Monsters A-Z third pass complete!

If you are familiar with my blog then you may have come across my 'Fresh from the drawing table..." series where I redesign and draw the monsters from the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. As of last Friday I completed my third pass through the book which brings my total up to 66 monsters. Since some letters only have a few or even just one entry there will less monsters each pass. Let's take a look at the 19 monsters that make up the third pass...

Monsters A-Z the third pass

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

I posted the first drawing on May 7th, 2010 and have kept a steady pace up ever since. In the nearly three years since I have been able to take two of the monsters to completion, the Bugbear and the Chimera. I mentioned above that I am now up to 66 redesigned monsters, here they are all together...

Monsters A-Z the first 66

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Now what, you may ask? Well, if you follow my Facebook Fan Page you will know I have already had two opportunities for people to vote on the next "A" and "B" monsters. You should expect the Ant (Giant) this Friday and the Basilisk in the near future! Each pass there are fewer and fewer different letters. After the fourth pass I am going to really need to consider the possibly of doing multiple selections from each letter as I proceed through the alphabet. Bet that is still a concern for another day... I have an exciting fourth pass ahead of me!

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.      

That is 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

The Village of Hommlet - Lubash the Ogre

The March issue of Dungeon magazine was released at the end of the month. Dungeon #212 features the article adventure, The Village of Hommlet and there was at least one monstrous creature in it. I was asked to create a portrait of the Ogre mercenary, Lubash, and here is how it turned out...

Lubash the Ogre - The Village of Hommlet

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

Well, that is how it turned out before I made a vignette of  it for the article. If you are running the adventure or happen to be looking through Dungeon #212 you will see something that looks more like this...

Lubash the Ogre - The Village of Hommlet (FINAL)

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

This was a fun one to shoot photo reference for... since I have not been a D&D Ogre yet. They wanted Lubash to have some personality and I was happy to ham it up for the camera doing my best Ogre impersonation under some dramatic lighting. Needless to say this will be my new avatar, been itching for this piece to release so I could use it! And remember kids, it is better to try to get out of the way of an axe and not to stop it with your face... As always, I would like to thank Kate Irwin for involving me on this project and for her art direction!

In the coming weeks I will have for you my concepts, sketches, and the process step by step breakdown for this piece. 

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

Fresh from the drawing table... Wyvern!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a WYVERN! "W" always surprises me with how many monsters it has... it is that monster stockpile at the end of the alphabet. I will remind that since there was only one "X", "Y", and "Z" entry in the original Monster Manual that this monster will conclude my third pass through the monster manual. With this in mind I decided to go with teeth, scales and wings to wrap up the third pass. I present to you my version of a Wyvern…    

Wyvern

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Okay... I have a beef with Wyverns. Actually, I have a beef with people and their limited perspective on monsters, names, and history. Wyverns have traditionally been portrayed as reptilian creatures able to fly which have four limbs... AND a BARBED TAIL. They may or may not breath fire but they are also associated with a poisonous bite and/or stinging tail. Okay... NOW, a Dragon is a reptilian creature that often can fly, has anywhere between 0-6 limbs, might have any kind breath weapon that you can think of. To be honest, if I draw a tree with a clown nose on it and call it a Dragon... it's a Dragon. That goes for if I call it a goblin, a monkey, a person, or a car... I can call anything that I create anything I want... and the discussion ends there. That goes for anyone. If I call something a Dragon, telling me that it is a Wyvern will get you on my bad side instantly. Dragons have been portrayed with only four limbs for a long time and from an naturalistic and anatomical perspective, it is a more believable arrangement. There are no reptiles, amphibians, birds, or mammals with six limbs. Of the three flying animals in the history of the world, birds, bats and pteranodons all had only 4 limbs. SO, if I draw a reptile with 4 limbs and call it a Dragon, it is a Dragon... if I draw a reptile with 4 limbs and a stinger tail... THEN, and ONLY THEN can we call it a Wyvern. To be honest, I don't see the need to have Wyverns accept to classify a sub species of Dragon. Dragon is a big word and encompasses a lot.

This concluded my third pass through the Monster Manual! I have already begun my fourth pass and will be bringing you that soon! I will be updating all the links below to include all the monsters so far and will have a recap of them all for you next week... RAWR!

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.      

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

The Carrion King - Process

Back in February I shared with you the wily and slightly insane Carrion King, from Dragon Magazine issue #420. Today I have for you the steps and work that went into making the final illustration. Before we look at the process, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Carrion King

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

The piece centered around the huge and crazy lord of the Myconids, the Carrion King. The Carrion King was described as a huge mushroom creature that had two mouths and one eye... and was a little insane. The other element of the piece was a gnome that needed to be interacting with the Carrion King in some fashion. Beyond that, it was all left up to me. I needed to come up with something fun and cool for the big ole mushroom king. I have been a huge fan of Myconids ever since I first laid eyes on them in the Monster Manual 2 (many moons ago). I looked at a lot of mushrooms and got to work on some concepts and thumbnails...

The Carrion King - Concepts

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

 

The Carrion King - Thumbnails

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

When I feel strongly about a concept or thumbnail I often mention this to my art director when I send them in, it never hurts to be honest about what you are excited about and want to work on. With these I really felt all over the place and could not get a good feeling for what was really working and what was not. I liked concept "B" a lot but didn't know if that would be too weird... or not weird enough. For the thumbnails I was really liking "C", but again I was not sure about them in the larger picture. Sometimes I will get too close to the concepts and loose an objective perspective. When I am working on them they are constantly changing as I move, scale, redraw, delete, and otherwise work out and problem solve the composition... and sometime I just don't know if I made something good or not in the end. The importance of the objective and separate art director!

In the end concept "B" and thumbnail "C" was chosen and I was given the go ahead to move forward. This pleased me on a couple of different levels... they were my preferred options and the mushroom idea came from my own discovery in the wilds of north Florida. Maybe a week before I was contacted to work on this illustration I was riding on our weekday trails when something caught my eye. I stopped and took some photos of a very interesting cluster of mushrooms... little did I know that they would soon become a monster...

The source of all good mushroom monsters... REFERENCE!

With concept and thumbnail approved I move forward with the final drawing and made sure that I used ALL the lines and put in ALL the details. Not sure what got into me but I really went to town on this piece... I remember now, I was working on this drawing on my trip home from Illuxcon last year. I had a lot of time to kill in the airports and on the planes... so I poured it all into this drawing...

The Carrion King - Drawing

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

The drawing was approved but I was asked to make sure that the detail level and complexity did not overwhelm the image and distract from the story of the illustration. Looks like I got a little to crazy with the drawing this time... with all the mushrooms on the ground, the gnome's gear and attire, and the Carrion King itself. With this in mind I got started on the painting...

The Carrion King - Process progression

With as complex as this piece is, it really came together quickly for the most part. 90% of it was done very quickly. The last 10% of making sure everything worked together, advances and recedes, and other wise reads correctly to the eye took as much time as the 90%. The lighting and clarity or the story were first and foremost and everything was secondary. This gave me the confidence to knock the foreground mushrooms into shadow and not worry about the loss of detail and drawing time. I know all the detail is there... and that is good enough. All that detail on the foreground mushrooms does not make you understand what is happening between the Carrion King and the gnome any better.

Again, here is how the final piece turned out...

The Carrion King

© 2013 Wizards of the Coast

That is 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

Icetromper - Star Wars: Desolation of Hoth

The first expansion of the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars card game, Desolation of Hoth, is now out and I am happy to have a card in this expansion. Though you might recognize it at first this is in fact a animal that lives on the frozen world of Hoth (they first appeared in the Star Wars: The Old Republic game). I present you with the mighty Icetromper...

Icetromper

© 2013 Fantasy Flight Games

I tried to capture the Icetromper in mid "RAWR!". Though this is my second Star Wars piece to be released it was not the second piece I created. Due to product release schedules changing and various other reason this piece has trickled to the top much earlier then expected - not that I am complaining. It was a fun one that came together very quickly all things considered. I took the assignment just before Gen Con last year and had to get it out the door before I left for the convention. Here is how the final Icetromper card turned out...

Icetromper in handy card form

 
When I was contacted about working on a Hoth themed set I first thought of Wampas and Tauntauns, so the Icetromper was a pit of a surprise. But is all worked out fine in the end! Thanks goes out to Mike Linnemann for including me on the project, always fun to work on Star Wars. In the coming weeks I will have a post about production of the piece since it went through some changes both before and after the piece was painted.

That is all for another exciting Star Wars 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

Fresh from the drawing table... Treant!

I have for you another drawing that is fresh from the drawing table. This time around it is a TREANT! "T" continues to offer up monsters of all shapes, sizes, and materials. This time around it is not an animal or mineral, but a plant that gets chosen. I present to you my version of a Treant…    

Treant

© 2013 Christopher Burdett

Lumbering tree monster? Sure thing! Lumbering tree monster that sings and recites poetry? I will leave that to others to deal with. The Treant was one of the earliest of the D&D monsters and was influenced by similar creatures appearing in the works of Tolkien. This is all documented and generally accepted so hopefully I am not stepping on toes by repeating it. Basically, what I am getting at is that the Ent / Treant has been around a while. There have been a lot of versions, variations and interpretations of it which always makes it hard to approach with a fresh angle. I decided to just dive in and bring my bag of tricks and design tastes and this is what I came up with. Not sure I even got remotely close to pushing the design enough... it is still very humanoid in my opinion. But that is okay, it has a bunch of eyes... If I ever do another I now have a "safe" version as a starting point and can see how far I can push the concept...

My first 100 original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual redesigns (A - Z): Aerial Servant, Ankheg, Ant (Giant), Ape (Carnivorous), Ape (Gorilla), Axe Beak, Axe Beak (version 2), Baboon, Badger, Barracuda, Basilisk, Baluchitherium, Bear (Black), Bear (Brown), Bear (Cave), Beaver (Giant), Beetle (Giant) - Bombardier, Beetle (Giant) - Boring, Beetle (Giant) - Fire, Beetle (Giant) - Rhinoceros, Beetle (Giant) - Stag, Beetle (Giant) - Water, Beholder, Black Pudding, Blink Dog, Boar (Giant), Boar (Warthog), Boar (Wild), Brain Mole, Brownie, Bugbear, Buffalo, Bulette, Carrion Crawler, Catoblepas, Cerebral Parasite, Chimera, Cockatrice, Coutal, Crab (Giant), Demon Type III (Glabrezu), Demon (Juiblex), Demon (Manes), Devil (Ice), Dragon (Red), Elemental (Earth), Ettin, Eye of the Deep, Flightless Bird, Frog (Giant), Fungi (Violet), Giant (Hill), Goblin, Golem (Flesh), Hobgoblin, Homunculus, Hydra, Imp, Intellect Devourer, Ixitxachitl, Jackal, Jacklewere, Jaguar, Ki-Rin, Kobold, Lich, Lizard (Giant), Lizardman, Manticore, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, Naga, Neo-Otygugh, Nixie, Ochre Jelly, Ogre, Owlbear, Peryton, Pixie, Purple Worm, Quasit, Ram (Giant), Roper, Rust Monster, Sahuagin, Salamander, Shambling Mound, Treant, Troglodyte, Troll, Umber Hulk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wasp (Giant), Wight, Wyvern, Xorn, Yeti, and Zombie.      

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

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - miniature

About a year ago I designed a miniature for Blitzkrieg Laboratories and I am pleased to share my design as well as the finished miniature with you today. I was asked to design a hobgoblin riding a warg and I was instantly interested. They already had a base hobgoblin design that I needed to stick to but the rest was up to me. This is how the final design turned out...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain

© 2013 Blitzkrieg Laboratories 

I remember this project moving along quickly and it was one of the smoothest interactions I have had for a miniature design. Hard to go wrong with a hobgoblin riding a giant wolf! Jump ahead a year... the production miniature is now available from Gorgon Studios and there are other hobgoblins to choose from too! Here is how the Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain miniature turned out when it is all painted up...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - Painted miniature

(Image from Gorgon Studios)

You might notice some changes that the sculpture implemented, but the piece is true to the design and I think it looks great. I got some of these guys in the mail this week and it is a really nice piece to hold in the hand. This is the first of my miniature designs to be released in metal which is pretty cool. Everything up until now has been plastic... so this really hits home with the miniatures that got me interested in D&D and well, miniatures. Here are some images of my copy of the Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - unpainted miniature

Complied below are my roughs and comps for this miniature. Like I said, it felt like this miniature came together very quickly and I had completely forgotten some of the variations I was playing around with. I still like the idea of the front heavy warg, though I don't think I pushed it enough here... they feel... inflated. Hurm, maybe I was moving a little too fast...

Hobgoblin Wolfrider Chieftain - concepts

© 2013 Blitzkrieg Laboratories

This was a really fun project and I hope that I have another chance to work with Blitzkrieg Laboratories. If I do you know I will be sure to share it here on the blog when the miniatures are released!

That is 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