The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT: dragon magazine

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Friday, March 27, 2015

Bestiary: Lost World - Process

Been talking a lot about Magic the Gathering recently and thought I would switch it up today with some Dungeons & Dragons. Still clearing out my blog queue of items that have been patiently waiting to get posted. Today I have the process that went into designing and making the cover for Dragon Magazine issue 42. I first shared this with you way back in September of 2013... it sure has been waiting awhile to be posted! So that we are all on the same page, here is how the cover for Dragon #42 turned out...

Bestiary: Lost World - Dragon Magazine Issue 427
Digital

Not only was I tasked with painting the cover, but I was also asked to design three new prehistoric drakes that would be featured on the cover. One was the size of a large dog and was to be used as a hunting pack animal, one was big enough to ride, and one was a massive monster of a creature. Three new monsters mixed in with a hunting party of goblins and hobgoblins, what could possibly go wrong? I got to work on concepts and thumbnails, first on the new monsters concepts and then on the overall composition thumbnails for the illustration. Here are how the monster concepts turned out...

Venomous Urdrake Concepts

Sabermaw Urdrake Concepts

Ironclaw Urdrake Concepts

Now that I had some monster concepts I began working up the thumbnails using my favorite designs. Subtle influence on the art director? Possibly... but Kate has always been an amazing AD and she had her favorite monsters and her preferred thumbnail. Here is how the thumbnails for the illustration turned out...

Bestiary: Lost World - Thumbnails

Thumbnails turned in and decisions made. A little from column A, B, and C and the monsters and composition is all decided upon. Time for the final drawing and time to work up all the detail and figure out all the vague bit in the thumbnail. Here is how the final drawing turned out...

Bestiary: Lost World - Drawing

11 x 14

Pencil on Paper

The drawing was approved and it was time to paint! In just 12 easy steps... yeah, right... This was a cover and it had a ton of stuff going on, so I was a little apprehensive about this one. All in all, much to my surprise, it came together extremely quickly and without any major brain melting moments. Here is the painting coming together in 12 steps...

Bestiary: Lost World - Process steps

To help better illustrate the painting taking shape here is an animated gif of the process. You can see what changed along the way a bit better. Like when I got rid of a huge vine or changed the perspective of the Ironclaw's head. There is the expected pushing and pulling of the environment to get the right focus and contrast. ANIMATED...

Bestiary: Lost World - Process animation thing

The painting was approved without revision and production was happy. All in all, a success in my books. Covers do not come my way often, but when they do, I ponce on them. Here again is the final illustration and how it appeared as the cover (it was also used as the lead graphic for an article of the same name and appears in the magazine without cropping)...

Bestiary: Lost World - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

Dragon Magazine Issue 427 Cover

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, February 26, 2014

Ecology of the Neogi - Process

Way back in September of last year I brought you a piece I did for Dragon Magazine illustrating a boy and his dog... actually, it is a Neogi and his Umber Hulk. 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...

Ecology of the Neogi - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

As per the original description for this piece I was asked to depict a Neogi riding on the shoulders of a Umber Hulk in the pursuit of an escaped human slave. I thought this would be another great opportunity to include my wife in a piece and went about shooting some reference and working up some thumbnails of the slave, backed into a corner in a cavern, cowering in fear of the two monsters. Seemed straight forward enough...

Ecology of the Neogi - Thumbnails version 1

The always clear and objective eyes of the art director jumped in at this point. There has always been some issues with the depictions of slaves and slavery and it is always a fine line to walk. Apparently I strayed from that line without realizing it. There was a lot of concern that the intent of the monsters could be misinterpreted and that the slave has begun to distract from the monsters... which after all, are the focus of this piece. I was asked to revise the thumbnails and to minimize or even remove the slave from the composition. Which is what I did...

Ecology of the Neogi - Thumbnails version 2

Option "B" was starting to move in the right direction finally. When in doubt, remove all those pesky humans! They only get in the way of the more important monsters. There was still some confusion about the Umber Hulk's right arm being up behind the figures. It was not longer clear that they were climbing through the caverns so I was asked to lower the arm. Which is what I did...

Ecology of the Neogi - Thumbnails version 3

Third times the charm! I now had an approved thumbnail and I could get started on the final drawing. With so many edits, variations, and revisions with the thumbnails it resulted in a very loose and sketch final thumbnail to work with. This can sometimes be very good or very bad. If I am not careful a really loose thumbnail can allow me to introduce unintended errors into the drawing. In these situations I need to be sure to spend the time needed on the drawing to work everything out and make sure all my ducks are in a row and all the elements get the attention they need. Here is how the final drawing turned out...

Ecology of the Neogi - Drawing

I spent the time needed and I had an approved drawing. Time to get started on final! In just 12 easy steps you too can have a painting of a Neogi riding an Umber Hulk... or not...

Ecology of the Neogi - Process steps

The meat of the painting takes place in the middle set of images. The first four cover the drawing prep and value control and the final four are all the little tweaks and edits and adjustments to make the image look and read well. The biggest issue with this piece was to create a dramatic lighting for the monsters and still hopefully have it believable in a very unbelievable situation. Where is all that pale light coming from inside a deep dark cavern? That is a LOT of glowing mushrooms to produce that much light! ...or could it be... MAGIC?!?! Either way, these monsters really needed some underneath dramatic up lighting to make them appear nice and scary. RAWR! Hopefully it works, reads, and looks good.

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...

Ecology of the Neogi - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

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, December 4, 2013

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest - Process

Today I have for you a look at a piece I shared with you back in July for a D&D article, Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest. ...JULY?! Yikes, I am either way behind schedule with my posts or I have just too much to share with you... Either way, here is how the final illustration turned out to refresh your memory...

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest

A hapless thief picked the wrong chest to break into... this is why you want to make sure to make EVERY saving throw. My wife is always interested in taking a more active roll in my illustrations as a model. I am sure she would like me to do something more with her then have her face eaten off by an ooze hiding in a box... but I could not have done this piece without her!

I had some general compositions in mind for this piece, so the first step was to get my wife suited up in my armor and shot a bunch of reference photos. Using this reference I fleshed out three thumbnails...

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest - Thumbnails

Option A was the winner, but option C was a strong contender. In the end, option C was dropped since there was a chance it could have come off a little silly if not handled just right. Option A got the job done and there was not any chance that things could take a detour to wackiness. Now that I had a thumbnail it was time to get to drawing...

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest - Drawing

The drawing was completed and approved without any issue or changes. That only means one thing... time to get to painting! In just eight easy steps you too can have a painting of your wife with her face eaten off by an ooze... or not...

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest - Process steps

Since I don't do a lot of human... let alone female humans in my work I was a little concerned about how this piece was going to play out. I had a lot of great reference and in the end this piece came together really quickly. Much quicker then ever imagined actually. I love those pieces that almost paint themselves. Thankfully, the more I work, the more I paint, the more I draw... the more that the pieces seem to take on a life of their own and help me create them. I am not putting in less work, but rather the piece is almost starting to carry some of its own weight. Well... not sure if that makes any sense, but after these years of work it is a rather nice feeling. I just need to sit down with the painting and it will be okay and it will get finished.

Here is the how the final turned out again for your viewing pleasure... (RAWR!)

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here 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, October 4, 2013

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Process

Back in July I brought you The Anatomy of Elemental Evil from the article of the same name in issue #425 of Dragon Magazine. Today seemed like as good a day as any to share with you the process that went into this piece! To start things off let's have a look at how the final Anatomy of Elemental Evil turned out...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil

As always... I started off everything with some good ole thumbnails. This entity was described as a massive column made of lava, steam and tentacles. Determining if this was a massive column made of tentacles or a massive column that has tentacles was a big element of this piece. For the thumbnails I was erring on the side of made of lava and has some lava tentacles. I was also beginning to realize that this piece was quickly becoming a landscape rather then a monster portrait...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Thumbnails

"C" was the winner and it was finally decided that this was in fact a massive column MADE of tentacles AND lava. I can get behind that. There was a request to give a piece a little more of a tilt and I could proceed forward with the final drawing. Speaking for drawings... here is how it turned out...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Drawing

The drawing was approved without any revisions and I was all set to paint some lava tentacles. When I was working on this piece I had recently finished a ton of Mephits, one of which was made of lava. This allowed me to hit the ground running with the painting since I had already worked out a color palette and texture scheme. With many materials it is more about hitting the correct pattern of light or warms and cools to get it to ready correctly. Lava is one of those materials. With the main material of this piece all set I was ready to make a painting in 10 easy steps...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil - Process steps

There is a lot going on with this piece and it was important that I was in control of it all. There needed to be steam, lava, water, floating rocks, brimstone falling from the sky, and that massive column of tentacles. One of my bad habits that I am always trying to be conscience of making sure that I don't repeat shapes and movement in things like tentacles. Are they all the same size? Are they all bending or curving in the same direction? Be mindful that you make them different and interesting! Repetition can be good... and it also can be very distracting and bad. Just go ask Greg Manchess. Again, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil

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, September 25, 2013

Ecology of the Neogi

It looks like that I contributed more then the cover to Dragon Magazine issue 427! I had expected this article to appear next month, but it looks like "Ecology of the Neogi" arrived a month early. If this piece looks a little familiar, you are correct! Back in July the good folks over at WotC previewed the drawing of this piece as a teaser of things to come. That time has arrived finally and here is a Neogi riding an umber hulk...

Ecology of the Neogi - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

This was my first opportunity to work on a Neogi, but more important to me, my first chance to work on an official D&D umber hulk (RAWR)! For me the umber hulk is one of those super classic monsters and it has captured my imagine from the very beginning. I was happy to paint a spider eel riding an umber hulk any day of the week!

This piece actually has a rich and complex thumbnail / sketch stage that I will be looking forward to sharing with you in the coming weeks. There was originally a third element to this illustration... that in the end became problematic. But more about all this soon!

As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction!

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday for some more new work! Until then...

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

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Bestiary: Lost World - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

After posting my first Magic the Gathering cards on the blog on Monday I was wondering what I was going to do today that could hold up against that news. Well, a quick glance at the Dungeons & Dragons website solved my dilemma... My cover to Dragon Magazine issue 427 is now out! And look, there are LOTS of monsters on it...

Bestiary: Lost World - Dragon Magazine Issue 427

Besides being the cover for this month's issue of Dragon, this illustration is also the main piece for the article, Bestiary: Lost World. Not only did I get to paint hobgoblins and goblins but I got to design and illustrate three brand new prehistoric D&D monsters (RAWR)! This was a big piece for me... on many levels and I am very happy with how it turned out. I have produced a lot of single monster pieces over the years and this asked a lot more from me. Here is how the illustration looks cropped down for the cover...

Dragon Magazine Issue 427 Cover

The D&D home page today! RAWR!

I am looking forward to sharing with you the process that went into this piece. I did a bit of design work on the three prehistoric D&D monsters and I have been looking forward to sharing it. The final drawing that I did for this piece was also larger then my usual drawings since there is so much more going on. Hopefully I will have the process post for this piece on the blog in the coming weeks!

I would like to extend a HUGE thanks to Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction on this piece! This piece was a big step forward for me and I am glad I have shown her I was ready and prepared for this assignment.

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday for some Magic drawings! Until then...

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

Thursday, July 18, 2013

A preview of things to come!

We interrupt this Thursday with a special blog post...

This never happens, but I have a chance to show you what I am working on RIGHT NOW for an upcoming article of Dragon Magazine! Looks like the folks over at WotC were so happy with my sketch of a Neogi that Steve Winter (Producer of Dragon and Dungeon online, writer, game designer, and owlbear wrangler) tweeted the drawing yesterday. Which means I can now share it with you! The Neogi is riding an UMBER HULK!

Neogi

Having a piece approved is always nice... and the goal of every painting, but having production share the drawing of the not yet completed painting is a compliment on another level altogether. Thanks to Steve and Kate, really happy to hear that you all are digging this piece! No pressure on me now to make sure I do a really good job on the painting!

There will be more on this in the fullness of time... later in the year.

That's all for a unexpected Thursday blog post, see you back here tomorrow for some more RAWRS! Until then...

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

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil

The July issue of Dragon magazine is out and I am happy to share with you my second contribution to this issue. If you missed the first, check out the post on Monday! Dragon #425 features the article, The Anatomy of Elemental Evil, and the wife had very little involvement with the reference of this one. I summoned my inner Elder Elemental Eye in the Plane of Elemental Chaos and this is what I came up with...

The Anatomy of Elemental Evil

Okay, let's see... tentacles, CHECK... LAVA tentacles, DOUBLE CHECK! I love the assignments that after reading the art description the only question I have is, "Does the column need to have tentacles, or is the column MADE of tentacle?" After all those Mephits and this Elder Elemental Eye I have taken care of more then my share of lava and vapor. Funny how things come across my desk in waves... kinda like Trandoshans... but I digress. Hey look, that thing has LAVA TENTACLES! That's pretty cool!

As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction! In the coming weeks I will have for you my thumbnails, sketches, and a process step by step breakdowns for this pieces.

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, July 15, 2013

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest

The July issue of Dragon magazine is out and I am happy to share with you one of my contributions to this issue. Dragon #425 features the article, Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest, and the wife was nice enough to let me have a slime creature eat her face off. Without any further explanation I present to you a slime monster in a chest...

Eye on the Realms: Forgotten in a Chest

At the time it seemed like a totally logical series of events... get assignment for a slime creature eating the face off of a thief then turning to the wife and asking her if she wanted to get killed in D&D. She has expressed interest in modeling for and appearing in my illustrations... I come to find out that this was NOT what she meant. Silly me! I could not have done this piece without her laying on the kitchen floor, and I think that is what really matters :)

As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction! In the coming weeks I will have for you my thumbnails, sketches, and a process step by step breakdowns for this pieces.

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here on Wednesday for more new monsters! Until then...

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

Friday, April 26, 2013

Mist, Steam, and Water Mephits - Prcoess

Back in March I shared with you the nine Mephits that I designed and illustrated for Dragon magazine issue #421. Since there are nine of them I am going to slit them up and share the process that went into making them through out this week. Today I have for you the last three Mephits, the Mist, Steam, and Water Mephits. As a reminder, here is how the final illustrations turned out...

Mist, Steam, and Water Mephits

As before, we start things out with some good ole thumbnails to see where the monsters take me. I worked on all of these in the order I have been posting them... basically alphabetically. By the time I got to these last Mephits I was beginning to suffer a little Mephit madness. They were all beginning to blend together and I was worried that they were beginning to be in the same poses and were not unique enough from each other. In the end I think I had just been staring at them all too long. Here is how the thumbnails turned out for the last three Mephits...

Mist Mephit - Thumbnails

Steam Mephit - Thumbnails

Water Mephit - Thumbnails

The thumbnail that got away was option "B" of the Steam Mephit. I know it is not very different from "A", but it had a flow and movement I really liked. In the end the winners wereMist "B", Steam "A", and Water "B". With that all settled I moved onto the final drawings...

Mist Mephit - Drawing

Steam Mephit - Drawing

Water Mephit - Drawing

As with the rest of the drawings these were all approved without issues and I moved onto the final illustrations. This week the Mist Mephit won this week's process progression place...

Mist Mephit - Process progression

The finals were all approved save for a couple little tweaks. Two of the tweaks were that the Mist and Steam Mephits were too dark. As you can see above the last step shows how much I lightened the piece to meet approval. The original Steam Mephit was about a dark as the final Mist was and to be lighten a lot as well. This was easy enough to handle since I was working digitally... I shudder to think if I was working traditionally...

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

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Fire, Ice, and Magma Mephits - Prcoess

Back in March I shared with you the nine Mephits that I designed and illustrated for Dragon magazine issue #421. Since there are nine of them I am going to slit them up and share the process that went into making them through out this week. Today I have for you the second set of three of Mephits, the Fire, Ice, and Magma Mephits. As a reminder, here is how the final illustrations turned out...

Fire, Ice, and Magma Mephits

These three Mephits are running hot and cold... But seriously, these Mephits were a great exercise in creating different materials and effects. I have a ton of great magma and lava reference now. That stuff is really fun to paint. As before, I got started on some thumbnails to get things rolling...

Fire Mephit - Thumbnails

Ice Mephit - Thumbnails

Magma Mephit - Thumbnails

I will say I had high hopes for Fire option "C". There was just something about it that I really liked... something about the feet just being fire and the body reforming from the tops of the 'ankle' flames. Also, who doesn't just love a tongue made out of fire? The idea of Magma option "C" seemed like a really cool design before I began working it out on paper. I imagined a lower torso made out of rock with a bowl like waist. The lava upper body would be coming out of the container that the lower body like a fountain of magma... but I am not sure I really hit the mark with this thumbnail. I should have spent some more time working it out... but by the time I was finished with it I was liking "B" a lot more.

When it was all said and done, Fire "B", Ice "A", and Magma "B" were the winners. I moved onto creating the final drawings...

Fire Mephit - Drawing

IceMephit - Drawing

Magma Mephit - Drawing

The drawings were all approved and I was given the go ahead to work on the final illustrations. As before, I am posting one of the three as a process progression. I was really happy with how the Magma Mephit turned out so here it is from start to finish...

Magma Mephit - Process progression

Again, in just eight easy steps... not really. This one took a little longer then the rest do to all the smaller forms and textures in the whole. I was worried that in the end it would become a jumbled mess and not read well. Hopefully I succeeded in not making it a mess...

That is all for another exciting Wednesday, see you back here on Friday for the last three Mephits! Until then...

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