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

Showing posts with label rodian. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Armed to the Teeth - Process - Star Wars: Between the Shadows

Today I have for you another process post for a "recent" Star Wars piece. This time around is the piece, Armed to the Teeth, from Star Wars: Between the Shadows! I first shared these pieces in February, so here is how the final Armed to the Teeth turned out...

Armed to the Teeth

Star Wars: Between the Shadows

10.3 x 8.6 - Digital

This piece sounded like it was going to be a lot of fun from the moment I received the assignment. Who doesn't like a four armed blaster wielding Besalisk that came here to chew bubble gum and tear the place up... and he is all out of bubble gum. I was playing around with some ideas of how I wanted to work this piece up so I got to work of some thumbnails...

Armed to the Teeth - Thumbnails

I have mentioned it before but I do not often post examples, but I like to physically work out my compositions in a reference photo shoot at the beginning of an assignment. I will do the same with miniatures, toys, action figures, etc. I like to play with real object in a three dimensional space. I am also working with my wife to get the best images I can. She is always behind the camera when I am the subject and she gives me directions to get the best shots and posses. We trouble shoot, improvise, and discover happy accidents along the way that lead to unexpected and often more successful solutions. I use to work up my ideas on paper and then do the photo shot and it often limited my options or turned out to be impossible to replicate physically. By starting from a photo shot I begin with an idea in my head, a feeling, a mood and we act out the illustration. I can then take all the photos and mix and match to work up ideas that work best for the assignment. All too often I end up with something much better by playing with the photo assets to create my images. My wife is always getting me to adjust my posses so that they read better on camera and better illustrate the action or movement I am aiming for. I could not do it without her. Here is the photo reference that went into the winning thumbnail...

RAWR! The use of reference makes things better.
Photos by Achsa Nute

No that I had a selected thumbnail, option "B", it was time for the final drawing. At the time I think I liked all the thumbnails more or less equally and had even been leaning more toward options "A" or "C". Looking back now it is more then obvious that "B" is the best choice. Thanks, Zoe! Here is how the final drawing turned out...

Armed to the Teeth

Between the Shadows - SWLCG

12 x 9 - Pencil on paper

Original for sale over on my web store!
© 2015 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The drawing was approved and it was time for the painting. The only issue going into this piece was that we (the AD and I) knew that the chrome of the card would be over his top right hand and gun. The rest of the image was otherwise working so well we decided to move ahead and make a great image even though the finished product would be just a little bit less great... but it still is great and this is still one of my favorite SW card piece. Besalisk are just too much fun! That said... you can have yourself a Besalisk painting in just twelve easy steps... or not...

Armed to the Teeth - Process steps

I do need to get around to talking about what that reacquiring sign / text is in the background of so many of my Star Wars paintings. ...but it will have to wait for another day. This was a really straight forward painting. I had great reference thanks to my wife to work from and the subject matter is super fun. The hardest part was working up a better building facade in the background and to do the text. Something I have been working to improve, and I have definitely had to since switching to traditional paint, is to make sure my backgrounds and architecture are looked down before going into paint. They can sink a painting if they are sloppy and out of perspective. Here is a handy dandy animated progression of the painting coming together. It should give you a better idea of the steps that went into making this piece...

Armed to the Teeth - Animated process progression

I shared with once before in regards to a Rodian I painted, but it was always meant to be shared a part of this process post. WAY back in 2004 / 2005 when I was trying to get in the doors of Wizards of the Coast I was very eager to work on Dungeons & Dragons and Star Wars. Here is a piece done for my portfolio and submitted to WotC in the hopes of getting some Star Wars work. That work never came with WotC, for obvious reasons... just look at it... The work did eventually come from FFG after many years of growth and hard work Let us gaze upon the sad little Rodian...

Rodian

(or "PLEASE PLEASE GIVE ME STAR WARS WORK!!!!")

"Portfolio" piece sent to Wizards of the Coast from very early 2005

While the issues of this piece are many there are a couple of okay bits, but the okay bits certainly do not make up for the rest of it. Real quick: Sloppy background, awkward weird drapery, anatomy issues, anatomy symmetry issues, local color issues, black shadows everywhere, simplistic blaster effect, not a dynamic pose, no narrative, using reference for some parts and not for other that makes really awkward juxtapositions of rendering quality, etc. Anyway... the long and short of it being inexperience. Jump ahead nine years after a bit of work and experience...

2005 vs 2014

"Portfolio" Star Wars work and licensed Star Wars assignment

...or in other word, the difference of nine years and MANY MANY hours of work and experience

You can't have piece like Armed to the Teeth without a ton of sad Rodians. You need to make fifty sad Rodians for every Armed to the Teeth you hope to make. Just the way it is.

Once again here is the final painting for Armed to the Teeth as well as the final production card that appears in the game...

Armed to the Teeth

Star Wars: Between the Shadows

10.3 x 8.6 - Digital

Armed to the Teeth in handy dandy card form

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, February 2, 2015

Armed to the Teeth - Star Wars: Between the Shadows

Starting off a week of new Star Wars work! All of the new work was created for the newly released expansion to the Star Wars card game, Between the Shadows. I worked on this deluxe expansion last January and the set contains one of my favorite pieced created for the game, Armed to the Teeth, as well the last of my digitally painted Star Wars pieces. I present to you, Armed to the Teeth...

Armed to the Teeth

Star Wars: Between the Shadows

10.3 x 8.6 - Digital

What is better then a Besalisk wielding four blasters in a painting? How about a Besalisk, Rodian, obese Gungan, Bith, Twi'lek, Quarren, and Pa'lowick all in one painting! Of course for most of those species you only get a peek and they are cropped in the final card. I know they are there! I dug into my reference figures and pretty much randomly pulled out the aliens that ended up in the background. I will most likely have more to share about this piece when I share the process in the coming months. That bar sure has seen a lot of action... more on that another day real soon. Here is a look at how the final card turned out...

Armed to the Teeth in handy dandy card form

As an added bonus, just for you all since I like you so much, here is a look at some of the photo reference that went into the making of this piece. RAWR! I am all the monsters...

But a glimpse of the reference fun that happened for Armed to the Teeth
Photos by Achsa Nute

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here on Wednesday for more Star Wars fun! 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 30, 2014

The Droid's Task - Star Wars: It Binds All Things - Process

Back in January I shared with you The Droid's Task that I created for the It Binds All Things expansion of the Star Wars Card Game. Now that this expansion has been released the time has finally come to share the process that went into this piece. So we are all on the same page, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Droid's Task

This piece needed to portray the deadly bounty hunter droid, IG-88, having a meet and greet in Jabba's Palace as it received a mission or task. There was only one logical next step... REFERENCE! I started things off with creating several tableaus based on some composition ideas that I had and used my vast collection of action figures to work out my thoughts. When it was all said and done, three of my reference images rose to the top...

Reference! Let the toys do the heavy lifting during concepts

Now that I had a starting point for my compositions I got to work on my thumbnails. There was still a bit to do to turn the reference into something usable, but they were a big help in getting this complex scene headed in the right direction. Here are how the thumbnails turned out...

The Droid's Task - Thumbnails

While I liked them all, "C" was my favorite and the winner as far as Zoe and FFG were concerned. It conveyed that this scene was at Jabba's Palace and it focused heavily on IG-88 getting some sort or instructions, duty... or TASK, as it were. With an approved thumbnail it was time for a drawing...

The Droid's Task - Drawing

BOOM! Drawing done and approved... time for some painting. This piece was a very odd size and I ended up making it really big so that I could get a enough height to get the detail level I prefer. In the end, the file is twenty or more inches wide. Here is a breakdown of the piece in sixteen steps...

The Droid's Task - Process steps

You might notice there is a lot of editing of IG-88 towards the end and that we loose Bib Fortuna. Once the painting was finished and turned in there were several requests for revisions from FFG. First was to remove Bib (I will paint you another day my friend) he was pulling focus in the middle of the image. There was some concern IG-88 was a little beefy in all the wrong areas and that the table he was sitting at was causing his limbs to appear shorter then they are. When it was all said and done there was a bit of editing late in the game... but, it made the client happy and so it gets addressed. Here is a more thorough animated break down of the panting coming together...

The Droids' Task animated process thingy...

Always nice to work with named 'monster' characters and I am a huge Jabba fan, so getting to paint him again was fun. While all the edits were a little stressful, end the end it did make for a stronger image that was easier to read at a glance. Again, here is how the final image turned out as well as the final production card...

The Droid's Task

The Droid's Task in handy dandy card form

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

Friday, February 21, 2014

Rodians... the revenge of 2005

I recently shared with you a Star Wars piece for an upcoming card set. The piece focuses on the bounty hunter droid, IG-88, but the piece also features a member of the alien species known as the Rodian. I have had Rodians on my mind a lot for the past year...

The Droid's Task

When I originally created this image last year I was reminded by a piece that haunts my past... a piece that I have hidden away for over nine years. A piece that for some reason I am sharing with you today. Back in 2005 Wizards of the Coast still held the license for Star Wars games. At the time I was still on the outside and I was desperate to get my foot in the door at WotC for both D&D and Star Wars. To that end I was producing spec pieces that showed my "understanding" and "competency" with the product. Unfortunately, I created and submitted this...

Mos Eisley Cantina

Mos Eisley CantinaMos

Mos Eisley Cantina

Rodian

(or "PLEASE PLEASE GIVE ME STAR WARS WORK!!!!")

Spec piece sent to Wizards of the Coast from very early 2005

To be honest, this may have been started in late 2004 and was finished in early 2005, but that does not change the fact that this piece... this piece... has issues. Live and learn, growth and progress and all that. I DID use reference thank you very much! Had a coworker at the time pose on the floor holding a light bulb to simulate the blaster firing. I look at this piece and quickly see all the the young painter/digital painter mistakes. ...but you know what? I was a VERY inexperienced painter when I created this and was desperate to learn and improve. More then anything I look back at this piece and laugh at how silly it is and how much it reminds me of the time I created it. EVERY Rodian needs to make sure his socks match his shirt. Also, make sure you foreshorten arms so that they look SUPER stumpy. No point in flogging a dead horse... or a sad Rodian.

I did say I have had Rodians on my mind a lot. Here is a warm up sketch / study using some unused reference that I did a couple weeks ago. This was done super quick, in less then an hour or so. While it is not perfect, it still managed to be a better Rodian then something I labored over for hours and hours nine years ago...

Rodian Enforcer study/warm up

9 x 12

Pencil on paper

Don't worry, there will be more Rodians along in the fullness of time, and they will be way better then all of these combined! 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

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Droid's Task - Star Wars: It Binds All Things

Over on the Fantasy Flight Games website last week they previewed the newest expansion to the Star Wars Card Game, It Binds All Things. In that preview they showed off a card that I have in this expansion! The long and the short of it is: IG-88 + Jabba's Palace + Rodian = The Droid's Task!

The Droid's Task

The Droid's Task in handy dandy card form

When this expansion is officially released I will share the process step and some back story related to its creation. There were some revisions as well as some back and forth with production regarding certain elements... some of which that are no longer in this piece. More on all this in the fullness of time...

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