J'AK'uhnile Portrait - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia. This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This will be a character portrait accompanying one of the short blurbs at the beginning of a chapter. I shared more about these with the first post focused on these portraits. With most of these, I have an idea regarding their voice and placement in the book, but the fun part is that it is not set in stone and may turn into something very different from what I first planned. This time around, we have an odd being unlike many others in the Grand Bazaar. They are almost ignored as they stroll about. I present you with a J'AK'uhnile (name to come later).

 

J'AK'uhnile
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
5 x 5 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - Available on my store
© 2023 Christopher Burdett

 

J'AK'uhnile - Drawing 

5 x 5 - Pencil on paper
© 2023 Christopher Burdett

 

These are the smallest pieces created for the books. There is something charming about a 5 x 5 image, and I have already framed them up. They look great in a frame and will make an excellent addition to my conventions this year (if you attended Gen Con, then you already may have seen these in person - the next stop will be IX in October). I have begun work on the next batch of these little monster portraits. Here is a look at the sketch for the J'AK'uhnile to show where it started. Once I have shared all of this first batch, you might notice some Easter eggs in the backgrounds.

 

J'AK'uhnile - Sketch 

Digital
© 2023 Christopher Burdett 

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

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

See you at CosmicCon TOMORROW!

I am pleased to be presenting at CosmicCon tomorrow. I did their event virtually in 2021, and I am thrilled to be appearing in person this time around. I will be talking about my career, working on monsters, and taking questions from the audience. If you can make it to the main branch of the Leon County Library, I will see you from

See you from 1:30 - 2:30 at the main CosmicCon!

There is a lot more planned than just me yammering about monsters, and if you can't make it to the main branch of the library, all of the other branches have events planned as well. I hope to see you there!

Fun for one and all!

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

Have Trailer Will Travel!

As you may know, if you follow this blog at all, in 2019, I started using a trailer as part of my convention setup. With the walls, curtains, podium, shelves, racks, art, and just all of it, I was no longer able to fit my convention, two humans, and luggage into my car. This meant that I needed a trailer. I turned to U-Haul as a solution because of their availability and low cost (comparatively to things like buying and/or storing a trailer). Jump ahead to 2023, and I am now completely reliant on using a trailer for conventions. As I have become increasingly dependent on needing a trailer, the customer service at U-Haul has collapsed. To call the service I have recently received abysmal would be putting it mildly. I am not here to air my full grievances, but let us just say that after getting the trailer picked up for Gen Con earlier this month, a process that was maddeningly horrible, I was resigned to purchasing a trailer. And while driving to Gen Con, my wife reached out to some people to pick their brains, and one of them had just decided to sell the trailer they no longer needed. So, we now have a trailer! BEHOLD!

And it came with R2D2 decals!

It is the perfect size for our needs. It fits in one of the only places we have available for it. We are no longer beholden to U-Haul and their catastrophic service. And it has new wheels and bearings. Of course, we must not overlook the stylish R2 decals on three sides. To say I am pleased with this is putting it mildly, and I can't wait till I put it to the test.

That is all for another exciting Thursday 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

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants - Storm Crab - Dungeons & Dragons

The newest Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants, was released last week, and I was lucky enough to have contributed three pieces (soon to be four, but that is another conversation for another day) to the book. The three pieces I initially did for the book required me to design and illustrate new monsters, and as you might know, it is one of my favorite things to do. Lastly is the mighty Storm Crab - a massive dragon turtle eating crab beast. YUM! Here is the final painting for the Storm Crab.

Storm Crab

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Emi Tamji

© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with all my D&D pieces, even though the final is digital, there are original drawings available. These are no exception, and I was pleased with how the drawings from this book turned out. Here is the drawing for the Storm Crab. 

Storm Crab

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants

11 x 14 -Colored pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Emi Tamji

© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Lastly, Here is a bad photo of the monster from the book. I took this photo at Gen Con. They printed great, and I couldn't be happier with them. 

Storm Crab in handy dandy book form!

That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Thursday! Until then...

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

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants - Runic Colossus - Dungeons & Dragons

The newest Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants, was released last week, and I was lucky enough to have contributed three pieces (soon to be four, but that is another conversation for another day) to the book. The three pieces I initially did for the book required me to design and illustrate new monsters, and as you might know, it is one of my favorite things to do. I will share these one at a time over the next three days. Next up is the mighty Runic Colossus - a massive statue covered in giant runes and shoots energy out of its hand. This might be my favorite of the first pieces. Here is the final painting for the Runic Colossus.

Runic Colossus

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Emi Tamji

© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with all my D&D pieces, even though the final is digital, there are original drawings available. These are no exception, and I was pleased with how the drawings from this book turned out. Here is the drawing for the Runic Colossus. 

Runic Colossus

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants

11 x 14 -Colored pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Emi Tamji

© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Lastly, Here is a bad photo of the monster from the book. I took this photo at Gen Con. They printed great, and I couldn't be happier with them. 

Runic Colossus in handy dandy book form!

That's all for another exciting Tuesday 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

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants - Gigant - Dungeons & Dragons

The newest Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants, was released last week, and I was lucky enough to have contributed three pieces (soon to be four, but that is another conversation for another day) to the book. The three pieces I initially did for the book required me to design and illustrate new monsters, and as you might know, it is one of my favorite things to do. I will share these one at a time over the next three days. Starting things off is the mighty Gigant - a massive insect that eats giants. How can you not love that?! Oh yeah, and a self-portrait at a hill giant for added fun. Here is the final painting for the Gigant.

Gigant

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Emi Tamji

© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As with all my D&D pieces, even though the final is digital, there are original drawings available. These are no exception, and I was pleased with how the drawings from this book turned out. Here is the drawing for the Gigant. 

Gigant

Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants

11 x 14 -Colored pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Emi Tamji

© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Lastly, Here is a bad photo of the monster from the book. I took this photo at Gen Con. They printed great, and I couldn't be happier with them. 

Gigant in handy dandy book form!

That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Tuesday! Until then...

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

Carrion Stalker 2D Miniature

Today I have another recently released 2D miniature based on one of my Dungeons & Dragons paintings. As with the others, this is a monster that already received a 3D mini, so now we have more minis, and that is a truly wonderful thing. This time around, it is the Carrion Stalker that I designed and illustrated for Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. Here is how the final illustration for Carrion Stalker turned out.

Carrion Stalker

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

© 2021 Wizards of the Coast LLC

 

If you want to seek out the set this miniature is in, here is an image of the packaging. The 2D Carrion Stalker can be found in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft Set 1 of the D&D Idols of the Realms line of miniatures. 

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenlof Set 1

The 2D minis are very high quality, and the printing is excellent. There are bases for all miniatures, which are arranged by size. Here is the 2D version of the Carrion Stalker.

Carrion Stalker 2D Miniature

I assume that the Carrion Stalker 2D mini has been flipped horizontally from the 3D version, but it is hard to tell from its size. Here is the 3D mini for the Carrion Stalker.

Carrion Stalker Miniature

 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