Hunter in the Night: Star Wars LCG - Process

Way back in 2016, a card that I painted in 2015 was released in the Star Wars LCG expansion, Meditation, and Mastery. Jump ahead to 2020, and I now have the time and energy to look back at this piece and talk about what went into making it. This assignment for Hunter in the Night was to depict a scared Chadra-Fan fleeing from a cloaked figure on the moonlit streets of Mos Eisley or some other city on Tatooine. Since this was an objective card, the final image would be a long narrow sliver of a scene. I have painted one of those before, and since that one was digital, it was not an issue. Since I was painting this one traditionally, I didn't want to paint a strangely sized painting that would be hard to frame and scan. I reached out to production to check that it would not be an issue if I painted the image to the dimensions I wanted, as long as everything they needed was within the cropping area that would be on the card. In the scheme of things, as long as the client is getting what they need and want, the actual size and area of the painting really does not matter, but it is good to have open communication so that they are not surprised at the end. First, here is the final full version of Hunter in the Night.

Hunter in the Night

Star Wars LCG - Meditation and Mastery

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson

Original available on my store!

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

I, of course, started things off with a reference shoot and thumbnails. This was an enjoyable piece since I could dig deep into my collection of Episode One toys and use several Star Wars Micro Machines pieces as environmental references. Star Wars toys turned into a Star Wars painting for the Star Wars card game. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted for this assignment.

Hunter in the Night - Thumbnails

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

While we are on the subject of reference and photoshoots, here are some of the images that I took and made to use in the creation of this painting. This first image is of the Star Wars playset I used as a reference for the nameless city on Tatooine depicted in the painting (it is TOTALLY not Mos Eisley, *wink wink*). These playsets were invaluable since they are based directly on the background seen in Episode One, and they help address perspective and lighting. I took many of these images with several playsets and merged them together for the final reference collages. 

Hunter in the Night - Reference image

Speaking of reference collages, here are the three final reference images used to create the thumbnails and eventually, the drawing and painting. These are a combination of still from Star Wars, playset images, photos of myself acting out the aliens, and action figure reference. I created something like this for nearly all of my Star Wars assignments, and to one degree or another, I use this technique for all of my work. At this point in my career, since I have done so much of this, I often work up the ideas and forms while I freehand the thumbnails from my head. The environmental pieces for The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia were all created from scribbling and sketching in my head. This is only possible after years of working with loads of reference and observing the world around us.

Hunter in the Night - Reference collage

After the thumbnails were completed and submitted, production selected option 'C' without any notes. This meant I was ready to flesh out the final drawing based on the selected thumbnail. I add details, make adjustments, and get the image to where it needs to be so that I can paint it. Here is the final drawing for Hunter in the Night.

Hunter in the Night

Star Wars LCG - Meditation and Mastery

17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Art Director - Taylor Ingvarsson

Original available on the store!

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

The drawing was approved without notes, and it was time to start painting. Here is an animated process for this painting coming together. While it was a straightforward piece, some was pushing and pulling along the way to hit the right tone and to get the color where it needed to be for a night scene.

Hunter in the Night - Process

The painting was approved, and another one was wrapped up. I submitted two versions of the file to the client; one was the image at full size, and the second of the cropped version for the card. I believe that I could have simply submitted the cropped version, but I was being generous and allowed them access to the entire painting that I painted. Here again, is the whole painting for Hunter in the Night.

Hunter in the Night

11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original available on my store!

© 2016 Lucasfilm, Ltd. TM Lucasfilm, Ltd. Under license to Fantasy Flight Games

As you can see, the final crop for the card omits much of the painting. While I could have painted what you see on the card, I didn't want to create an image with these dimensions, and some of my favorite aspects of the painting are not visible on the card.

Hunter in the Night with intense cropping action in handy dandy card form

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

Infinity Con Tally Goes Virtual

We are in the time of virtual conventions, and I will be taking part in another event this weekend. Infinity Con was initially planned for early June, but with America's inadequate response to COVID-19 events cannot happen for the foreseeable future. In a way to make the best of it, events are moving to digital spaces, and I am thrilled to be part of Infinity Con Tally Virtual tomorrow! I will be speaking at 2 pm on Saturday, June 27th, about making monsters for film, television, games, and beyond. Really looking forward to it and I hope to see you there! All the info about attending the convention and the panels can be found on the Infinity Con event page. 

Come see me talk about making monsters and be sure to bring your questions!

All the details are at Infinity Con, and I will see you there on Saturday, June 27th, at 2 pm!

That's 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

Recent Artist Proof Drawings

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

Fish, lizards, birds, orbs, monsters, and robot snakes, a little bit of everything this time around. Most of these were shipped out awhile ago, but with deadlines, I am one sharing them now.

That's all for another exciting Wednesday 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

Fiscal Year Deadlines Ate My Blog

You may have noticed the blog post vanished the past couple of weeks. Not for lack of contact, at least not yet, but because of the annual deadline crunch that comes with the end of the fiscal year. Much of what I do with the day job begins and ends with the fiscal year, which is June 30/July 1 for those blissfully unaware of such things. This means in the middle of the year, there is a massive push to get a year's worth of courses up and launched for users on July 1. I am the project's art director, style guide enforcer, production overseer, primary artist, and master of all that is visual with the courses.

To that end, I build courses, oversee and review courses made by team members, and create all of the images, graphics, and visuals for the courses. This production year, I had fourteen courses to get into production, five videos, and a bunch of other little things that always come up. We have a good team, but the visuals seem to always fall to me every year, even with the best intentions to not have it work out this way. June is always rough, and at the end of the day, which is typically long, there is not much time or energy left to see to the blog, which is why the posts vanished the last couple of weeks.

Hopefully, moving forward, I can get back on schedule. Here is are analog notes for all the images, graphics, and visuals that I had to make this year. While each orange mark denotes a single completed asset, sometimes they represent up to fifteen separate assets for one visual. This is on top of building courses, reviewing courses, working with the programing team get new activities created, and juggling a dozen other things. Fun times! 

Each orange mark is a completed asset that puts up closer to hitting our deadline

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

The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia Production Samples

*UPDATE! The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia is NOW AVAILABLE!* 

 

Today has been a long time coming, but it is finally here. Images of the production samples of the books have arrived from the production facility in China, and I could not be happier with them. I wanted to share them with you as soon as I could. It's finally happening, and soon, very soon, they will be here. I will let the images speak for themselves.

All three books - the coloring book, the Grand Bazaar, and the stats guide.

The front and back cover of the Grand Bazaar.

The front of the clamshell case for the deluxe edition of the books.

The back of the clamshell.

The spine of the clamshell.

I think that is a pretty big update, to say the least. Things are getting close now. I will hopefully have more updates for you very soon. Keep an eye on this blog or on the Kickstarter page.

That's 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

The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia Update - Enamel Pins IN HAND!

*UPDATE! The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia is NOW AVAILABLE!* 

 

I shared with you last month some images off the production lines of my enamel pins from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia. As of yesterday, I have some samples of those pins in my hands, and I could not wait to share them with you! They have turned out so much better than I could have imagined, and it means we are one step closer to having the Grand Bazaar in our hands. Take a look at these images and see for yourself how they turned out.

The Crest of Ethra VanDalia and the symbol of the Construct Guild enamel pins

The Crest of Ethra VanDalia enamel pin

The symbol of the Construct Guild enamel pin

As soon as I have more updates, you can bet I will be here on the blog sharing it with you. We are getting close, July is right around the corner.

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

Never Shared - Coils of Madness Packaging

Recently while doing some cleaning and organizing, I came across some card packs that I had completely forgotten about.  Not only were they forgotten, after a quick search, I realized I never shared them. These card packs have been tucked away for seven years, and now they are finally getting a little attention here on the blog. Way back in 2012, I worked on the Legend of the Five Rings expansion, Coils of Madness. One of the main pieces I produced for that set was the great mad dragon P'an Ku. The set was eventually released in 2013, and my P'an Ku art was heavily used on the card packaging as well as the card box. I feel like this may have been lost on me at the time because this is something that does not happen with my art with any frequency. Here is a look at the packaging for Coils of Madness.

P'an Ku snapping at you from the front of the packs.

P'an Ku wraps around to the back.

P'an Ku is the featured art on the top of the card box as well.

For an eight year old painting, I still really like this piece. Sure, there are things I would do differently now, but for card art, it still looks great, and I love I doubled down on yellow and made this piece so warm. I really thought this piece was going to be huge for me. I made a ton of prints and playmats of this image, and I just had a feeling this piece was going to sell really well for me. That is not how it ended up working out. When the playmats eventually sold out about five years ago, I never had them reprinted. The prints sold very slowly from the beginning, and I was finally rid of the last ones in February at Pensacon when the last one sold from my deep, deep discount bin. Not the fate I had envisioned for P'an Ku, but that is how it is sometimes. This piece seemed to tick all the boxes for a fan favorite, but the fans were never there. Goes to show that you can never honestly know what will be successful and what will not. Here is the final art for P'an Ku's Madness, as well as the card it appears on. 

P’an Ku's Madness

© 2013 Alderac Entertainment Group

P’an Ku's Madness in handy card form.

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