Painted in Color - A NEW Bi-Weekely Podcast

Today I would like to share something really great that came to my attention this week, a new bi-weekly podcast, Painted in Color. In their own words, "Painted in Color is a Podcast dedicated to fostering a community for and amplifying the voices of underrepresented artists. Hosted by Lauren Brown, Esther Wu, Mia Araujo, and Eric Wilkerson." I am fortunate enough to know Lauren and Eric, and I can not be more excited about this new endeavor. Better representation is vital to all of our growth, understanding, development, and creative exploration. I strongly encourage you to head over, subscribe, and take in the current videos available. It is just the beginning for them, and I can not wait to see where this goes.

 

Painted in Color

 

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

MORE Selected Recent Artist Proof Drawings

Today I have for you a selection of recent artist proofs that I added drawings to their backs. If you are interested in getting any of these for yourself, just follow the links to my store. Enough promotion, here are some drawings!

 

The mighty Gyarados... RAWR!

While I usually turn down human commissions when I was asked to do a monstrous demonic Liliana, I figured I could handle it.

That's 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

Numenera Creature Deck 2 - Return of the Rythcallocer

In 2015, I produced a series of monster paintings for the good folks over at Monte Cook for use in their Into the Deep Kickstarter. I was given an enormous amount of creative freedom that allowed me to have a lot of fun designing underwater monsters. It was one of those perfect assignments that usually come around when I am too busy to take them. This time it all worked out. While the monsters ended up being used as part of Into the Deep, some were used in other products, one of them being the Numenera Creature Deck 2. I believe this was put out around the same time that Into the Deep was released, but I only learned of it relatively recently. There is something about seeing my art of cards that I have always appreciated. I am sure it goes back to when I collected trading cards, played Magic the Gathering and Decipher's Star Wars game, and those early days of pining to work in the industry. Here is a look at the return of the Rythcallocer.

 

The Numenera Creature Deck 2

 

Rythcallocer, RAWR!

 

Rythcallocer
Numenera Ninth World Bestiary 2 / Creature Deck 2

12 x 9 - Acrylic and pencil on board  

Original - SOLD  

© 2015 Monte Cook

While all of the monsters that I made for this project were fun, this one was the most alien and still has a special place in my heart. The head area is a design I came up with in 2004/2005 for some personal work that never ended up being created. Always fun to reach back and bring something to life you envisioned so many years before. Glad to Rythcallocer getting to run around and play a little bit more than previously planned. 

That is all for another exciting Friday on the blog, see you back here next week! Until then...

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

Trex - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

Today, I have for you the process and steps that went into my Trex painting from the Dungeons & Dragon's release of Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden. While my process posts are nothing new, in recent years, it usually takes me months, if not years, for a piece to finally get its process post. Well, I am switching it up a little today by sharing the steps that went into a recent painting. Mainly because I have been clearing out my backlog alphabetically, and this one ended up at the top of the list. Anyway, onto the process and steps. 

For Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden, I could only take on one piece because I was working on the final elements of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia, and while I love working on D&D, I had a lot on my plate that was a higher priority. Thankfully, the assigned piece was super fun and right up my alley. I love working on some reptile monsters, and for me, the Kobold is at the top of the list along with the Lizardmen in the D&D universe. For Trex, they wanted a Kobold with some attitude and confidence. I get a lot of enjoyment from giving personality to my monsters that are beyond 'GRRRR SNARL! I'M A MONSTER!'. While that is fine and fun a lot of the time, working on a monster that is scared, proud, sad, confused, frustrated, etc. is SUPER FUN. To my delight, Trex needed some sass, and I was more than happy to give it to him. Here is how the final painting of Trex turned out. 

 

Trex

Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin 

© 2020 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with all of my work, I started with a reference shoot to get into the physicality of the character and to work out some posses that I had brainstormed. With Dear Wife behind the camera, we worked out the posses, angle, composition, and embraced any happy accidents. When it was all said and done, I had a lot of reference to work from and got to work on thumbnails.

Trex - Thumbnails

© 2020 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I had three main directions I envisioned Trex taking, and I worked those up. The one thing I was a little concerned with was the fake wings he was sporting. I forgot or didn't realize before starting, to ask how big the wings should be. They were described as being handmade and rather poorly constructed. I was a bit unsure if that meant they went all in, and it was a big mess, or if they did the best they could with what they had and it was a small mess. To cover my bases, I did a second pass on the thumbnail options with tiny wings, which is good since the tiny wings are what was chosen. While I still love option 'A,' 'B' was chosen ,and it is a great one too. 'A' was just a bit too confident and strong for the end product, and production felt 'B' hit it on the head. I was given the go-ahead to work on the final drawing as long as I made sure the nose was not pointed as it appears to be in the thumbnails. Here is how the final drawing turned out.

Trex

Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2020 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Notice anything dramatically different from the final drawing compared to the thumbnail? That's right, the tail. Not only did I forget to give Trex his tale in the thumbnails, but production also didn't notice that it was missing either. When I sat down to work on the final drawing, I had all my reference laid out, including images of other D&D Kobolds. Granted, I was looking at the same reference when I was working on the thumbnails, but when it was all laid out on my drawing table, I finally noticed. Boy, did I feel silly, but production hadn't seen it either, so I figured it was better I caught it now than when I had finished the painting. I added the tale as I worked on the drawing and addressed the other notes regarding the thumbnails. I submitted the drawing, and it was accepted, and we all had a laugh about the missing tale. The drawing was approved, and it was time to get started on the painting. Here is the painting taking shape.

Trex - Process

© 2020 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This painting was a fun and straightforward to work on. I love painting reptile monsters and the forms, patterns, and colors associated with them. I painted this one very quickly too. Some take a bit of work to get into, and some take a while to get to the finish line, but this one came together in about two evening sessions. In the end, there were some things I needed to address after I submitted the final painting. One being that Trex was too good looking, his gear and dress were too clean, to well made. I made him more heroic than he was supposed to be. I didn't see an issue with Trex being a hero, but I did go back in and rough him and his gear up a bit. You can see this in the final steps of the painting. The other issue I needed to address was that the wings needed to be white. I was aware of this going into the painting, and I thought I made them white enough. Apparently, they were still reading very, very red. I liked how they looked, to be honest and hoped they would hit the mark. Unfortunately, they did not. You can see in the process when I went in a made them white. After I made these adjustments, the painting was approved, and I had another assignment wrapped up.

Here again, is the final painting for Trex as it appears in Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Trex

Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden

© 2020 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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

Kickstarter Roundup REMINDER! - Aradani

I have a Kickstarter reminder today. I mentioned earlier this month that the fine folks at Aradani Studios are running a campaign for super awesome PPE covers. The campaign is nearing the end, and they still need your help to get it across the goal line. I STRONGLY encourage you check out the campaign and back it if possible. I am desperate to get my hands on these, and I can't wait to wear them. For this to be a reality, they need YOUR help! Links and more details below.

 

Aradani Studio's Mask Armor: decorative covers for PPE

Be sure to check out Aradani Studio's Mask Armor: decorative covers for PPE! Aradani Studios has been at the forefront of elf ears and related projects for years. They are good friends of mine, and I love their work, and they are now creating something I desperately need in my hands, Mask Armor, to cover your PPE. Be the envy of your friends and terrorize your enemies with these fantastic masks that come unpainted or prepainted. I am pledging to get two unpainted and can't wait to get them to paint them and then wear them out and about. The campaign just began, and they are already over 50% to funding. Now is the time to get involved and help them hit their goal. If not for them, do it for me so that I can get my mask! There are two styles, and here are some images from their campaign.

That's 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

Starfinder - Wait... WUT??

About a year ago, it came to my attention that I was credited in Paizo's Starfinder book, Assault on the Crucible. While I have never done any work on Starfinder and I have not worked with Paizo in several years, I figured they recycled something of mine that was appropriate. In time I sought out the book to have a look to see what of mine they used. I scoured the pages in search of my work, and after several paces, I still turned up nothing. I was left somewhat perplexed.  

 

Starfinder - Assault on the Crucible

After reviewing the book, I figured it was a big mistake, and I looked at the credits again. Obviously, my initial information was inaccurate. I am not credited in the book. Nope, in fact, I am the first listed artist in the book. At this point, I was just plain dumbfounded.

 

Internal Artists • Christopher Burdett

So, I am left with only a couple possible options for all of this. First, I looked to see if any other artist was working in the industry that shared my name, and after an exhaustive search, I turned up nothing. Second, old work of mine was at some point included, and as production progressed, it was removed, and my name in the book is an unintended artifact. Third, it was a straight-up error, and somehow my name popped up, and not one realized it should not be there. Fourth, and this is the one I fear might be the case, there is another artist that has a similar name, and somehow my name replaced theirs's, and they were not correctly creidted for their work on the book. At this point, it is anyone's guess, and the last thing I am going to do is bother the fine folks over at Paizo to get to the bottom of this. It is one of those little mysteries that we may never have an answer for.

That's all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here next week! Until then...

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

Selected Recent Artist Proof Drawings

Today I have for you a selection of recent artist proofs that I added drawings to their backs. If you are interested in getting any of these for yourself, just follow the links to my store. Enough promotion, here are some drawings!

 

A deep-sea monster 

 

Monsterous Admiral Ackbar

 

The perennial favorite Ancient Carp

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