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

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Friday, February 27, 2015

Uber Grotesque - Process

Back in November I shared with you a piece that I produced for the Howl of Blackmane expansion of Warhammer Conquest. Today I have the process that went into creating the Uber Grotesque. So that we are all on the same page, here is how the final painting of the Uber Grotesque turned out...

Uber Grotesque

12 x 9

Acrylic and pencil on board

Original for sale over on my web store!

I worked on this at the end of January 2014 and it was one of several "baby steps" as I moved towards transitioning from working digitally to traditionally. Little did I know when painting this that within six months I would be working completely traditionally.

As with all my work I start with thumbnails. I took some very silly selfies for reference and got started on a few concepts for how I envisioned this piece. Here are the thumbnails that made the cut...

Uber Grotesque - Tumbnails

Option "A" was the winner, but production did have some notes to tweak it. Some additional mass needed to be added and the larger curved back was incorporated. I updated the thumbnail and sent it back to production for approval...

Uber Grotesque - Updated tumbnails

This updated thumbnail was given the green light and I ready to work up the drawing. At this time I still had not made the decision to work on all my drawings at 100% the size of the final painting and simply worked on my usual sized paper. Here is how the final drawing turned out...

Uber Grotesque

Warhammer Conquest

12 x 9

Pencil on paper

Original for sale over on my web store!
© 2014 Fantasy Flight Games

The painting went fairly smoothly. I was still very much trying to learn how to use the paint and how best to build up a painting. Not that I am still not constantly learning from each painting I work on, a year ago I was very much still fumbling and bumbling through a painting. My success seemed to be more of sheer luck then any efforts of mine. I have produced many paintings since this one and already looking back at this it feels very chaotic.

I took many process images of this piece coming together. Some of these images were actually even clear enough to share! Here is an animated process gif of the painting together. Many of the individual images were not good enough to stand on their own so I decided to just jump to the animated thingy and not share the individual images.

Uber Grotesque - Animated process thingy

As mentioned when I first shared this piece in November, after the painting was completed I was asked to rotate the entire image to the right. This this was a traditionally painted piece I made the edits on the computer. With my years of experience painting digitally, this was an extremely quick fix. Here is how the final used version of the Uber Grotesque turned out...

Uber Grotesque

Digital alter of final painting

Uber Grotesque in handy dandy card form (RAWR)

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, January 14, 2015

Self Portrait 2: Teeth and Tongue

Today I have the second in a series of self portraits. Back in November I shared the first of these very flattering images of myself. I talked about working traditionally on Monday in my look back at 2014 and this piece is a part of that. ...in its own special, creepy, drooling kind of way. Here is the second in a series of self portraits I am working on...

Self Portrait 2: Teeth and Tongue

5 x 7 - Acrylic, pencil, and gouache on board

Original - SOLD

There is a corresponding drawing to this painting, of course. As with some of my other smaller paintings the drawing is bigger then the painting. Here is the drawing for this self portrait...

Self Portrait 2: Teeth and Tongue

9 x 12

Pencil on paper

Original for sale over on my web store!

I was not expecting to have this painting on my schedule anytime soon, but when a window of time opened to work on it I acted on it. I was working quickly with some starts, stops, and gaps in painting times. Because of all this I did not do a good job of documenting the piece coming together. Also, after just finishing two paintings for a client and documenting those exhaustively, I kind of didn't want to take a bunch of photos as I worked. Here a just a couple images that I took while working on this piece...

Self Portrait 2: Teeth and Tongue - Process

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 26, 2014

Corrupted Knight - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I have for you today the second piece of a much larger personal project. On Monday, I shared with you the first piece, the Gray Wanderer, and it was received very well. Like the Gray Wanderer, I finished this up a while back and am just now sharing it. This piece was finished just before Illuxcon and went home with another artist (seeing a trend). I present you with the Corrupted Knight...

Corrupted Knight

9 x 12

Pencil on paper
© 2014 Christopher Burdett

Original - SOLD

Currently Available Grand Bazaar Originals

Here are all the other completed monsters for The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia: Aberrant Stilter, Belled Kreep, Corrupted Knight, Dight-Kin, Eau-de-nil Elder, Ethra VanDalia, Footman, Gray Wanderer, Gullet, Humgruffin Mother, Irritated Girasol, Judicator, Kiplorbic Animal Dealer, Lammergeier Transport, Myopic Riflemen, Nimsbane Curse Victim, Ophiomornous Bureaucrat, Petrous Blacks mith, Quincaillerie, Saint Marque, Smokestack, Thrice, Uncanny Scribe, Virulent Artificer, Xandrell Tree, Yote Arms Dealer, and Zombic Spore.

Further details on this piece, like all of these personal monsters on toned paper, will have to wait for another day and, hopefully, a different type of information interface. Fear naught, for all will be revealed in the fullness of time. As an added bonus, here are some images of the piece as I worked on it.

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 19, 2014

Self Portrait 1: Pucker Up

On Monday I shared with you a traditional painting from back in January, the Uber Grotesque, today I have for you something a little more recent. This piece was completed early October and should better show what my current traditional work looks like and how much it has changed since January. Here is the first of a series of self portraits I am working on...

Self Portrait 1: Pucker Up

5 x 7

Acrylic, pencil, and gouache on board

Original for sale over on my web store!

There is a corresponding drawing to this painting, of course. As with some of my other smaller paintings the drawing is bigger then the painting. Here is the drawing for the self portrait...

Self Portrait 1: Pucker Up

9 x 12

Pencil onpaper

Original for sale over on my web store!

As I am want to do I documented this painting coming together so that I could share it here on the blog. Here are a series of photos of the this painting taking shape. You can see what has changed and long the way. If you keep going till the end you will also see an little animated gif of the painting process to get a better feel for the steps...

Self Portrait 1: Pucker Up - Process

Self Portrait 1: Pucker Up - Animated process thing

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, November 17, 2014

Uber Grotesque - Warhammer 40K Conquest: The Howl of Blackmane

At the end of last week I noticed a new piece of my work has popped up on the internet. This means I can now share it with you! This is a piece done for the first expansion for Warhammer 40K - Conquest, The Howl of Blackmane. I created this back in January and it is the second piece that I created traditionally for Fantasy Flight Games. Before I go too much into this piece, here is now the final turned out...

Uber Grotesque

12 x 9

Acrylic and pencil on board

Original for sale over on my web store!

A lot has happened and changed with my traditional work since January. So it is a little weird to be showing this off now while I know what the future holds. Enough about that for now!

I will go into more detail about this piece when I share the process in the near future when the expansion is officially released. For now though I will show how the piece ultimately turned out. While I did this piece traditionally there was sizable modification requested for this piece once I had completed the painting that required a digital fix. Here is how the final modified piece turned out that was used in the game...

Uber Grotesque

Digital alter of final painting

As I said, I will be going into more detail about this piece and the process that went into creating it here on the blog once the card is officially released. In the meantime, here is a small watermarked look at what the final card will look like...

Uber Grotesque in handy dandy card form (RAWR)

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

Monday, October 13, 2014

Very Near Mint volume three

I may have first mentioned VNM volume 3 way back in February of 2013 but the wait has well been worth it because VNM3 is now out in the world! I am happy to also share my contribution to this new graphic novel. I have more then once mentioned Justin Perterson's graphic novel series that includes VNM1, Uncanny VNM, and VNM2. Over the years I have taken Justin's characters and turned them into monsters and put them in harms way, and this time is no different. Here is my contribution to Very Near Mint volume 3...

This piece was a lot of fun to work on and I was more then thrilled to be a part of VNM3. Also nice to help a friend and live vicariously in comics through someone else. Here are some images of the piece in process...

Mutants taking shape in red and blue.

Mutants in black and white... and some gray.

If you need another reason to pick up VNM3... how about you need to get it because I am in the book as a character! There was an option in Justin's Kickstarter for VNM3 to be a character in the book and I was quick to jump on that. While enjoying your copy of VNM make sure you keep an eye out for me...

Very Near Mint 3 with special guest star... ME!

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

Friday, May 9, 2014

Aftermath - Hida Kaiji - Process

Back in December I shared with you my contribution to the Legend of the Five Rings expansion, Aftermath. One of the cards that I had in that set was the experienced version of the Crab Clan mutant, Hida Kaiji. Today I have for you the process that went into making this new experienced version of that big ole lovable mutant. So that we are all on the same page here is how the final Hida Kaiji turned out...

Hida Kaiji (experienced)

To be honest with you, I am not happy with how this piece turned out. This has NOTHING to do with the client, art director, or assignment... all with me. I had planned to paint both pieces for Aftermath traditionally, which obviously did not happen. After realizing it was not going to happen and that I needed to abandon my failed traditional pieces I was just off my game. As far as I am aware after taking with my AD on this after the fact they were happy with my Aftermath pieces... but that didn't change the fact that I was not. I had wanted to do so much more with these... and failed. So they were completed digitally and I never was able to get my head in a good place to feel like they were finished or successful. I think that Natsumi turned out more successful... but it was a water dragon... harder to mess up.

Getting things started as always was a thumbnail. Hida Kaiji needed to be towering over a bunch of Phoenix Clan monks smashing into them as they feebly breathed fire onto him. I knew what I wanted to do with this piece immediately and jumped into collecting reference. I worked out all the elements and figures and came up with this...

Hida Kaiji - Thumbnail

The thumbnail was approved without correction and I moved forward to the drawing. Everything was still progression on track and I was still eager to get these worked up in paint. Here is how the final drawing turned out...

Hida Kaiji - Drawing

The drawing was approved and I got my board prepped and I was ready to start painting in acrylic... and it all went horribly horribly wrong. This piece had all that fire I was unprepared for and the Natsumi had all that water. Curses to the fire and water! The details of my traditional failure are many and complex... but in the end the paintings just were not working out or coming together at all into something usable and I needed to abandon both pieces. I had to switch to doing them digitally before I ran out of time on the deadline. Back in my comfort zone I got to work on the digital version of Hida Kaiji but fought it the entire time...

Hida Kaiji - Process steps

There is just so much that I wanted to do with this piece and none of seemed to happen. I still did my best to turn in a good product and meet my commitment to the client. Like I said, I believe they were happy with the product, though I was not. Live and learn. Here is an animated gif of the Hida Kaiji coming together...

Hida Kaiji - Process progression animation

Sometime you just have to walk away from a piece. Not every piece can be successful no matter how much you try to make it work. Do the best you can and hope to do better the next time. Here again is how the final piece turned out as well as the final production card...

Hida Kaiji (experienced)

Hida Kaiji (experienced) in handy card form

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