Fungoid Model and Render by Christen Borras

I recently talked about how an artist's work can be used in a less than ideal way, in my opinion for whatever that is worth. Today I would like to share how an artist's work can be used and transformed in a completely acceptable way... again in my opinion, but it is my work, so... whatever.

Over the weekend I was contacted by Christen Borras, who is a student. He wanted to let me know that he used my Fungoid concept and design as part of an assignment to model and render a character. Here is a look at my concept design and illustration of the Fungoid...

Fungoid miniature turnaround

Pencil on paper
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Fungoid

digital
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Here is a look at what Christen did with my design as he translated it to 3D. I think it turned out great and is extremely faithful to the original design. You can see more over on Christen's ArtStation gallery. It is really fun and exciting to see someone else interpret your ideas into a new medium, not to mention that your idea interested someone enough to go through the time and effort to make something new based on the original design. Great job Christen!

Fungoid Model and Render by Christen Borras

You can see more of his work as well as a cool 360 turnaround of the Fungoid over on his ArtStation gallery.

Not to labor the subject, but there are reasons why this usage of my work is so different from the usage I posted about a couple weeks ago. First, Christen contacted me to let me know about his usage of my design and offered me the opportunity to have him remove it from his gallery. Second, he gave credit with a link to me as the creator of the design. Third, he has transformed the designed and made something new, which he created from scratch. Fourth, he is a student and this is on a personal gallery as an example of his work - and really this is no different from any other artist who is given a style guide to follow or reference that needs to be matched. We all make original work that has elements that need to match a companies IP or established characters. Christen is showing that he can stick to the provided reference and produce a final piece... which is a real world working requirement.

Again, great job Christen! It looks great and and I hope you all the best with your studies!

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

Nexus Ops sketches and tidbits

Looks like I have a couple more things to share with you from Nexus Ops. I hope you all have not grown tired of it over the past two week! Today I have for you a bunch of the roughs and sketches that went into fleshing out and designing the different pieces in the game. I also have some photos of my art as it appeared in various parts of the game and packaging. I could go on and on about all of these but I figured at this point it will be best to just post the sketches and let you see what could have been and how things took shape. For each of these there is a selection of quick roughs followed by the more refined sketches that lead to the art I have previously shared with you. Without further fanfare...

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Game information card.

The four sides of the Nexus Ops game box.

Web ad I came across in my journeys in the tubes of the Internets.

I think that about covers my involvement with Nexus Ops! It was a blast to work on and the kind of project that just not come my way often enough.

If you missed any of the finished designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, I hope to have a post up on Friday but with everything going on it just might now happen... but I will do my best! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Nexus Ops - Part 6: Rubium Dragon

Wrapping up the week as well as concluding my designs for the new release of Nexus Ops, I have you a dragon! Not just any dragon, but the Rubium Dragon, the biggest of the Nexus Ops creatures. It adorned the box art in the original release so I knew the dragon was important (also, it was a dragon, so that alone means it is important in this industry). I present to you, the Rubium Dragon...

Rubium Dragon
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Rubium Dragon miniature turnaround
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Production miniature for the Rubium Dragon
(RAWR! I am the biggest miniature of the set!)

As mentioned in my post about the Fungoid, I wanted to give a nod to the original game when I could. With the dragon, you get two nods. Like the Fungoid the dragon has multiple eyes, but most direct nod is the inclusion of the two pairs of wings. Was the original dragon a crazy insect? A misshapen mutant that still functioned? Whatever it was it had four wings and so does my dragon... big fleshy wings. As far as the color and look, I knew I wanted from the beginning to have some sort of color shift across its body, a really dramatic chroma transition. The red headed agama gave me the real world influence that I was looking for. I restraints of the project meant that if the dragon was to appear to be flying I needed to accomplish the illusion with the design. There was some brief talk of it having a clear stand as part of the mini, but apparently that was tried before and the cost and trouble was not worth it. I considered all the options of it appearing like it was just about to take off or land but I really felt that if I could have use it body to make it feel it was already in flight I would have a more interesting design and miniature... I think I may have pulled it off...

That is all for my work on Nexus Ops! Maybe I will bring you some of the drawings and extra stuff involved with the designs and game in the near future. If you missed any of the other designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here for a very special Monday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Nexus Ops - Part 5: Lava Leaper

Keeping a week of giant Nexus Ops monsters going I have for you... another giant Nexus Ops monster! This time around it is the massive Lava Leaper. I think the same comes from some sort of ability it might have, something to do with leaping and maybe lava, but I am known to be wrong, from time to time. I present to you, the Lava Leaper...

Lava Leaper
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Lava Leaper miniature turnaround
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Production miniature for the Lava Leaper

I really wanted to make sure that these monsters looked and felt differently. I wanted them to be able to be distinguished from each other immediately and without any trouble, both in there illustrations and in the monochromatic miniatures. I hope I accomplished this, it is always hard to tell sometimes after being so close to a project. Every detail and nuance has been committed to memory and they begin to look as different as they do the same over time. For the Lava Leaper I looked to a very interesting little frog for the coloration. For the overall look, well, let's just say I went back to my roots for inspiration. As a side note, I really like that the Lava Leaper and Rockstrider are not placed on bases. Just something about them being free standing and to themselves that I really like.

If you missed any of the other designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday for the last and biggest of the Nexus Ops monsters! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Nexus Ops - Part 4: Rockstrider

I am devoting this week on the blog to the remaining work that I produced for the new release of the Nexus Ops board game. This second week is completely devoted to giant alien monsters with tiny humans riding them. Kicking things off I have for you an grumpy turtle! I present to you the Rockstrider...

Rockstrider
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Rockstrider miniature turnaround
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Production miniature for the Rockstrider
(With new and improved spiky butt!)

With all the work I produced for Nexus Ops I really tried to base aspects of the designs on real Earth animals to give the creatures a little more believability. It may just be the colors and textures, but I wanted to be sure that there was some realistic element to each one. With this particular design from the the thumbnail that started it off I had in my mind a grumpy turtle. When it came time to paint the illustration I made sure to look at a lot of images of box turtles (since I have always been fond of bx turtles and they have amazing markings) to influence the coloration and patterning on the Rockstrider. To me at least it has a grumpy turtle feel, not sure if that will necessarily be communicated to everyone that see this design, but at least I know what it is!

If you missed any of the other designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

See you back here on Wednesday for another GIANT MONSTER! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Nexus Ops - Part 3: Crystalline

Wrapping up this week of Nexus Ops designs I have for you another monster. If my memory serves me this critter is also a enslaved worker for the humans. Where harsh conditions prevent the Fungoid from entering the Crystalline is put to work. Made of rock and crystal the Crystalline will toil under the most harsh of conditions...

Crystalline
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Crystalline miniature turnaround
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Production miniature for the Crystalline

I had a lot of fun with the Crystalline. Whenever I get to do something a little out of the norm I generally have a lot of fun seeing what I could do with it. In this case the Crystalline is made of crystal which allowed me to work with surfaces and textures I usually don't work with. Prior to this I had been really wanting to try my hand at something along these lines, funny how things work out. Needless to say I looked at a lot of reference when I came to painting the illustration and I am really happy with how this one in particular came out. I was a little surprised with how quickly it came together, but pleased none the less.

It is funny how things are cyclical, as I mentioned I had been really wanting to create a rocky kind of beast and once I was done with the Crystalline I wanted more. It just so happens that while working on these in my spare time I was reworking some of my designs from Angel. While flipping through my options I came upon the Quartz Neck demon... and well, it ended up being more then the neck that was quartz. I think I recall eluding to the fact that I had crystalline monsters on the brain...

If you missed any of the other designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

That is all for another exciting week of new work on the blog, see you back here next week... for another week of new work! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Nexus Ops - Part 2: Fungoid

On Monday I brought you the first of the characters I designed for the new release of Nexus Ops, the Human. Now that the Human is out of the way, that just leaves all the monsters! Today to start off the monsters, here is a really fun guy... or is it, fungi? No, now I remember, it is the Fungoid! Giant mushroom man destined for manual labor under the harsh rule of the Humans...

Fungoid
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Fungoid miniature turnaround
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Production miniature for the Fungoid
(they are only slightly bigger then the Humans and full of detail!)

The Fungoid was the first piece that I designed for Nexus Ops, granted I was working on them all at the same time, it was the first to be sketched out, drawn and painted. Previously to the getting this assignment I had been really wanting to working a big mushroom man, so I may have gone a little over the top with the mushrooms... or maybe not far enough... I am just thrilled with the amount of detail they were able to get in the mini and how true to the design they kept.

With all of the pieces in Nexus Ops I really wanted to give them a completely new look and feel compared to their counterparts in the first release of the game. With this in mind, I also wanted to be able to give a nod to the original game where I could, and with the Fungoid you can see this. A common motif in the original game was to give all the monsters multiple eyes, so I made a conscience effort to incorporate multiple eyes in two of the monsters.

If you missed any of the other designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

That is all for an exciting monster filled Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday for another Nexus Ops monster! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Nexus Ops - Part 1: Humans

Early last year I was approached by the good folks at Fantasy Flight Games to redesign and update all the pieces for the classic board game, Nexus Ops. This project involved miniature designs and full character illustration. After a long wait, I am very pleased to be able to start bringing you the work I did on the game.

There were a total of six different pieces to design, each with their own personality and role in the game. Today, I am starting it all off with the only non-monster piece, the Human...

Human
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Human miniature turnaround
© 2012 Fantasy Flight Games

Production miniature for the Humans
(they are super tiny and full of detail!)

For the Human, the direction was more of an armored astronaut rather then a typical space marine type design. Though I stick more to the monsters, this guy was pretty fun to design and work on. If you had one of you hands shoved up a gun you would want the rest of your gear in reach of the other arm. This was also the one piece that had a major revision, and that was the helmet. The helmet was redesigned to be a little more aggressive in profile compared to the original. Looking back at the original now I can see why the change was asked for, though I think the original had it's merits... though it was a little goofy.

I would like to say that this was a really exciting project to work on. The opportunity to design all the pieces for the game like this was truly a unique experience. A special thanks to Kyle for getting me involved with this project as well as the rest of the good folks at Fantasy Flight Games!

If you missed any of the other designs you can see them here: Human, Fungoid, Crystalline, Rockstrider, Lava Leaper, and Rubium Dragon.

See you back here on Wednesday for the start of the Nexus Ops MONSTERS! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com