2000th Post!?!?!

Somehow, this is my 2000th post here on the blog. I haven't been paying attention, and I was shocked last week when I realized today would make post 2000. While I am not sure I imagined doing this blog this long, once I begin something, I generally stick with it. And so we find ours here today. To honor this achievement, here is a photo of where I make my art these days, my studio. 

The new seat of power for The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia.

Hitting the 2000th post made me think about when I hit the 1000th post in 2015. It took me February 2009 till April 2015 to hit 1000 posts and April 2015 to July 2023 to hit 2000 posts. That is roughly 137 posts a year for fourteen and a half years. Not too shabby! To see how things have changed, here is the image of my workspace back in 2015. As you can see, I have definitely upgraded!

Where the art was made in 2015.

As a side note, I was looking carefully at what was on my workstation in 2015, and I could see that I was working on the Concussion Rifle piece that I did for the Star Wars card game. Fun memories of being paid very little for a LOT of work. Concussion Rifle painting is one of the few pieces of art I have made for a client that I decided to keep. There are a few Easter eggs in there and some personal connections, so in the end, I could not part with it.

Here is a list of the number of posts that I published each year. Please note that 2023 is not accurate as I took this screen shot prior to a number of posts going live. You can see that my posts have dwindled a bit over the years, starting with 2018. This is because I began stepping away from freelance work and focusing on the Grand Bazaar. I didn't have a constant stream of client art to share and post about. Also, as the year ticked by, I have found myself with less and less time available for big posts about complicated topics - though I plan to continue those as often as possible. I have one or two planned for the near future. I am not sure anyone finds this stuff interesting, but I sure do. And I appreciate everyone that continues to visit the blog - it means the world to me!

14.5 years and 2000 posts later, I am still here!

Do not forget that this week is Gen Con! I will be away at that and will not post again until next week. If you are attending Gen Con or are in the Indianapolis area, I would love to see you at booth 16 in the Gen Con Art Show! That is all for my 2000th post; I wonder how long it will be till I hit 3000!

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here after Gen Con! Until then...

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

Star Wars Process - Bossk

I have waited a long time to share the process for this painting. At times I considered never sharing it. Four years on, I am comfortable sharing it and talking a little more about this piece. I have talked a LOT about this piece over the past four years, and this will likely be the last time I mention it.

For those that know me, I have a particular love for Star Wars, specifically the monsters and aliens in the Star Wars universe. I watched the original Star Wars movie in the theaters when it was released, and it changed everything for me. I was only three years old, but it had a profound impact on my career and passion as an artist. The cantenna scene specifically had a significant effect on my young mind. I didn't know what I was seeing, but I wanted to make it. I have spent my life making monsters, I continue to make monsters. The work that I have done on the Star Wars games is some of my favorite client work and something I am still proud of to this day. Through the game art, I was able to be a part of Star Wars and create my own little corner of that universe. It is something I will also be thankful for FFG for giving me that opportunity.

Of the monsters and aliens in the Star Wars universe, my favorite character and alien is Bossk. The reptilian Trandoshan bounty hunter instantly caught my eye, and though he only was in the Empire Strikes Back for seconds, I was forever in love. The character has since been fleshed out in cartoons, books, comics, and games, and I have enjoyed every second of it. I perused the opportunity to work on a Bossk piece for some time, but the time was always off. FINALLY, it all came together, and I was able to create an official Bossk painting. Here is the final version of my Bossk painting.

Bossk - Final Version
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Traditional with digital edits and finish

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The narrative of the painting is that Chewbacca was the prey that got away. Out of all of Bossk's successes, the hunt that never resulted in a kill was his pursuit of Chewbacca. You might think that this narrative is a little hollow in the image, well things have a way of changing along the way. With every piece of art I make, it starts out with reference. Such as this image.

Reference Photo

Photo by Achsa Nute

This is but one of the many images of me making my best Bossk impression. I wanted to make a connection between Bossk and the holo image of Chewbacca. Now that I had reference, it was time to work on some thumbnails.

Bossk - Thumbnails
Digital

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

These thumbnails were well received, but there were some requests and some issues with templates, cropping, and final card arrangement. I needed to move the composition around a little and make it a little more dynamic. Here is the revised thumbnail.

Bossk - Revised thumbnail
Digital

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

This updated thumbnail was approved, and I was given the go-ahead to move forward with the final drawing. To this day, this is one of my favorite drawings that I created for the Star Wars games, which is why it is the only drawing that I have kept. Here is the final drawing.

Bossk - Drawing
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - NFS

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The drawing was approved, and it was time to paint. I created this piece a little larger than I usually worked at the time. I wanted to give it the size and attention is deserved now that I was finally painting Bossk. Here is an animated process of the painting coming together. As with most of my paintings, I work back to the front, leaving the main elements to the end. There is a rather pronounced jump in the image of the painting at the end, this is a result of the photos of the painting while working on compared to the final scan of the painting.

Bossk - Painting Process

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Here is the final scan of my Bossk painting. I was pleased with it, and it was everything I had hoped to do with the painting and the character. The painting was approved, and I moved onto other work.

Bossk - Original
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original - SOLD

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Three months after the painting was approved, I was asked to make significant edits to the piece. As a professional, I made these changes. I do not need to agree with the changes, but I need to do the best job I am capable of to ensure that the edits and changes are made to the expectations of the client. This is just the way of things. Here is an image of the parts of the painting that were still approved.

Bossk - Approved elements

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Since it was such a profound change to the painting, I started over with thumbnails to ensure that the client and I were on the same page and in agreement with what needed to be done. It was agreed that Bossk needed to be in an interior location, possible in a cantenna without figures in the background, or simply against a wall. Here are the new background thumbnails for the painting.

Bossk - New background thumbnails
Digital

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Option C was chosen. While it was a little bland, I went with their choice and moved forward with having Bossk against a wall. Here is the process of the background being added digitally to the painting.

Bossk - Edits Painting Process

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

While it is far from where it began, I made the requested updates and presented the client with the edits and changes they wanted. Here is the updated Bossk painting with a sterilized background.

Bossk - Background Version 1
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Traditional with digital edits and finish

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

After submitting the new version of the painting, I was told that the background needed to be a spaceship interior with windows showing space in the background. This was news to me, but again, as a professional, I moved forward with making additional changes to this painting. Here is the painting process for turning the wall into a spaceship interior. 

Bossk - Contuned Edits Painting Process

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

For a third time, I submitted a final for this painting, and for a second time, it was accepted.

Bossk - Final Version
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Traditional with digital edits and finish

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

After all of this work, changed, and edits here is the final card produced using the painting.

Final Bossk production card

During the painting of this piece, I stood back and took a photo of my workstation. I was excited about this piece and really happy with how it was turning out. I could not wait to share it when it came out.

The painting on my workstation nearing completion.

And this ends the journey of my Bossk painting. May it now be put to rest, and we can all move on. I have spoken.

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

RAWR! Shirt Clearance!

If you know me, then you know my penchant for RAWR! and my RAWR! shirts. As my work transitions to focus on the Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia, I will no longer be pushing RAWR! This means I am clearing out my remaining stock of RAWR! shirts. Once they are gone, they are gone!

I have men's sizes up through XXX-large and women's cut shirts small-large. ALL shirts are now ONLY $7! Get to my store to take advantage and stock up on shirts before they are gone forever.

 At the end of an era, get your RAWR! shirt before they are gone forever!

Again, head to my store NOW to get your very own RAWR! shirt for only $7 and wear it proudly!

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

It's on Paper so it's OFFICIAL... RAWR!

Back in April I shared with you some of the details of filing for a trademark on my RAWR! logo. While the trademark was approved and registered at that time I was still waiting on the final paperwork. Over the weekend that paperwork finally arrived and now it is OFFICIALLY all done and my RAWR! logo is now OFFICIALLY a registered trademark! It may be just a piece of paper with a gold seal sticker on it, but it is the piece of paper with a gold seal sticker on it that says my branding is protected, registered, and mine. I was not really sure when or if this piece of paper would ever arrive, but you would hope to get something tangible for $450. Enjoy these images of a $450 piece of paper...

Officially, RAWR! is official!

Just look at those letters, they just exude RAWR!

Gold seals make everything better.

Not sure what the end game of this really is, but it is important to take the steps to protect and establish my branding if I am going to use it everywhere. While I am not sure if people are lined up to try to steal my logo, this does give me legal protection to something I have been building upon for years. 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

Take Two... Bossk - X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art

Trying this again... You might remember last week when I posted about my alternate art used on the Bossk card for the X-Wing Nationals Tournament. This post got a lot of attention from a lot of people all over the internet. Due to the attention it received I was asked to remove my original version of my painting. I was asked, so I did it. That is how these things work. What I can share is the final version of the piece that was used for the card...

Bossk - Final Version
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
Traditional with digital edits and finish

Art Director - John Taillon
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

I previously talked about the level of changes this piece went through, and of course it was easy to see those changes when juxtaposed with the original. That is no longer an option, so here is the part of the original that made it through to the end piece...

Bossk - Original Version (What I can share of it)
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Art Director - John Taillon
© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

Clients have every right to expect edits and changes to work they are hiring an artist to create. I have made every change to every piece I was ever asked to make. I am a professional and that is just what you do. I started my career as an artist in 1999 when I started working in the movie industry and I have worked in the gaming industry since 2005. I don't mess around and I perform my job with the utmost seriousness and professionalism. This piece meant a lot to me when I accepted it and I put a lot of myself into it. I am committed to creating the best work I can for my clients and at the same time giving my own artist voice and vision to everything that I do. Was I happy about the changes to this piece? No, but I did them anyway, all of them, to the best of my abilities. I don't have to like things for me to still do them.

This blog has always been a place for me to talk about the ups and downs of working as an artist. This is my little corner where I make the rules. I have stated time after time that if you are a professional artist you make the changes. You suck it up and you do the work. It is not always easy, but that is part of the agreement when taking on assignments. I continue to stand by all of this. BUT, in my corner, I speak freely and if I don't like something I say it and it is in NO way a disparagement to the client, the product, or anyone else involved. It is my opinion to events that happened, in most cases, a year or more ago. Changes happen for any number of reasons, for good and bad. I have had changes that have made pieces better (IMHO)... and I have had changes that detract from the piece (IMHO). I explain and talk about this all the time here on this blog.

Everything culminated with complete strangers on the internet criticizing me and my blog and their actions most likely resulted in the original of this piece being removed. Always nice to have people wander in after you have been doing something for 7+ years and tell you are doing it all wrong. Always great to get advice from people who are not artists, have never made art, and have never worked in a creative freelance job. Again, this is my corner of the internet and I get to make the rules here.

Sometimes pieces are super easy and sometimes they are not. For whatever reason, AND TO NO FAULT TO ANYONE, this Bossk piece sure has had a rough time of it. Last week's blog post situation was the cherry on top. I have been SUPER lucky over the years and 95% of my assignments having been smooth and straight forward events. You can't win them all and that is just the way things are.

I was planning on sharing all the ins and outs for the process of this piece getting made, but I guess I can't do that now. I did a LOT of work on the back end to get this piece made. Oh well... I will leave you with the final production version of my Bossk card...

Final Bossk production card

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

RAWR! Celebration Sale Ends TODAY!

Today is the last day to take advantage of my RAWR! Celebration Sale! When you use discount code RAWR! you will get 25% off all of my black on white pencil drawings! That's right, I am offering up 25% off over 50 drawings currently available on my store when you use discount code RAWR! (make sure you include the exclamation point and that it is in all caps!).

Head on over to my Line Art gallery to see all the drawings that are eligible for 25% off when you use the discount code RAWR!

RAWR! shirts will remain marked down to $15 until my stock is cleared out to make room for a new color! Be sure not to miss out on my sale on drawings, deals like this just don't happen everyday. RAWR!

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

RAWR! Celebration Sale! RAWR! Shirts and ALL Line Drawings Marked Down!

In celebration of my RAWR! logo getting trademarked I am running a sale for the next two weeks!

From now until May 11th all of my RAWR! shirts have been marked down to $15 and when you use discount code RAWR! you will get 25% off all of my black on white pencil drawings! That's right, I am offering up 25% off over 50 drawings currently available on my store when you use discount code RAWR! (make sure you include the exclamation point and that it is in all caps!).

Head on over to my Line Art gallery to see all the drawings that are eligible for 25% off when you use the discount code RAWR!

 

You will find a ton of drawings completed for Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Warhammer, personal pieces, and more! If you have been wanted to get some of my drawings, NOW is the time. Don't forget to use discount code RAWR! (make sure you include the exclamation point and that it is in all caps!).

All of my remaining RAWR! Shirts that I have are also marked down to $15, no code required. It is time for a new color and I am clearing out the remaining black shirts that I have in stock. They are selling out fast, so if you want to get one of the original RAWR! shirts, NOW is the time.

Head on over to my RAWR! shirt gallery to get you very own RAWR! shirt!

All shirts are now only $15, no code required... but you will still need a code for the drawings!

Be the envy of your friends and enemies when you proudly wear your very on RAWR! shirt!

Join the growing RAWR! army with your very own RAWR! shirt!

Photo gallery courtesy Achsa Nute

As a reminder, now until May 11th use discount code RAWR! to get 25% off all my black on white drawings and all of my remaining RAWR! shirts are marked down to $15! Now is the time to get your RAWR! on!

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

RAWR! - TRADEMARKED!

Finally, at long last, I can announce that I completed a big step to secure my branding that I use everywhere when talking about my monsters... RAWR! I started the paperwork back in October of last year and after months of waiting, additional correspondence, and corrections my trademark was published last week. So when it comes to RAWR!, this is MY RAWR!...

TRADEMARKED! RAWR!

Big thanks to Dear Wife for pusing me to do this and to Chris Seaman for giving me that extra push to get it done as well as answering questions at the very beginning.

It ended up being a whole lot easier and a whole lot harder then I expected, but I used legalzoom.com to get me through the process. If you are planning on acquiring a trademark of your own you will need to expect to pay several hundred dollars and wait months for the process to be completed - with no guarantee that the trademark will be granted. For the record so you know what to expect, my trademark cost me around $450, but it is mine now and I can protect my RAWR!. This is probably not for everybody, but with as much as I use RAWR! and the fact I use this logo everywhere, including on shirts, it was in my best interests to move forward with getting it trademarked. As a side not, it is actually better off for you if you are already using the brand that you want to trademark before you start trademarking procedures. You will also want to be able to document when you first used your brand. Thankfully since I have everything time stamped by the blog I was able to easily pull up all that information.

Be sure to check by on Wednesday when I will announce a celebratory RAWR! event... that is as yet to be determined... 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

621 Gallery Artist Talk and Happy Hour Recap

Last night was the 621 Gallery Artist Talk and Happy Hour for the three exhibiting artists. It was a dark and rainy Thursday night in Tallahassee and the opening reception was SUPER AMAZING so I am not necessarily surprised that there was a less then robust turnout. Of the three exhibiting artists, there were only two of us in attendance. Include my wife and the two actual people that showed up to look at the art and talk to the artists, there were five of us at the event. I am told that this was NOT the worse turnout on record, so that is something. Two other random folks passed through but did not stick around. It was still a fun evening and I actually did talk a lot about my work with those there. There were snacks and drinks so I can not complain! Here are a couple images from the 621 Gallery Artist Talk and Happy Hour...

Can not contain the crowds, call for back up!

Chrysota's Chapel miniature and design from Dreamblade.

Totem Lord miniature and design from Dreamblade.

Close up of my Bugbear redesign.

This was the second drawing created of my D&D redesign project but it was the first piece I shared on my blog for the project. RAWR!

My wife had to take break from the crowds in the middle of the room.

Thanks to everyone that came out last night in all their blurriness.

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

Artist Talk and Happy Hour at 621 Gallery - TOMORROW NIGHT!

If you like monster art AND you like to hear people talking about monster art then I know a great event for you! Tomorrow, Thursday November 19th, I will be part of this month's Artist Talk and Happy Hour event at 621 Gallery in Tallahassee. The event runs from 5-7pm with the artist talking about their work starting at 6pm. I will be joined by the other two exhibiting artists in the main gallery and it should be a lot of fun! Hope to see you out there!

Here are some new images of my RAWR! show... yes, they are similar to images already shared, but these are all new and different...

621 Gallery in Tallahassee, Fl. Hope to see you there!

The first 100 of my personal project to redesign and illustrate all the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

Miniature madness with 27 monster miniature turnaround designs.

Loads of people trying to look interested while being near monsters.

All the details for the show again in one handy dandy image!

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

RAWR! Opening Night

Friday night was the opening reception for RAWR!, my show at 621 Gallery that features nearly 200 of my monster drawings. The turn out was far better then I had anticipated and it was a truly fun time. My sincere thanks to all that came out to support me and my art, it is greatly appreciated. It may have been a warm November evening, but that did not seem to keep people away. The opening reception started early and went late, so I take that as a good sign.

My show consists of two large installations of drawings. On the big wall are my first 100 completed drawings from my personal project to redesign and illustrate everything in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. On the small wall are 27 miniature design turnarounds created for either Wizards of the Coast or Fantasy Flight Games for the Dungeons & Dragons Miniature Game, Dreamblade, Arkham Horrors Miniatures, or Nexus Ops board game. On the small wall a production miniature is displayed with the original design.

I took a "go big or go home" mentality with my installations. I have a ton of drawings and I planned to show as many as I could. Monsters definitely need their time in the spot light. Everything seemed to be well received which is always nice. Some were shocked I would display the original drawings, but why not? That are they for, if not to be looked at?

Here are some images of RAWR! and of the opening reception...

The big wall, the first 100 completed drawings from my personal project to redesign and illustrate everything in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

The small wall, 27 miniature design turnarounds created for either Wizards of the Coast or Fantasy Flight Games for the Dungeons & Dragons Miniature Game, Dreamblade, Arkham Horrors Miniatures, or Nexus Ops board game.

Because of the way I have been working through the Monster Manual there are a larger amount of "A" and "B" monsters. There are at most three of each other letter except for the letters that have only one or two entries.

A little closer on the monsters.

I had originally planned to only pin the drawings along the top, but due to air flow in the gallery the drawings were flipping up. They eventually received four pins and my figures are still sore from the nearly 600 pins I used to hang the show.

While the top rows might be hard to see or appreciate, I wanted to fill the wall with drawings and miniatures.

Plenty to see at eye level or lower on the wall. I made sure the smallest of the miniatures were placed low on the wall so they could be seen.

The Carrion Husk got lots of attention... RAWR!

Some people taking in the wall for scale.

And some more people taking in the wall for scale. SOOOO many people were taking photos, selfies, and video of my drawings. No idea what all those people will be doing with them or if I will be credited in them as the artist... but that is the way it goes. The guy in taking the photo in this image took a LOT of images of my work... so it only seemed fair to take one of my own.

Got to sign some Magic cards at the show too! Thanks, Brain, you made my night!

After the opening reception closed we wandered around Railroad Square taking in the sights for a little while. Here is one of the weird sights I found... a window full of derby posters,  many of which I created. Why? Who knows...

Again, A HUGE thanks to all who made it out for the opening reception! RAWR! will be up though November 28th if you missed the opening. On Thursday,  November 19th there will be am Artist Talk and happy hour event at the gallery from 5-7pm for those interested.

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