A Brave New World - Part 2 - I can has paint?

On Wednesday I shared with you the results of my first day of painting with actual real paint. I had time in my schedule to paint again yesterday and I spent most of the day doing so. This second definitely felt a whole lot more natural. Handling the paint and getting it to do what I wanted it to do came a little easier. I know I have a lot to learn and this after all is my first traditional painting, but it makes me feel like I have not somehow been cheating myself by working digitally. Maybe I actually know something about painting finally! I tried to take photos every hour showing my progress but as the night wore on I may have missed one or two, but I think you will get the idea. I took a full image, medium image and a close up each time and I have arranged them accordingly...

Full image painting progression. One of the first things I did was address some of the anatomy issues with the let side of the next that were in the drawing. Next, I tried to get paint blocked in on the rest of the figure. I was a little concerned having concentrated so much on the top half of the figure to get my feet under me that I would have a lot of difficulty matching colors the second day.

Medium shot painting progression.

Close up painting progression.

As is stands at the end of day two. Really happy with where this has ended up! I still need to get a background in there, which I am sure will have some ramifications for the figure. I know I should have worked on the background first, but I will learn more faster by just jumping into the figure. I think I have at least another day to go on it and hopefully I will have that time before Monday so I can share it with you then!

That's all for the last post of 2011! See you back here on Monday for the first post 0f 2012! I getting my year in review post together and will have that to you really soon as well! Until then...

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

A Brave New World - Part 1 - Not Freaking Out

I hinted on Monday's post that I am up to something wacky. Over on Facebook I posted a teaser image of some globes of color on a plastic surface. Today I have for you some of what has been going on... in pictures, mostly . I think it started this year at the Illustration Master Class, was egged on at Gen Con and finally made a certainty at Illuxcon, that I needed to try my hand at traditional painting. This was all moved along with a (un)healthy amount of freaking out on my part as I tried to get my head around something I really have never done. I asked a lot of questions, looked at a lot of the real stuff and finally having the time in my schedule I jumped in. This is what has happen so far...

Hard board, acrylic media and a print of an older drawing with a digital under painting are about to have a party.

Party complete, I have my drawing with digital under painting firmly attached to the hard board... it is like magic!

READY TO PAINT! Okay, I learned many things about myself and painting in the next few moments. (1) I do not like working on an easel, I MUCH more prefer working flat on a surface like drawing. (2) I sometimes work to wet to work on an easel and will quickly create a mess, time to ditch the easel. (3) I do not need the under painting, the drawing will be enough for me, I was treating it like my digital work so for this it was too dark and too over powering. I am confident that a line drawing will be fine and that I will do all the under painting with the actual paint. (4) I prefer a smooth surface to paint on. Somehow I printed my image on the rough side of the paper and didn't notice until I started painting. I am fighting the grain a bit, I have a spare bit of paper I am testing colors on and I am using the smooth side and it is just what I want to work on.

Now I know! And knowing is half the battle!

After worrying about color choices, the great and powerful Jeremy McHugh was nice enough to give me some advice and told me two yellows, two reds and two blues to start with, I went ahead and grabbed a white, a black (which I have not touched yet) and some of my favorite earth tones and I was good to go.

Paint going on... it should be noted that this was the point at which I FREAKED OUT. Having not done this I have a lot to learn. This thing was out of control and charging in an unknown direction. Needless to say I felt a wee bit out of my element. ...where is my computer???

After some panic I calmed down and got to work using what I know from all this time working on the computer and from my time painting makeups in LA. Slowly I think I am taking control of this thing and getting my head around it. STILL LOTS TO LEARN... but I think I see some potential to this whole working traditionally thing! :P

This is where the painting stands after the first evening of painting. I will be working on it again later today. I hope it continues to go well... or as well as it can being my first traditional painting.

This is the fun part! I really like mixing the colors to make new colors, it all makes sense in it's strange way. Like science and magic all in one.

See you back here on Friday with hopefully more progress images! Until then...

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

A Brave New World...

Just a quick post with a single image and I will leave you to think about what I am up to this week... succeed or fail, here we go...

Taking my first step into a larger world... maybe...

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

RAWR! Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings!

Happiest of Holidays to one and all. Here's to hoping for an exciting and prosperous 2012! ...and that you receive the tentacled horror from beyond space and time that you have always wanted!

My Little Cthulhu
Iä! Iä!
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

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

Heart of the Scar - Process

As promised when I first showed of the Heart of the Scar I have for you today a look at the steps that went into the piece. Over the last couple of years I have been able to put together a work flow that has been very successful for me. The work flow plays to my strengths and insures that I am aware and address my weaknesses. If you saw my recent post on the process for the Oasis Beast, then this work flow should look very familiar. Since I was creating a brand new creature and illustrating it I started with some concepts for the creature and thumbnails for the over all illustration. As you will see, I had a fairly set idea of what I wanted to do for the illustration...

Shoth-Goragg Concepts
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast
Option 'B' was my first choice but 'C' was the winner in the end.

Heart of the Scar thumbnails
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast
Not sure if any of these were a stand out favorite of mine. I just knew I wanted to get up close and personal with the monster so you could see all the tentacles and horror. Option 'C' was the winner with production.

Now that I had a monster and a composition I could get started on a final drawing. Looking at the drawing now I am a little shocked how little detail I put into it, especially with it being such a large and prominent piece. I guess I felt confident in the subject matter and forms that I didn't need any thing more complex from the drawing. Of course, it tuned out I was correct... thankfully!

Heart of the Scar drawing

© 2011 Wizards of the Coast
Need to kill you player's characters? I got something for you...

I was working on this piece and the Oasis Beast at the same time. I have a superstition that makes me work on paintings in the order I was assigned them, since the Oasis Beast was first on the list I finished it first followed by the Heart of the Scar. I usually prefer to work on larger more complex paintings first, but my silly superstition wouldn't allow it. When I did get started on the painting I was a little surprised with how quickly it went...

Heart of the Scar painting progression
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast

After an undetermined amount of time I had a finished monster ready to devour unsuspecting players. As I have mentioned previously, I really need to keep track of how much time goes into a painting one of these days. As per my work flow, I put the piece away for a few days to have a look at it with fresh eyes, made some changes and turned it in with my fingers crossed that I had not taken stupid pills when working on it. Thankfully I had not and the piece was approved without revisions!

Heart of the Scar - Shoth-Goragg
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast

This piece is my first cover and to make it even better it is for Dungeons and Dragons. I could not be happier and it was a real treat to work on! To wrap up the post, here is the piece on the cover...

Dungeon Issue #197

Another monster to add to the monster zoo in my head. If you have any questions regarding the steps I take or the process in which I work, please feel free to ask!

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

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

Mansions of Madness: Forbidden Alchemy

Forbidden Alchemy, the newest expansion for Mansions of Madness is now out and I designed one of the miniatures in this expansion! This time around it is the Crawling One, a Mythos horror I particularly like. The reference art I was given to base the miniature on was a little dark and vague so I was given a lot of room to flesh the Crawling One out and give it my own spin. This is what I came up with...

Crawling One
(Planning to touch you with all its tentacles)
© 2011 Fantasy Flight Games

As I mentioned previously, I did all these designs way back in 2009 and they are slowing being released. Patience is a virtue when it comes to miniatures, but after two years I am getting pretty anxious to see the rest of my designs become plastic. If the Crawling One looks familiar to you it is because it appeared in another Cthulhu piece that I have done. Having enjoyed designing the Crawling One so much, when I was given the chance to include any Mythos monster I wanted to I jumped at the chance to revisit the big CO.

I look forward with sharing more monster miniatures with you, but we will need to be patient because it will most likely be a while to wait.

That is all for today, see you back here for another exciting day 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

Sketchbook sketches

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I currently have copies of both my sketchbooks in stock and available to you while supplies last. They have been selling fast and when I can remember I have been taking photos of the drawings that have been going in them. Since I am running a little behind today I thought I would share with you some of those sketches, ENJOY!

Monster are more scary with fluid filled sacks on their heads - RAWR!
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

Creepy bird monster is transfixed - RAWR!
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

All monsters should have to snort a lot and the puff of air needs to be visible - RAWR!
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

More snorting monsters - RAWR!
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

If you are interested in obtaining your own personalized sketchbook or getting one to be that perfect gift here are the details:

Your very own copy of creatura libri OR creatura libri 2 (please specify) with shipping to anywhere in the US: $20 (additional fees apply to those outside the US)

Your very own copy of creatura libri OR creatura libri 2 (please specify) featuring an ORIGINAL hand drawn sketch on the first page with shipping to anywhere in the US: $25 (additional fees apply to those outside the US)

SPECIAL DEAL! Your very own copy of creatura libri AND creatura libri 2 featuring an ORIGINAL hand drawn sketch on the first pages with shipping to anywhere in the US: $40 (additional fees apply to those outside the US)

Send an email to: My Yahoo Account and I will send you my paypal info. If you need to send cash or a money order I will provide my home address, but I prefer Paypal. Supplies are limited and it will be on a first come first serve basis. Please specify which book(s) you would like to purchase and if you would like sketches when you email me.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you 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