A NEW Spectator Miniature

I have a recently released miniature based on my designs that has already been turned into a miniature. This time around, the miniature getting an update in the Spectator. I redesigned the Spectator during my work leading up to the release of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. To start things off, here is my design of the Spectator.

Spectator (originally Gauth during the concept push)

5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster concept

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

The first Spectator miniature was released in 2015, with a second 2D acrylic mini released in 2023, and finally, the most recent version last year in 2024. While the miniatures have varied, they have continued to stay true to the original design. Now, the most recent purple and it looks GREAT! Here is a look at the new mini.

 Spectator

Adventures from Baldur's Gate

Lastly, here are images of the previous Spectator minis to see how it has changed over the years.

The previous newest Spectator miniature from  2024.

 

Spectator 2D Miniature from 2023.

 

The original Spectator miniature from 2015.

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

A NEW Gazer Miniature

I have a recently released miniature based on my designs and illustrations that has already been turned into a miniature. This time around, the miniature getting an update in the Gazer. I redesigned and illustrated the Gazer for Volo's Guide to Monsters. To start things off, here is my illustration of the Gazer.

Beholder Gazer

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

The first Gazer miniature was released in 2019, with a second 2D acrylic mini released in 2023. The original was so tiny, and the second was more visually faithful to the design. This most recent version is a perfect combination of the two previous miniatures, merging diminutive size and detail. Here is a look at the new mini.

Gazer

Underdark Expeditions

Lastly, here are images of the previous Gazer minis to see how it has changed over the past six years.

Gazer 2D Miniature - 2023

Gazer Miniature - 2019

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

Gazer 2D Miniature

Today, I have another recently released 2D miniature based on one of my Dungeons & Dragons paintings. As with the others, this is a monster that already received a 3D mini, so now we have more minis, and that is a truly wonderful thing. This time around, it is the Gazer that I designed and illustrated for Volo's Guide to Monsters. Here is how the final illustration for the Gazer turned out.

Beholder Gazer

Volo's Guide to Monsters

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

If you want to seek out the set this miniature is in, here is an image of the packaging. The 2D YGazer can be found in the Beholder Hive set of the D&D Idols of the Realms line of miniatures.  

 

Beholder Hive

The 2D minis are very high quality, and the printing is excellent. There are bases for all miniatures, which are arranged by size. Here is the 2D miniature of the Gazer

 

Gazer 2D Miniature

I mentioned that this particular monster already has a 3D miniature. As this is a tiny monster, the miniatures are always too small to get all the detail in. With the 2D printed mini, you are able to get a bit more in there, and it really reads well. I love how faithful it is to my painting, even at this size. Here is the 3D mini for the Gazer.

Gazer 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 - Volo's Guide to Monsters - Return of the Gazer and Yuan-Ti Broodguard

Within the past two years, give or take, a D&D Monster Card deck was released for Volo's Guide to Monsters. Included in this deck are two of the monsters that I painted for Volo's Guide to Monsters. Where are the rest, you ask? That is a story or another day. That said, I think these are really cool sets. If I could still make the time, let alone be near other humans, to play Dungeons & Dragons, this is precisely the kind of accessory that I LOVED as a DM. Quick and easy monster access. No flipping pages, no marking up a book to find what you need, you can simply pull the cards ahead of time and have them on the ready for encounters. The cards have images of the monsters and stats on the back—an all in one go-to source. Okay, enough up selling the product. I have mentioned before that while being in a book is fantastic, there is just something extra special about having my work as a miniature or a card. Maybe because it is a singular focused incarnation. I am really not sure, but I do love holding them in my hands. With the release of Volo's Guide to Monsters Monster Deck, my Gazer and Yuan-Ti Broodguard ger their own cards. Here is a look at the deck box and the cards.

 

Volo's Guide to Monsters Monster Deck

 

Gazer

 

Yuan-Ti Broodguard

The Gazer was a personal favorite from my work on Volo's, and I am always happy to see it make the rounds. It has not been in two books, a miniature, and now a card. Seems like I am not its only fan. Here again, is the final art that I created of these two monsters.

Beholder Gazer

Volo's Guide to Monsters

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

Yuan-Ti Broodguard

Volo's Guide to Monsters

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin 

© 2016 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

Gazer Miniature - Monster Menagerie 3

Last year the Monster Menagerie 3 miniature set was released, and in that set, you can find a Gazer miniature. You might remember that I designed and illustrated the Gazer for Volo's Guide to Monster. It is always exciting to see miniatures based on my work, and this one is no exception, though you have to look very closely. Here is my illustration of the Gazer to start things off.

Beholder Gazer

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I knew that this monster was not the largest creature on the block, but I guess I didn't imagine it being a very tiny monster. The miniature makes it clear just how tiny it is. It was a little challenging to get some image, here are the best that I was able to take.

Beholder Gazer miniature in all its MINIATURE glory!

I have had plenty of larger miniatures made of my work, but this is most definitely the smallest. All the same, it is always exciting to see something I designed living in the real world as a piece of plastic.  For better or worse it will be around longer than humans usually last.

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

The Return of the Gazer - Dragon Heist

Recently it came to my attention that one of my Dungeons & Dragons pieces has made a repeat appearance in the new Dragon Heist book. It is a book I would have really liked to work on, so technically I did. Here is a look at the cover of the book, it is FULL of great art and I hear it is a really fun adventure and offers a lot of world building...

Dragon Heist for all you heisted dragon needs!

If you flip to the back to the monster section you will be able to find the Gazer. I originally created the Gazer for Volo's Guide to Monsters. A lot of talk about Volo's on the the blog this week. Now THAT was a great book to work on! Here is the page from Dragon heist with the Gazer on it...

Gazer's return! RAWR!

Lastly, here is the full art that I did of the Gazer for Volo's. I really liked how this one turned out and it is nice to see it making its return. I am sure it was just an oversight, but I was not credited in Dragon Heist. These things happen and WotC always goes out of their way to make sure everyone gets credited. Just look at my post about the Dungeons & Dragons Dungeonology book to know what a great job they do to credit artists. Like I said, these things happen and it is a fluke for it to slip through the cracks. Not even sure why I brought it up, just in case you went looking for my name I guess. ANYWAY... here is the art for the Gazer...

Beholder Gazer

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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

Beholder Gazer - Volo's Guide to Monsters - Process

The monsters are in charge of the blog, and they have decided to share with you the process and steps that went into making the five paintings that I contributed to the Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Volo's Guide to Monsters. I hope you enjoy it!

Today's selection is the Beholder Gazer. It is hard to go wrong with any type of Beholder. It is also hard to think of any other monster more directly tied to D&D, except for maybe a dragon. I have always loved Beholders and I probably always will. Here is how the final Beholder Gazer turned out...

Beholder Gazer

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

There was no need for a photo reference shoot to start off these thumbnails. I am more than familiar with the beholder form, and I was able to sit back and play around with making a funny little beholder-Kin. Here are how the thumbnails turned out...

Beholder Gazer - Thumbnails

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Option C was the winner, and I can't object. Looking back at them now, C is the obvious pick of the litter, though at the time I think I really wanted A to win. Live and learn and have confidence that production will pick the right ones! I got the go-ahead to move onto the final drawing. Production thought the eye stalks of the drawing were a little, um, naughty and I was asked to change them out. I did a new version with less naughty eye stalks, and it was approved. Here are the two versions of the drawing...

Beholder Gazer (Original Version)

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Beholder Gazer (Final Version)

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

With an approved drawing I was given the go-ahead to start the painting. With all of these Volo pieces, the painting went quickly, smoothly, and there were no issues or concerns. Which is always nice. I just got to sit back and have fun making pretty monsters. Being an isolated figure helps out a lot too. Here is the paint work for this piece coming together...

Beholder Gazer - Process steps

You will notice that the eye stalk furthest on the right looks a little weird throughout the process. This is because late in the painting I realized it was a little off. It just wants not in the right place, and I needed to move it. Because of how I build up my files this meant permanently shifting my work on many layers. This also meant when I went back to share the process that it would look a little weird. The background mask layer was shifted, and a later flattened paint layer was moved to match it. Happened pretty regularly when I work on isolated figures. To better show how the painting developed, here is an animated progression of it taking shape...

Beholder Gazer - Animated process

While there is a fair bit of pushing and pulling of form and value the painting was extremely straight forward. I get into a zen state when working on isolated figures as I work the large forms and then lay in all the detail work. I just want to make a really pretty monster for these types of pieces, and hopefully, I did. Here again, is how the final painting turned out...

Beholder Gazer

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 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

Volo's Guide to Monsters - Dungeons & Dragons - Part 1

I am happy to be able to start sharing my contributions to Volo's Guide to Monsters, the newest gaming supplement to Dungeons & Dragons. Volo's is just the kind of project I like - Dungeons & Dragons, monsters, and getting to work with the most excellent art director, Kate Irwin. Kate assigned me some really awesome monsters and this was a really really fun assignment to work on. I produced a total of five illustrations for the book, I will be sharing three today and the last two on Wednesday. Enough yammering, here are my illustrations of the Lizardfolk, Beholder Gazer, and the Mind Flayer Tadpole...

Lizardfolk

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I think the Lizardfolk was my favorite piece from the book. I have a soft spot for the D&D Lizardmen that goes back decades. I played a Lizardman back in 2nd Edition and after reading the section of Volo's Guide to Monsters that had the player character Lizardfolk I am ready to roll up a new one! Thrilled to have been able to create the illustration for this section of the book. I love to work on scaly lizard people.

Beholder Gazer

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

You can never go wrong with a Beholder of any kind. I was given a tiny little image of an old Gazer illustration and was told to flesh it out and make it cool. I can totally do that! There ended up being two version of the drawing for this one since the first one was found to be a little questionable when it came to the eye stalks. You can see both drawings below and I will go into more detail about this when I share the process and step later.

Mind Flayer Tadpole

9.1 x 10.1 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Last but not least of these is the Mind Flayer Tadpole. This was the perfect opportunity for me to do a self portrait of myself in a D&D assignment. I have some fun photo reference to share for this one that involve me and a kneaded eraser on my face as a stand in for the tadpole.

Below are the drawings that went into these illustrations. Since I was working on five pieces and I didn't think I had the time needed to do these traditionally the painting are digital. It would have been nice to have paintings of all of these, but the final pieces did end up way better by me doing them digitally. At least there are the drawings, get them while you can, they are going fast...

Lizardfolk

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Beholder Gazer (Final Version)

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Beholder Gazer (Original Version)

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Mind Flayer Tadpole

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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