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

Showing posts with label construct. Show all posts

Friday, September 20, 2024

NEW Eidolon Miniature

Today, I am pleased to share a new miniature based on an illustration I did for Dungeons & Dragons back in 2018. While the mighty Eidolon has received two miniatures to date, this is the first to include the shattered brazier in my painting. To start things off, here is my illustration of the Eidolon.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

The Eidolon is a spirit or undead force that inhabits inanimate objects, such as a giant statute that was originally depicted on the original D&D Player's Handbook cover. While the statue on the cover of the PH has been a known image for decades, it was such an honor to design and illustrate it, standing up and getting ready to make the player's day a whole lot more interesting. Here is the new Eidolon miniature in all its glory.

The new Eidolon is larger than its predecessor.

Oh! But that is not all. They also made an official miniature depicting the statue from the cover of the Player's Handbook. It is cool to see this original version as a miniature after all these years.

Player's Handbook Cover Statue in plastic form!

Finally, all the different versions of this statue and the Eidolon.

They turned out beautifully!

That is 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

Friday, June 4, 2021

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures - Eidolon

I don't get into gaming stores as often as I used to, and the past fifteen months certainly haven't helped. Now that things are beginning to improve, I recently once again found myself in a gaming store. As I was taking in the many delights and noticing how many products I contributed to, I came across something that caught my attention. It was a new to me miniature that was based on my Eidolon from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. You might be aware that the Eidolon has already been made into a miniature, but this one is a little different. To start things off, here is the illustration for the Eidolon.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

I am often out of the loop on what is actively happening in the tabletop gaming world as my head is down working. I was slightly aware of the unpainted series of D&D miniatures, Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures, but I haven't looked too closely into them. Much to my surprise, while standing in the gaming store recently, I was surprised to see the Eidolon. I, of course, had to pick one up. Here is the unpainted Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures release of the Eidolon.

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures - Eidolon

I thought something was a little off when I first looked at this mini. Maybe the detail was a little crisper; perhaps they changed the height, whatever it was, I couldn't put my finger on it at first. Eventually, I realized that the pose is flipped from the pre-painted version and my illustration. The eyes are consistent, but everything else is inverted. I like this aspect a lot. It gives you a different version of the same miniature, so there can be some variation at the table if there is more than one in a gaming session. I will need to pay a little more attention to the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line to see what else might be out there. Lastly, here is the pre-painted miniature of the Eidolon for comparison.

Eidolon Pre-painted 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

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Kiddywidget - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

Today, I am happy to share the process and steps that went into one of my four illustrations in the recently released Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Candlekeep Mysteries. For this installment, I am sharing the companion piece to last week's post of the Skitterwidget. The Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget were a pair of pieces that needed to be adult and child versions of a mechanical dog-cockroach-like construct that the players would encounter. Here is the final painting for the Kiddywidget.

Kiddywidget

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

As previously mentioned, I designed the Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget in adult and child pairings. This way, production could look at the two versions and pick their favorites. I wanted them to have a familial connection and not look like two random robot creatures. Since I had free range with the design process, save for them being reminiscent of a mechanical dog-cockroach. I will say the Kiddywidgets were a bit more fun to design due to the challenge of making a cuter child-like version of the adult designs. While I don't do cute often in my work, I feel like I accomplished it well with this assignment. Here are the thumbnail pairings I submitted.

Kiddywidget - Thumbnails

Skitterwidget - Thumbnails

As before, I personally preferred the 'C' options, but the 'B' Kiddywidget was a close second. There was something about the 'C' Kiddywidget that I loved. With options 'B' as the approved thumbnails, it was time to move forward on the final drawing.

Kiddywidget - Drawing

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

As with the Skitterwidget, the drawings were approved, and I was ready to start painting. There were no further notes, and I was free to make the monsters come to life. Here is the painting taking shape.

Kiddywidget - Process

With the Skitterwidget painted first, I had a template to work from and adjust. Since I was now painting a child version, I wanted to be mindful of the level of wear and tear I put on the construct. I also wanted to make sure the overall piece was brighter and lighter. I shifted things more yellow overall and made sure the shadows were not as dark. I added a fair amount of blue and green into the piece to keep it bright and colorful. While I am not sure this direction is correct, and I didn't think about it in advance, it simply felt like the right direction to take the piece. Call it dumb luck or call it experience from years of working, not matter; I feel like I was successful in my efforts. While they are a pair, I prefer the Kiddywidget to the Skitterwidget without question. This likely goes back to my preference for the Kiddywidget thumbnails. While production was happy with all my work on this project, they were especially happy with these two constructs. It is always nice to hear with work is appreciated. Here again, is the final painting for the Kiddywidget.

Kiddywidget

11 x 14 - Digital

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

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Skitterwidget - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

Today, I am happy to share the process and steps that went into one of my four illustrations in the recently released Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Candlekeep Mysteries. For this installment, I am sharing the Skitterwidget. The Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget were a pair of pieces that needed to be adult and child versions of a mechanical dog-cockroach-like construct that the players would encounter. The design was entirely up to me, and I always love these types of assignments. Here is the final painting for the Skitterwidget.

Skitterwidget

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

While I am focusing on the Skitterwidget in this post, I designed the Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget in adult and child pairings. This way, production could look at the two versions and pick their favorites. I wanted them to have a familial connection and not look like two random robot creatures. Since I had free range with the design process, save for them being reminiscent of a mechanical dog-cockroach. I pulled designs from my head and worked them up or abandoned them as I moved through options. In the end, I submitted three pairs of designs.

Skitterwidget - Thumbnails

Kiddywidget - Thumbnails

I believe production requested the Skitterwidget options 'B' and left the selection of the Kiddywidget up to me. While that is nice to have the freedom to select what I wanted, I needed to also use option 'B' of the Kiddywidget. I really liked the Kiddywidget option 'B,' but as a pairing, my favorite was 'C.' Option 'B' was a close second. Now that I had a thumbnail, it was time to get started on the final drawing.

Skitterwidget - Drawing

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

I won't go over the ups and downs of this drawing all again as I have shared information about it enough already. The drawing was approved, and I was given permission to move forward on the painting. There was one note from my art director to make sure that there would be no confusion regarding what piece is the construct's eye. With so many circular forms and it looking back over its shoulder, I understand the need for clarity. Here is the painting of the Skitterwidget taking shape.

Skitterwidget - Process

I painted the Skitterwidget before the Kiddywidget so that I had an adult version of the color palette and overall material guide to then adjust to the child. I will share more about that when I share the process on the Kiddywidget. For this painting, it was mostly about locking in the materials and textures to read like a mechanical creature. It needed to look like it was made of brass, silver, and other less precious metals. I also wanted to give it some wear and tear as if it has been scuttling around a dungeon or castle for a while. It needed to have that lived-in feel. The electric stinger tail was part of the description, and it needed to feel like it was a threat. I leave these types of things generally to the later stages of the painting unless the light generated from them will affect the overall palette or local color of the forms. I also make sure to paint magical and light effects like this on separate layers so that they can be removed easily or changes quickly. After having to go back in and make a significant edit to lighting or an effect of this nature, to learn that it is sometimes worth the extra effort and time upfront to make things much easier at the end if something should change. Here again, is the final painting for the Skitterwidget.

Skitterwidget

11 x 14 - Digital

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

Friday, March 19, 2021

Dungeons & Dragons - Candlekeep Mysteries - Part 2

On Wednesday, I shared with you the first two of the four paintings that I have in the Candlekeep Mysteries, the newest gaming supplement for Dungeons & Dragons. If you missed that post, please check it out since it will contain a little more detail about this project and where I was at in the world when I worked on it. Here is a look at the book to get things rolling.

Candlekeep Mysteries

Unlike the Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget, the second of the four pieces in the book are unrelated. One painting depicts a figurine of Orcus that has been carved out of the petrified heart of an Ogre if I remember correctly. The other painting is a little Sprite who is having a terrible, very emotional day, and she is heartbroken about the state of things. While both can fall under the monster umbrella, each of these pieces is a little outside my comfort zone. One is an object, and the other is a human-like female creature. Here is the final painting for the Orcus Figurine.

Orcus Figurine

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Since the final painting for this piece is digital, the only original for it is the drawing. As mentioned in more recent D&D releases, I have begun fully rendering my drawings for my client work. Here is how the drawing for the Orcus Figurine turned out.

Orcus Figurine - Drawing

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - AVAILABLE

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Next up is Thunderwing the Sprite. I was a little surprised to receive this assignment, but I am not one to back down from a challenge or an assignment. Not to mention there was no reason that I would be unable to successfully complete it. My wife was nice enough to step in to pose for Sprite reference, and after an unsuccessful first round of thumbnails, it was all a matter of going through the process I have used for years to produce my work. Here is the final painting for the Thunderwing the Sprite.

Thunderwing the Sprite

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Again, the only original for this creature is the drawing. Here is the final drawing for Thunderwing the Sprite.

Thunderwing the Sprite - Drawing

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - AVAILABLE

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Lastly, here is a look at the Orcus Figurine and Thunderwing the Sprite in the book. They printed beautifully, and I hope that in the fullness of time, Thunderwing the Sprite might become miniatures.

Figurines and Sprites in book form!

That is all of 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

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Dungeons & Dragons - Candlekeep Mysteries - Part 1

I got my hands on a copy of the Candlekeep Mysteries, the newest gaming supplement for Dungeons & Dragons, yesterday. This means I can now share with you four new D&D monster paintings and four new drawings associated with the paintings. I worked on this book in 2020 as I was working on getting back on the art horse and generating pieces again. When this assignment came along, I felt much better about making art and decided to take on a few more pieces than I had been taking on the previous projects. I settled on four pieces, and it was the perfect number. I have the first two pieces for you today, and be sure to come back on Friday to see the other two! Here is a look at the book to get things rolling.

Candlekeep Mysteries

These first two monster paintings are a pair. The assignment was to design and create a parent and child construct. I designed paired versions in the thumbnail stage so that they felt related to each other. The Skitterwidget is the parent, and the Kiddywidget is the offspring. These were a blast to design and paint, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Production was pleased with all of my creations for the book, but I heard that they especially liked how these two mechanical critters turned out. Here is the final painting for the parental unit, the Skitterwidget.

Skitterwidget

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Since the final painting for this piece is digital, the only original for it is the drawing. As mentioned in more recent D&D releases, I have begun fully finishing my drawings for my client work. Here is how the drawing for the Skitterwidget turned out.

Skitterwidget - Drawing

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

If you are interested in this piece, please know that this particular drawing has some slight damage. As mentioned before, my cat got into my flat file and, unfortunately, had too much fun with a couple of my drawings. This was the second of the two drawings damaged. A small bite is taken out of the top of the paper. Other than that, the drawing is intact. Here are a couple images of what the damage looks like.

Just a little taste of the paper.

Next up is the Kiddywidget. Of all of the pieces for this assignment, this is my favorite by far. I really like how this juvenile design turned out, as well as the color palette and paintwork on the final. The Skitterwidget was painted first, so I could play off of that and soften things and lighten the overall look of the construct. Here is the final painting for the Kiddywidget.

Kiddywidget

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Again, the only original for this creature is the drawing. As stated dozens, if not more, times here on the blog, the drawing is my favorite part, and it was a joy to working on this one. Here is the final drawing for the Kiddywidget.

Kiddywidget - Drawing

Candlekeep Mysteries

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Lastly, here is a look at the two Widgets in the book. They printed beautifully, and I hope that in the fullness of time, they might become miniatures. I hope players have a lot of fun interacting with them!

Widgets in book form! I am not sure what I expected, but I imagined them hanging out on different pages. They look great together.

That is all of 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, December 18, 2020

Pipyap's Guide to All of the Nine Hells - Return of the Hellfire Engine

While this is likely not the first time something like this has happened with my art, it is the first I have noticed and tracked down. Through WotC, art from Dungeons & Dragons can be licensed for use by game designers creating third part D&D compatible products. This book, Pipyap's Guide to All of the Nine Hells, from 2019, popped up on my radar a few months ago, and I decided to hunt down a copy to see how my art was used. At first, I thought I had been credited by mistake, but I eventually located my Hellfire Engine hanging out on a page. It's a fun book, though I was surprised to see that it was printed on matte paper. I am sure that is because of the cost and for the look of the book. I mean, my book is printed on matte paper for esthetics. Here is a look at Pipyap's Guide to All of the Nine Hells and the Hellfire Engine.

Pipyap's Guide to All of the Nine Hells.

The Hellfire Engine in all its glory on matte paper, once again, the photo does not do the printing of the book justice.

I am surprised how much this piece had gotten around. I mentioned when I posted the process for this piece that I felt uncertain about my designs for it, but it ended up being well received by production. Funny how some of these things work out. Here again, is the final art that I created for the Hellfire Engine.

Hellfire Engine

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here on Monday for one more post of 2020. Until then...

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

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Eidolon - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

Today I have for you a monster that was released just over two years ago, the Eidolon. This iconic animated statue was part of my work on Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. I am sure there are few within the D&D community that is unfamiliar with the cover of the original Player's Handbook that featured the aftermath of a battle involving Lizardmen. The backdrop of this cover is a giant statue with gem eyes, and a pair of adventures are removing the gems. For this assignment, I was asked to depict that statue, having decided it was tired of losing its eyes and stood up. What a perfect D&D assignment! Before I get too far ahead of myself, here is the final painting for the Eidolon.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Starting things off, I did a photo shoot where I made my best impression of an animated statue in my underwear. You will have to use your imagination on this one. Most of my reference photos will never see the light of day. Maybe in the far future, I will put out a retrospective, and I will include all my super silly selfies. Who knows. Anyway, I did the photo shoot, and I got to work on some thumbnails. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted for the Eidolon.

Eidolon - Thumbnails

Sometimes with thumbnails, I see more there than the client sees. They are roughs that will lead to a more fleshed out drawing. It is only natural that production needs to know what they are getting into and request updated thumbnails. In this case, they needed to make sure they were getting a big rocky animated statue and not a Mexican wrestler. Totally understandable, and now that I look back at the thumbnails, I can totally see it. They liked where 'B' was going and asked that I made it a bit squatter and less human and make sure I bulk it up and make it more rock-like. I updated the thumbnail and resubmitted it.

Eidolon - Revised thumbnail

This new version was accepted and approved. There was one final note as I moved into the drawing. Production asked that I smash up the brazier a bit as if it was dropped as the statue stood up. Simple enough and adds so much to the narrative of the piece. Here is the final drawing that I submitted.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Original - SOLD

Before I share the process that went into making this piece, I wanted to share the first version of this painting that I submitted. It is directly based on the drawing and depicts the statue having a long flowing loincloth. Once the final painting was submitted, there was some concern that a link between the crotch and the fire would be drawn by people looking at the image. Specifically, they wanted to avoid anyone using the phrase "fire crotch" in regards to this illustration. Fair enough, and as a professional, I made the change. It required minimal editing on my part since I am working digitally. Sadly, in the end, there have people still making the "fire crotch" comment to me and about the painting believing they are funny. Here is the original version of the Eidolon.

Eidolon - Original version

The painting of this piece was very straight forward, even including the change to the loincloth. Due to the way I structure my Photoshop file, the final silhouette of the figure will be present throughout the animated process. It would actually take a bit of work to revert it to the original version then show the full extent of the edits. Just note that most of the final steps of the painting only involve the loincloth, fire, and leg area. This was when I was editing the image. Here is the animated process of the Eidolon painting.

Eidolon - Process

For those interested, I recently shared the miniature that was based on this painting. Lastly, I will leave you once again with my final painting for the Eidolon. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes was a great project to work on, and I was able to make so many fun monsters.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

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

Friday, August 7, 2020

Eidolon Miniature

Today I have for you the closest thing that there will likely be a miniature of myself. I illustrated the Eidolon for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. If you are unfamiliar with the origins of this particular creature, you must only look back to the original Player's Handbook to see a giant statue holding a brazier that it losing one of its jeweled eyes. At some point, that statue got fed up and decided to toss the brazier down and seek its revenge. That was where I came in and my painting.

Eidolon

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

In the past, I have talked about my surprise that some of the monsters that I have designed and painted were turned into miniatures. This particular one seemed like it could eventually end up as a miniature, and I am happy to see that it did sooner rather than later. As I have mentioned many times here on the blog that I use myself for nearly all reference required for my monsters, this makes this particular mini the nearest I will come to be cast in plastic. Not that this is in any way a direct self-portrait, there are physical tells in the pose and posture that have carried over to the mini that I see as being me. It's the little things. Here are some images of the final production miniature of the Eidolon.

Eidolon 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