Ephant Mon - Thumbnails

Option "B" was selected and looking back now, it is the clear winner of the three. While I would have liked to have included a Whiphid in the background it was just not meant to be. Now that I had an approved thumbnail it was time to work up the final drawing for Ephant Mon...

Ephant Mon

Star Wars LCG - So Be It

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

The drawing was approved without comment and it was time to paint. As with my Wicket W. Warrick painting I had a very particular mood I wanted to capture that is influenced by Return of the Jedi. The Jabba's Palace scenes were often cast in a blue light and were often smoky and atmospheric. I very much wanted to capture this look and feel in my painting. Hopefully I managed it. Here is my Ephant Mon painting coming together...

Ephant Mon - Process Steps

While straight forward, there was a lot of pushing and pulling with this piece to get it to where I wanted it. I work back to front, generally, so I was spending a lot of time on the background figures long before ever getting to Ephant Mon. In that time I was falling in love with them and making them the stars. By the time I got to Ephant Mon I realized that I needed to knock those background figures way back and de-emphasize them a lot. While it is sometimes hard to paint over details and work you really like, it needs to be done and will make for a better painting. As I was pushing back the background I needed to make sure I pulled Ephant Mon into focus and made him the star. Hopefully I did. I worked on this piece and the Wicket piece back to back at the end of 2014. At the time I think I was more into Wicket, but as time moved on, I think I like Ephant Mon the best in the long run. Opinions change and moods are temporary. Here is an animated progression of this painting taking shape so you can better see what is going on...

Ephant Mon - Animated Process

Here again is the final painting of Ephant Mon and the final production card that it was used on...

Ephant Mon

Star Wars LCG - So Be It

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

Ephant Mon in handy dandy 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

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Wicket W. Warrick - Star Wars - Process

In December of last year I first shared with you my Wicker W. Warrick painting for the Star Wars LCG. Today I have for you the process and steps that went into making this piece. The thing about this piece is that it is nearly two years old now. I worked on it at the end of 2014 and now at the end of 2016 I am sharing the process. I have come a long way with my traditional work in this time, so in some ways this is a look back at how I use to paint, and not how I currently paint. To start things off, here is how the final painting of Wicket turned out...

Wicket W. Warrick

Star Wars LCG - Solo's Command

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

As always this piece started with some thumbnails. I played around with some image of my action figures and worked on some compositions. There was a very specific moment from Return of the Jedi I was going for, so I focused on trying to capture that moment and the emotional response I had to it. Here are how the thumbnails turned out...

Wicket W. Warrick - Thumbnails

Obviously, option "C" was the winner. Not sure if could disagree with this now and I certainly did not disagree at the time. "B" may have been interesting to work on, but "C" is clearly the winner of this bunch. Now that I had an approved thumbnail is was time to move forward on the drawing...

Wicket W. Warrick

Star Wars LCG - Solo's Command

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

The drawing was approved without comment and it was time to get to work on the painting. As I mentioned above I was aiming to capture a very specific mood and moment from Return of the Jedi with this painting. I wanted to represent in my own way the moments leading up to Wicket first meeting Princess Leia. I watched that section of the film and looked at a lot of frames from it to get a feel for the color and lighting of that moment. Hopefully, by the time I was done with my painting I managed to get a little of that on screen magic I was aiming for.

Wicket W. Warrick - Reference

I had a drawing, I had my reference, I had a plan, and I had a painting to make. This one came together fairly quickly and was rather straight forward. There is loads of reference of Wicket out there and I was working from images from the movie for color and mood. It was all a matter of getting the piece made and not making a mess of it. Like I said, this was from two years ago now and I was still (kinda still am) intimidated by the materials and I sometime feel that it could all go horribly wrong in a second. Here is the painting coming together in twelve easy steps...

Wicket W. Warrick - Process Steps

Here is the painting coming together in a animated format. Thankfully there were no gaffs or errors along the way that need to be addressed and I planned out everything in advance. Not a very exciting story of the process, but sometime that is okay.

Wicket W. Warrick - Animated Process

I will point out the blood. With all of my Ewok pieces I try to add a bit of blood. Ewoks after all are carnivores and were planning on eating Luke, Han, and Chewie. I see them a competent hunters that take pride and enjoyment in the hunt. It is survival, but it is also something they enjoy doing. There is blood on the top of Wicket's spear and a splatter trail of blood on the log and plants that he is following. Wicket wounded something and now he is closing in on the prey, little does he know he is about to run into a princess.

Here again is the final painting of Wicket and the final production card that it was used on...

Wicket W. Warrick

Star Wars LCG - Solo's Command

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

Wicket W. Warrick in handy dandy 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, May 16, 2016

Forest Awareness - Star Wars LCG: Press the Attack

This past week saw the release of Press the Attack, the newest expansion to the Star Wars Card Game, which means I now can share another new piece of Star Wars art. I say new, but I painted this way back in February of 2015 and it is just now being released. Good things come to those that wait? No matter, because the wait for Forest Awareness (featuring Teebo) is now over...

Forest Awareness

Star Wars LCG - Press the Attack

14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

Forest Awareness

Star Wars LCG - Press the Attack

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Zoe Robinson

Original for sale over on my web store!

This piece was rather open ended when it was assigned to me. It called for an Ewok doing something that show it looking proficient in the ways of the forest. Some of the suggestions from production were to have the Ewok leading a Rebel soldier though the forest, an Ewok tracking something, or an Ewok hunting... anything that made the Ewok look like it knows what it is doing. The Ewok choice was also up to me so I of course wanted to pick one of the named Ewoks from Return of the Jedi. Teebo was the first to come to mind since he is a master hunter and tracker. Teebo tracking animal tracks in the forest ended up being the focus of the final piece. And I of course had to put blood on Teebo's club since Ewoks are blood thirsty predators.

I will have more to share with this piece in the near future when I share the process that went into it. For now, here is a look at the printed card...

Forest Awareness in handy dandy card form

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

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Revisiting the Basilisk - Talisman: Frostmarch

On Monday I shared with you some memories of working with Zoe Robinson at Fantasy Flight Games. In that post I mentioned that the first piece I ever did for her was a Basilisk for the Talisman expansion, Frostmarch. That piece is seven years old and very very flawed to my eyes. After reflecting on Zoe's time at FFG and all that we worked on I decided to revisit that critter and give it another pass in pencil to see what it would look like now. Of all the pieces I did with Zoe, the Basilisk is the only one that really makes me cringe. Here is my fresh pass at the Basilisk...

Basilisk - Revisited

12 x 9 - Pencil on paper

I am sure you are thinking to yourself, why on earth am I showing you the redesign before I showed you the original... BECAUSE I don't want seven year old work as the thumbnail for this post. Okay, now that you have seen the rework, lets travel back in time to 2009 and look at the original drawings that I submitted for the Basilisk...

Original Basilisk drawings for Frostmarch

Original on two sheets of 9 x 12 paper - Pencil on paper

These were all that I submitted for the Basilisk. These were the thumbnails and the final drawings all in one. Because I had not developed my now ubiquitous process for making art that use for everything today. I got a couple sheets of paper and just scribbled on them. The bounding box I drew on the paper to do these in was not even the right dimension for the final piece... I had to add some more drawing digitally after I scanned the scribbles into the computer. Now THAT is professionalism! AND somehow I continued to get work in the gaming industry.

By the way, I have never shared these three Basilisk scribbles before. These drawings most likely have only been seen by three or four people before now. Not that you all were missing anything. As you can clearly see, option 'A' was the winner. Isn't option 'C' just the cutest widdle Basilisk EVAR! Let us have a look at 2009 and 2016 side by side to see what has changed...

Basilisk comparison 2009 / 2016

Everything wrong is right again?

I continue to mention all the flaws with this piece. Here is a real quick run down of everything I did wrong with the fundamentals of the drawing and we will forgo this issues with the painting. In no particular order: anatomy of the head is all kinds of wrong, the eyes, teeth, mouth, tongue, horns all do not line up in perspective or have any cohesive or realistic symmetrical order, that head is super wrong, one more time - HEAD = WRONG, arms are uniform and boring, arms don't seem to connect to the body and appear to be just slapped on the sides, and finally... THAT HEAD. The painting did not remedy any of the major issues and seemed to add some more, but that is for another day. Here is how the final painting turned out for the Basilisk...

Basilisk

5 x 4.5 -Digital

Pay $100 for an illustration, get a $100 illustration. I won't even go into how much blood, sweat, and tears I pumped into this to get a finished painting. I worked SOOOO much on this, because at the time I was learning and ever piece was a fight to finish. I did learn a lot, and in a way that is what is important. Fun fact, for a brief time this piece was in my portfolio that I showed to clients. THE HORROR! THE HORROR! Thankfully the Talisman cards are SUPER TINY and once this piece was shrunk down it masked many of the flaws. Maybe. Here is the final card...

Basilisk in handy dandy card form!

Print it SMALL and make all the mistakes got away.

Seven years, at times it feels like so much more and so much less all at the same time. Just glad to see that my skill set has improved over the years! The last thing we needs is more cards being made like this original Basilisk.

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