The DOODLES, DESIGNS, and aRT of CHRISTOPHER BURDETT

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

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 Abyssal Chicken in all its chickeny glory.

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

9x9 - Digital
© 2013 Paizo Publishing

Vorimeraak

Pathfinder Adventure Path #75: Demon's Heresy

9x9 - Digital
© 2013 Paizo Publishing

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

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Star Wars Process - Bossk

I have waited a long time to share the process for this painting. At times I considered never sharing it. Four years on, I am comfortable sharing it and talking a little more about this piece. I have talked a LOT about this piece over the past four years, and this will likely be the last time I mention it.

For those that know me, I have a particular love for Star Wars, specifically the monsters and aliens in the Star Wars universe. I watched the original Star Wars movie in the theaters when it was released, and it changed everything for me. I was only three years old, but it had a profound impact on my career and passion as an artist. The cantenna scene specifically had a significant effect on my young mind. I didn't know what I was seeing, but I wanted to make it. I have spent my life making monsters, I continue to make monsters. The work that I have done on the Star Wars games is some of my favorite client work and something I am still proud of to this day. Through the game art, I was able to be a part of Star Wars and create my own little corner of that universe. It is something I will also be thankful for FFG for giving me that opportunity.

Of the monsters and aliens in the Star Wars universe, my favorite character and alien is Bossk. The reptilian Trandoshan bounty hunter instantly caught my eye, and though he only was in the Empire Strikes Back for seconds, I was forever in love. The character has since been fleshed out in cartoons, books, comics, and games, and I have enjoyed every second of it. I perused the opportunity to work on a Bossk piece for some time, but the time was always off. FINALLY, it all came together, and I was able to create an official Bossk painting. Here is the final version of my Bossk painting.

Bossk - Final Version
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Traditional with digital edits and finish

The narrative of the painting is that Chewbacca was the prey that got away. Out of all of Bossk's successes, the hunt that never resulted in a kill was his pursuit of Chewbacca. You might think that this narrative is a little hollow in the image, well things have a way of changing along the way. With every piece of art I make, it starts out with reference. Such as this image.

Reference Photo

Photo by Achsa Nute

This is but one of the many images of me making my best Bossk impression. I wanted to make a connection between Bossk and the holo image of Chewbacca. Now that I had reference, it was time to work on some thumbnails.

Bossk - Thumbnails
Digital

These thumbnails were well received, but there were some requests and some issues with templates, cropping, and final card arrangement. I needed to move the composition around a little and make it a little more dynamic. Here is the revised thumbnail.

Bossk - Revised thumbnail
Digital

This updated thumbnail was approved, and I was given the go-ahead to move forward with the final drawing. To this day, this is one of my favorite drawings that I created for the Star Wars games, which is why it is the only drawing that I have kept. Here is the final drawing.

Bossk - Drawing
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
17 x 14 - Pencil on paper

Original - NFS

The drawing was approved, and it was time to paint. I created this piece a little larger than I usually worked at the time. I wanted to give it the size and attention is deserved now that I was finally painting Bossk. Here is an animated process of the painting coming together. As with most of my paintings, I work back to the front, leaving the main elements to the end. There is a rather pronounced jump in the image of the painting at the end, this is a result of the photos of the painting while working on compared to the final scan of the painting.

Bossk - Painting Process

Here is the final scan of my Bossk painting. I was pleased with it, and it was everything I had hoped to do with the painting and the character. The painting was approved, and I moved onto other work.

Bossk - Original
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Acrylic and pencil on board

Original - SOLD

Three months after the painting was approved, I was asked to make significant edits to the piece. As a professional, I made these changes. I do not need to agree with the changes, but I need to do the best job I am capable of to ensure that the edits and changes are made to the expectations of the client. This is just the way of things. Here is an image of the parts of the painting that were still approved.

Bossk - Approved elements

Since it was such a profound change to the painting, I started over with thumbnails to ensure that the client and I were on the same page and in agreement with what needed to be done. It was agreed that Bossk needed to be in an interior location, possible in a cantenna without figures in the background, or simply against a wall. Here are the new background thumbnails for the painting.

Bossk - New background thumbnails
Digital

Option C was chosen. While it was a little bland, I went with their choice and moved forward with having Bossk against a wall. Here is the process of the background being added digitally to the painting.

Bossk - Edits Painting Process

While it is far from where it began, I made the requested updates and presented the client with the edits and changes they wanted. Here is the updated Bossk painting with a sterilized background.

Bossk - Background Version 1
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Traditional with digital edits and finish

After submitting the new version of the painting, I was told that the background needed to be a spaceship interior with windows showing space in the background. This was news to me, but again, as a professional, I moved forward with making additional changes to this painting. Here is the painting process for turning the wall into a spaceship interior.

Bossk - Contuned Edits Painting Process

For a third time, I submitted a final for this painting, and for a second time, it was accepted.

Bossk - Final Version
X-Wing Nationals Tournament Alternate Art
16 x 12 - Traditional with digital edits and finish

After all of this work, changed, and edits here is the final card produced using the painting.

Final Bossk production card

During the painting of this piece, I stood back and took a photo of my workstation. I was excited about this piece and really happy with how it was turning out. I could not wait to share it when it came out.

The painting on my workstation nearing completion.

And this ends the journey of my Bossk painting. May it now be put to rest, and we can all move on. I have spoken.

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

Monday, April 27, 2020

D&D Monster Cards Challenge 0-5 - The Return of the Monsters

Back in 2018, a deck of monster cards was released featuring the monsters found in the 5th Edition D&D Monster Manual. That means that a bunch of my monsters got to see use in handy dandy card form. Unlike some other products that saw the reuse of my work, these cards clearly credit me as the artist, which is very much appreacited. I am still very happy with the work I did on the Monster Manual and the concept phase of getting 5th Edition up and going, so it is nice to see this art getting another use. Here is the packing for the cards as well as the cards featuring my art.

D&D Monster Cards Challenge 0-5

Definitely some of my favorite monsters and paintings of monsters that I have done for D&D. Here are better images of all the paintings featured on the cards.

Aarakocra

8x11 - Digital

Ankheg

8x11 - Digital

Fire Snake

8x11 - Digital

Salamander

8x11 - Digital

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