The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Ghoul - Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit: Process

Last year I had the super fun opportunity to paint a female Dwarf Ghoul for the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit. While on the surface, this might seem like a piece that would be perfectly tailored for me, but it is a bit different than I usually do. I tend not to enter into the realm of core D&D races with my work, but since she was an undead monster, it all worked okay in the end. And as it turns out, I make for reasonably good female Dwarf Ghoul reference.

Today I have for you the process and steps that went into painting the Ghoul. It was a straightforward assignment, which is always appreciated. I had myself for the reference, and the rest was just getting it done. Starting things off, here is a look at the final painting of the Ghoul.

Ghoul

Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

I started this assignment with a good ole photoshop of me acting out all my favorite Ghoul poses and actions. I will not be sharing those images with you because they are not fit to share. I worked out the physicality of the compositions and poses I wanted and established some lighting reference. Here are the three thumbnails that I submitted.

Ghoul - Thumbnails

You sometimes get close, but not all the way there. They liked option 'B,' but felt it was not grounded enough and looked like it was floating or hopping and not lunging. This was easy enough to resolve with some more photo reference and working out what looked best. What looks best is sometimes in conflict with what is accurate to the reference. You need to know when and how to push and pull the reference to get it to be what it needs to be for the painting. Here is the updated thumbnail that I resubmitted after addressing all of the production notes.

Ghoul - Updated thumbnail

The thumbnail was approved, and it was time to work up the final drawing. As I have mentioned most likely dozens of times before, the drawing step of my process is my favorite, and it is the step that takes the least amount of time. This is one of the reasons my work on the Grand Bazaar is pencil work and drawing. Here is how the final drawing for the Ghoul turned out.

Ghoul

Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original available on my store!

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Now it was time to paint! As I said, this assignment was straightforward and came together very quickly and easily. No road bumps, no issues, merely painting a Ghoul. Having good reference images for anatomy, foreshortening, and lighting make things so much easier and saves so much time during the painting step. Here is the painting coming together for your viewing pleasure.

Ghoul - Painting process

And without much fanfare and no issues, the paint was approved and sent off to production. They can't all be this easy, but when they are, it is appreciated. Here again, is the final painting for the Ghoul in all its undead glory.

Ghoul

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

Monday, May 11, 2020

The First Portfolio Leave Behind - circa 2004

I have something a little different for you today. While recently cleaning and organizing the home office, we came upon a relic from the past, well, actually a stack of them. Way back in 2004, while we were still out in Los Angeles, I was trying to expand my career options and was attending events like the San Diego Comic Con to talk with art directors and having interviews with other effects shops in the attempts to find additional freelance work and full-time opportunities. While I had somewhat steady work at the time with the effects shop I moved out there to work with, it was always a feast of famine, and the lean times were hard. Don't get my wrong, I was working on massive shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly - not to mention movies and other TV shows. But work was unpredictable, and at the end of the day, it was a hostile work environment, and I was not artistically fulfilled and was looking elsewhere.

To that end, I had a portfolio that contained samples of work. After my review, I would offer a leave behind folder that contained my contact information, resume, and a selection of what I considered the best of my work at the time. Looking back at this now, I would think I would cringe or be embarrassed, but neither has happened. I see in this a beginning. A starting point. And, after sixteen years of hard work, at the end is a career of making monsters for some of the biggest games in the world and a book that I wrote and filled with monsters set in a world that I created.

We all start somewhere. Some of us are ahead of others, and there are those ahead of us. There is luck, happy chances, hard work, sacrifice, and living that will happen, and in the end, we all end up somewhere else from where we began. I like having this object because it is a concrete moment in time for where I was and who I was as an artist. Sure, I would have loved to have been more skilled than I was at that time. I am sure I would have had many more opportunities. But at the end of the day, I was not ready as a person and as an artist. I had not put in my time and hard work. That said, I was about to kick everything into overdrive. A year from when I was handing these out, I was working for Wizards of the Coast, creating miniature turnarounds for Dreamblade. In that year, we left Los Angeles, I started working a steady day job as a designer, and I stopped worrying about trying to appease others and started focusing on my own work. It all changed in June of 2005, but it began in June of 2004 with this leave behind.

Brown, black, and a little orange... now that screams hire me for my design sense.

Inside you will find my business card, resume, and a selection of my work.

Page one of the art samples. I think they speak for themselves. The bottom left was the one that Carlos Huantes groaned the loudest over when he reviewed my portfolio.

Page two of the art samples. Top right was a movie poster I was working on for the producer/agent and the scriptwriter. I never got paid, and nothing came of this horror western. The bottom design is still one of the favorite things that I did for Buffy/Angel. Production nitpicked the design until it was ruined and then clapped themselves on the back about what I good job they did. I still have the original design, and I am still happy with it.

Page one of the resume. Nothing like trying to make a little seem like a WHOLE lot. In the beginning, you will do that. Need to make it look like there is more going on than there really is.

Page two of the resume. This is an accurate and uninflated list of the things I had worked on at this time in my life. While this information is still on my current resume, I sometimes think about removing or heavily condensing it. That day may come eventually.

As I have said above, this is a moment in time for me now. This is not an embarrassment or something to be ashamed of, this is who I was at that time. I think it is crucial to remember things like this. It shows that we do not know where we will end up or when it will happen. Do not lose faith in yourself. We never stop working and pushing ourselves, and you never know where you will find yourself.

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

Friday, May 8, 2020

Kalaraq Quori Miniature

This past November, I shared with you my contribution to the Dungeons & Dragons supplement of Eberron: Rising from the Last War, the Kalaraq Quori. I also talked about how this was the most challenging assignment I have had in a LONG time. I will go more into this when I share the process of making the painting, but let's just say I got in my head, and things went south quickly. It all worked out in the end, and the painting appears in the book. Here is how the final painting of the Kalaraq Quori turned out.

Kalaraq Quori

Dungeons & Dragons - Eberron: Rising from the Last War

Just as Beholder Death Tyrant, I was not holding my breath to see a miniature of this design. Not in a million years would I imagine that this monster would be considered worthy of a miniature, not to mention that it is a shadowy silhouette of a crazy snake bug surrounded by a glowing eye swarm. Well, the good folks at WotC showed me I have no clue about what needs to be a miniature how to go about problem solving the sculpture so it can be mass-produced. They went and made a Kalaraq Quori miniature, and it has helped a lot with my personal feeling towards this painting. Here is how the mini turned out.

Kalaraq Quori Miniature

I hope to be proven wrong about more of the monsters I have designed for Dungeons and Dragons, as I love to see miniatures based on my work.

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

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Abyssal Chicken - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus: Process

Last year I had the super fun opportunity to paint the Abyssal Chicken for the Dungeon and Dragons release of Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus. When I first reviewed the book's style guide, this monster really stood out to me, and to honest, there was a secret hope that I would be assigned it. Through my devotion to the art gods, I was lucky enough to get the Abyssal Chicken assignment. I had prepared to do more work for this book, but there were some pieces eliminated from the project before the art orders going out. This left me with only the chicken and a previously created painting making a second appearance.

Today I have for you the process and steps that went into painting the Abyssal Chicken. It was an extremely straightforward and easy assignment, which is always appreciated. I was starting with a great concept design, and it was a monster almost perfectly suited to my tastes. To start things off, here is the final painting of the Abyssal Chicken.

Abyssal Chicken

Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus

11 x 14 - Digital

Art Director - Kate Irwin

While I always start with a reference shoot for my work, it was not necessarily applicable in this situation. I could have made a maquette, but I was provided a great selection of concept drawings that provided a bunch of different views and action shots of the chicken that gave me more than enough information to create some thumbnails. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted.

Abyssal Chicken - Thumbnails

If I remember correctly, all of the thumbnails were approved. They loved them all, and I think I was given the freedom to choose the one I wanted to do, but they were leaning heavily on option C. Needless to say if they were leaning towards an option, I picked it. Now that I had an approved thumbnail, it was time to work on the final drawing.

Abyssal Chicken - Drawing

Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

As with the thumbnails, the drawing was approved without issue. At this point, I was ready to work on the painting, but something unexpected came up. Production wanted to use my unused thumbnails as supplemental art like what was done in the Monster Manuel. Details and alternate views were used to spice up and add interest around the monster entries in the MM, and I guess they wanted to do the same in this book. I was not really comfortable with my quickly sketched thumbnails being used in a book, so I offered to provide them with a more rendered version of my second favorite thumbnail. It was a quick piece of work and would result in an additional drawing to sell and provide with a better looking product. I am not sure it ever got used, but never the less, here it is.

Abyssal Chicken - Suplimental drawing

Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus

11 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - SOLD

Art Director - Kate Irwin

Now it was time to paint! Like I said, this one came together very quickly and easily. No road bumps, no issues, simply painting a fleshy hell chicken. Here is the painting coming together for your viewing pleasure.

Abyssal Chicken - Painting process

Abyssal Chicken

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

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

HUGE Sketchbook SALE!

HUGE SALE on all my sketchbooks!

I am clearing out ALL of my remaining stock on sketchbooks. To that end, they have all been marked down to a mere $10, AND they each come with a FREE original pencil drawing! That's right, for only $10 you can get a sketchbook with a free original drawing. I have three volumes remaining, and once they are gone, they are gone. Each book offers up a different selection of my work. Some of the books include my work on Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, or even Magic the Gathering, and they all include a nice selection of my personal monster work. Head over to my store to get all the details regarding each of my remaining sketchbooks.

creature libri 3

creature libri 5

creature libri 6

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

Monday, May 4, 2020

Pathfinder Pawns: Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path Pawn Collection - The Return of the Demons

Back in 2013, I did some work for Piazo on their Pathfinder Adventure Path #75: Demon's Heresy. I was tasked with creating some demons for the adventure and had a lot of fun doing it. I was unaware that the following year, 2014, some of the demons were used in the Pathfinder Pawns: Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path Pawn Collection. This second appearance went unnoticed for nearly six years. I am always interested in seeing my work appear on different types of products, and these little cardboard pawns are different than the usual incarnations of my work. Here is an image of the packaging for the pawns set my work can be found in.

Pathfinder Pawns: Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path Pawn Collection

Of the work that I did for the Pathfinder Adventure, two of the demons returned to be pawns. These demons are the Skulgrim and the Vorimeraak. They are some of my favorites from the adventure and seem to have held up over the last seven years. Here is a look at their pawns.

Skulgrim Pawn

Vorimeraak Pawn

Here are the full paintings for the Skulgrim and the Vorimeraak so you can get a better look at what these demons look like. Lots of wings, blood, and other viscous fluids - some of my go-to elements.

Skulgrim

Pathfinder Adventure Path #75: Demon's Heresy

Vorimeraak

Pathfinder Adventure Path #75: Demon's Heresy

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

Friday, May 1, 2020

Beholder Death Tyrant Miniature

When I was redesigning monsters for the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, one of my assignments was to tackle the Beholder Death Tyrant. This is an undead Beholder and a nasty piece of work for any party of adventures to tackle. I really liked the design I came up with for 5E, and I know my art director did as well. Here is my design of the Beholder Death Tyrant.

Beholder Death Tyrant

Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual - Redesign

While I liked the design, I knew it would never become a miniature. The floating disembodied eyes would be a problem for sure. Well, six years later, I was proven wrong! The Beholder Death Tyrant was made into a miniature, and they solved the problems with the eyes brilliantly. It is also very faithful to my design as well. I think it is a great piece, and I am happy to add it to my shelf of miniatures. Here is how the mini turned out.

Beholder Death Tyrant Miniature

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