Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures - Death Tyrant

Today, I have for you another Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures that is based on design work I did for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. I was completely unaware of this one until a friend let me know, and I was thrilled to see what they came up with. This time around, it is the Beholder Death Tyrant that got the complete Nolzur treatment. This wasn't the first time the Death Tyrant has become a miniature, but this one is undoubtedly very cool looking. To start things off, here is the design of the Death Tyrant that I produced back in 2014, leading up to the release of 5E.

Beholder Death Tyrant

Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual - Redesign

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

I have always loved the Beholder and all of its many iterations, variant, and history in D&D. So it was an honor and a treat to get to work on designing some of them. I knew the floating eyes would always be an issue with making a miniature of this particular monster, so it has been fun to see how that problem has been solved in the two miniatures based on my designs. Here is a look at how the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures version of the Death Tyrant turned out.

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Death Tyrant Miniature

I love everything about this miniature. If I had the time and energy to paint minis anymore, I would certainly have this one high on my list. But a simple miniature was not good enough for the mighty Death Tyrant; there is also a Death Tyrant paint kit with everything you need to paint it. Maybe, one day, I will have a chance to paint this one.

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Death Tyrant Miniature Paint Kit

 That's 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 Death Tyrant Miniature

When I was redesigning monsters for the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, one of my assignments was to tackle the Beholder Death Tyrant. This is an undead Beholder and a nasty piece of work for any party of adventures to tackle. I really liked the design I came up with for 5E, and I know my art director did as well. Here is my design of the Beholder Death Tyrant.

Beholder Death Tyrant

Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual - Redesign

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

While I liked the design, I knew it would never become a miniature. The floating disembodied eyes would be a problem for sure. Well, six years later, I was proven wrong! The Beholder Death Tyrant was made into a miniature, and they solved the problems with the eyes brilliantly. It is also very faithful to my design as well. I think it is a great piece, and I am happy to add it to my shelf of miniatures. Here is how the mini turned out.

Beholder Death Tyrant Miniature

I hope to be proven wrong about more of the monsters I have designed for Dungeons and Dragons, as I love to see miniatures based on my work. 

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

Dungeon & Dragons Monster Manual - Beholder Death Tyrant - Redesign

With Illuxcon over it is now time to get this blog back focused on the monsters...  namely the monsters of the 5th Edition Monster Manual. RAWR! With the pieces that I illustrated for the MM covered already it is time to look at the monsters I redesigned for 5E. Figured I should just do this alphabetically, so starting things off is the wily Beholder: Death Tyrant! Here is how the final concept turned out...

Beholder Death Tyrant - Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual - Redesign

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

They wanted a fresh take on the undead Beholder... Beholder Lich... Total Party Killer Beholder... and it was up to me to figure out what that new look and feel for the the Death Tyrant. I got to work on some concepts and thumbnails. My first and favorite idea was bound to get rejected, but I included it anyway as the first concept. I then took that concept and dialed it back a little more and more with the other variations, making it a little safer and more inline with what had already been done with the undead Beholder. Here is how those concept / thumbnails turned out...

Beholder Death Tyrant - Thumbnails

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

Needless to say I was more then pleased that my favorite and preferred concept was enthusiastically approved by production. I think this was one of the easiest and quickest redesigns of all my work on the 5E MM. Now that I had an approved concept it was time to get started on the drawing...

Beholder Death Tyrant - Drawing

9 x 12

Pencil on Paper

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

Original Drawing - SOLD

The design was pretty much completely fleshed out in thumbnails and the drawing just built off the thumbnail. This resulted in the drawing being approved right away and the go ahead was given to work up a quick color comp...

Beholder Death Tyrant - Final Redsign

© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

The final color concept was approved and it was time to move onto the next monster. Like I said, the redesign the Beholder Death Tyrant was quick and painless... something all the helpless adventures will not experience when they encounter it. RAWR!

A HUGE THANKS to Jon Schindehette for all the monsters and direction during the design phase of 5th Edition!

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here on Wednesday for another 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