Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Boss Augustus - Dungeons & Dragons - Process

Today, I am happy to share the process and steps for one of my contributions to the Dungeons & Dragons supplement, The Book of Many Things. I have always loved the concept of the Deck of Many Things. An item or items in game that allow the players to access great rewards and great calamity. In my early days of gaming I created a magical item for my players, the legendary Stick of Nearly Limitless Possibilities. I thought it would be really fun as there were some very crazy effects if the was unlucky with rolls. It was met with mixed feelings and sadly the stick (which I actually made) and the many pages of posibilites are lost to time. That was an unexpcted deteor... back to The Book of Many Things and my contributions. We will start with the more ordinary of my two pieces in the book. Here is the final painting for Boss Augustus.

Boss Augustus
The Book of Many Things
11 x 14 - Digital
Art Director - Bree Heiss
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

I was asked to design and illustrate Boss Augustus. Even though this is an illustration of a human male, I still approached it as if he was a monster - for better or for worse. Boss Augustus was described as:

Intent: This monster illustration shows BOSS AUGUSTUS, a HUMAN WEREWOLF who co-leads a lycanthropic THIEVES’ GUILD called the Moonstalkers. Secretly, he wishes to cure his lycanthropy and leave the Moonstalkers forever.
Action: We see Boss Augustus in his humanoid form: he looks like a MALE HUMAN in his 50s with beige skin and close-cropped black hair. There are subtle hints of his lycanthropy: for instance, he has a thick, somewhat unkempt BEARD. He is TALL and BEEFY. He wears a stoic, somewhat TROUBLED expression. He is dressed like a D&DROGUE crossed with a CRIME BOSS.
Mood: A powerful and respected leader

Definitly some angles to approach this one and to make it interesting. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted. 

Boss Augustus - Thumbnails
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
 
It is always interesting which thumbnail is selected. Sometimes I know which will be selected when I submit them - it just has to be THAT one that gets picked. Other times I am surprised by which is selected. For this piece I was hoping for option 'A' to get the nod, but this time aeound it was 'B." Not nessarily the one I would have chosen, but as I submitted it, I have to be prepared to take it to the end. 'B' was selected without any notes. Here is the Boss Augustus drawing.
 
Boss Augustus
The Book of Many Things
11 x 14 -Colored pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
Art Director - Bree Heiss
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

The drawing was approved without comment, and it was time to start on the final painting. Here is the painting of Boss Augustus taking shape.

Boss Augustus - Process
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

This is one of those painitng where you just need to sit with it and hold its hand until it is done. My natural tendancies with making art do not often lend themselves to depictions of humans, but I always do my best to make the human be the way the client needs it to be. One of my biggest issue with humans is that I never feel like I know when to stop - when is this painting going to be done?!?! With my monster work I just know when they are done - I get a feeling in my gut and I know that I need to do one last small detail pass and it will be done. With humans, humans that need to be normal and functional within society, it can be a lot more nebulous for me. Usually, my typical final small detail pass would make that human look like something not human, and that is not desired here. So I just need to sit with a painting like this and make sure that the face and hands are on point and then have some fun woth the atire and gear. But uinderstand that I gave this piece everyhign I would give any piece I was assigned. It being a human just makes it a little harder for me - which is good sometimes. To be challenged is to enbrace growth! Here, again, is the final painting of Boss Augustus.

Boss Augustus
The Book of Many Things
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

That's all for another exciting Wendesday 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

Friday, March 22, 2024

From the Archives: Izzy - Angel Season 5

With being on the Buffy and Angel panel with James and Charisma at Pensacon last month, I have been left thinking a lot about my time out there. Not that I don't think back to that time relatively frequently, it is that I am now looking back at those years with fresh eyes and a much-improved opinion of that time. Even though my time in LA was two decades ago, I still come across work I have never officially shared with anyone. Today, I have a piece that is twenty-one years old and was created for episode 12 of the fifth season of Angel, You're Welcome. I was asked to design a new devil that would become a recurring character for the remainder of the series. I am, of course, talking about the one and only Izzerial, the Devil, or just Izzy to his friends. If you say to yourself, "Izzy??!?!", I understand entirely. But here we are all the same, so buckle up and get ready to learn about my contribution to making Izzerial the Devil for the Angel series.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many talented artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought this thing to life. This time, I was the designer and painted the final makeup appliances. After twenty-plus years, I am unable to properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA. 

I have never watched the episodes featuring Izzy. To be honest, I have not watched many of the episodes of Angel that I worked on. I have watched the Buffy and Angel series up to, but not including my involvement. Yes, it is strange, but one day, I hope to address this. I believe I have seen a clip of this devil in action or was on set when they were in a scene, so I have a nebulous memory of how the devil acted. They wanted this particular monster to be more in line with a classic devil in appearance. Internally, we also wanted it to be interesting and unique. So that was the direction I went with. Here are my concepts for Izzerial the Devil.

Izzerial the Devil - Design A

Design 'A' got things moving. If I recall correctly, for once, this was well received at the shop, and there were very few nasty comments made about it by my supervisors. They appreciated the ears being spiky and reminiscent of fire, the spikes in the hair that again memic fire, and the weird asymmetrical chin. They liked it and wanted to see it pushed further. So, I got to work on an updated design.

Izzerial the Devil - Design B

Design 'B' has the chin played up even more. We were all in a really good place with this one, and it was sent over to production for feedback. They loved it but had a few edits before we could make it. They wanted "normal" devil horns, a "normal" chin, "normal" ears, a "normal" jawline, no horns or stuff in the hair, and no irregular skin. So, if you are following along, they wanted a totally "normal" looking guy who is also a devil. They wanted something super lame again. So we gave them what they wanted. Here is a look at the final makeup pieces that I painted (I would also like to add that the head of makeup on set accused me of changing the paintwork on this monster after the episodes which he appeared. I am not saying this happened; I think it is a weird accusation to make, as I was the one responsible for photographing and documenting EVERYTHING we made).

Izzerial the Devil - Painted makeup appliances

The sculptor kept some of the firey forms on the ears, so there is at least that, but as you can see from the makeup appliances, they removed nearly all of the uniqueness from the design. This was also the third or fourth bright fire engine red monster we had to make for them in the last half of this season. I never figured out why, but they REALLY wanted all their monsters to be red and look nearly the same. Here is a look at the final makeup on the actor.

Izzerial the Devil on the set of season 5 of Angel.

Twenty years on, I am often embarrassed by much of my work at this time in my career. I was given a massive opportunity when my skillset was just starting to take shape. But there are a few stand-out pieces from my time in LA that I am still really proud of. There are also some pieces that I think are good, not great, but they got the job done, and I don't mind digging them out now. Izzy is definitely one of the latter. It is also one of the very few that I feel was better in the design and lost a lot once it was finally made. I found things usually improved as we all worked on a project together, but this time around, the choices production was making really watered this one down. They wanted a very predictable and recognizable 'devil,' and that is precisely what they forced us to make for them. So remember kids, artists, creatives, the people whose job it is to create new and wonderful new things just might know what they are doing and the people that sit around and count money do not.

That is 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

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

The Current Selection of Portraits from the Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

shared the final (currently) Grand Bazaar portrait with you this past Monday. Now that they are out in the world I wanted to share them all with you again. I put this combined image together a while back and I felt it added something to present them as a group arranged alphabetically. These are the first twenty denizens of the Grand Bazaar who have been stopped to give their thoughts and ideas regarding a variety of topics. If you are familiar with my first book, you know that each chapter often starts with a pair of 'man on the street' soundbites that give you some beginning thoughts as you delve into that section of the book. I had wanted to have these portraits in the first book, but it was not possible at the time. Now that book two will be bigger and better in every way that I can make it, there will now be portraits at the beginning of each chapter!

The Current Selection of Portraits from the Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
Each 5 x 5 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper

© 2022-2023 Christopher Burdett

This marks the conclusion of my 'old' new work, and I will now be sharing and I will begin sharing my 'new' new work moving forward. I have been very busy since the end of 2023, and I have much to share with you over the coming weeks!

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, March 18, 2024

Zi-Zien-Klaam 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 plannedI present you with a Zi-Zien-Klaam (name to come later) that is a little overwhelmed by all that is happening in the Grand Bazzar. I will add that this is the last of these little portraits that I have to share, for now.

Zi-Zien-Klaam
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
5 x 5 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2023 Christopher Burdett

Zi-Zien-Klaam - 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. Here is a look at the sketch for the Zi-Zien-Klaam to show where it started.

Zi-Zien-Klaam - Sketch
 Digital 
© 2023 Christopher Burdett 
 
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, March 15, 2024

NEW Aarakocra Miniature

I have another recently released miniature that is based on my designs and illustrations that has also already been turned into mulitple miniatures. Last week it was the Spectator, but today is the return of the Aarakocra. Again, I am speaking losly with the word 'new,' when this mini came out this past October. And yes, this is ANOTHER totally new and different Aarakocra mini. They can't seem to stop making them and I have zero issue with this. Here is how the final illustration for the Aarakocra turned out.

Aarakocra
 Dungeons & Dragons - 5th Edition Monster Manual
8x11 - Digital
© 2014 Wizards of the Coast

I have said it here before, I have a few D&D monsters that mean a great deal to me, each for their own reasons. The Aarakocra is one of those monsters. Anytime I see new minis, the reuse of my art, or other artists take on the monster it is a good day for me. And even though there are a lot of Aarakocra minis and I love them all, this is by far my favorite and really holds true to my original designs and painting. Here are some images of the new mini.

The NEW Aarakocra miniature for all your new Aarakocra miniature needs.
 
Lastly, here is an image of the original Aarakocra mini so you can see how it has evlved for the past ten years. I will add that this is the last of my miniatures posts for a while. There are more minis coming, but there are some months away and I have no more save to post. So I will have to come up with something new to post of Fridays for a while.

The original Aarakocra miniature made for the Icons of the Realms line of minis from 2014.
 
 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

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Recent Magic the Gathering Artist Proof Art

Today, I have recent Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added art to their backs. All available artist proofs and art options can be found on my store. I present a selection of art on the back of Magic the Gathering cards.

Another fun tokin. This time around a pilot was required and Nien Numb reported for duty!

And the ever popular Ancient Carp. This time it is in black and white.

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, March 11, 2024

Yaurnish 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 plannedI present you with a Yaurnish (name to come later) on their way to something important and they can not be waylaid to answer silly questions about fairytales and stories.

Yaurnish
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
5 x 5 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - AVAILABLE!
© 2023 Christopher Burdett
 
Yaurnish - 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. Here is a look at the sketch for the Yaurnish to show where it started.
 
Yaurnish - Sketch
 Digital 
© 2023 Christopher Burdett 
 
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