Monday, January 9, 2012

Claw Killer - Dreamblade

You may be aware that I worked on a little miniatures game called Dreamblade some time back. This blog is littered with turnarounds and work that I generated starting now over six years ago. Though it seems hard to believe at this point I still have more to share with you from that time in my career!

Today I have for you a little creature from the second set of the game, the Claw Killer. Claw Killer was a vanilla piece meant to fill in the lower end of the spawning curve. With no powers and no abilities the Claw Killer was meant to hit the board early and most likely be in the Graveyard soon after. If I recall, the CK was described as a little piggish mutated creature with GIANT hands with GIANT claws. This is what the turnaround for the Claw Killer looked like...

Claw Killer
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As was common back then my first attempt at the Claw Killer didn't really hit the mark and I had to do a round of revisions to make sure it was up to speed for the game. I was a little timid maybe, or I was unsure of the intended feel for the character, or maybe I just didn't know any better. No matter, my first version of the CK was updated and overhauled, but you get to see it now...

Claw Killer version 1
© 2005 Wizards of the Coast LLC

As I am want to do, I did have some extra time recently and I thought it would be fun to take a fresh crack at the Claw Killer to see how I would go about it today, some six years later. I addressed some elements I was never happy with, though these changes may not have been able to happen since the mini was a common and had to have a simple two piece mold. But these concerns are not really important now after the fact, I am just having fun drawing monsters. All that aside, here is the 2011 version of the Claw Killer...

Claw Killer Redux
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

Not sure I can add more to the conversation that the image doesn't already covey. Less pig frog waving hello and more mutated killer ...well, that is what I am hoping the new drawing is conveying.

That is all for another exciting Monday, 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

1 comment:

  1. I am really enjoying looking through your blog. Great stuff here and a lot of helpful words from a clearly successful illustrator in the industry. I especially like these revisited pieces that show how you've grown as an artist. It is refreshing to see that even though your original pieces were successful and well received by the client you are willing to rethink them years later.

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