The State of the Bazaar - January 2026

2026 has begun, whether we want it to or not, and I have a major update from the Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia. If you are part of my mailing list, you already know what I am about to share. At the end of 2025, I officially completed the main art phase of the next book, The Completed Circle. And, as of January first, I have begun writing the book. I can say, as of today, it is all going very well. There is much to do, and in time, I will be creating more art for the book, as that is always the way of these things. But a significant milestone has been reached, and the book is actively taking shape. I will have the two final chapter plates to share with you in the coming weeks. For now, here is a look at the production board as it currently stands.

The current state of production in the Grand Bazaar.

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

Revisiting the Monsters - Bugbear

While I plan to update you all with things on Monday, and why I am so busy, and why I am sharing even more older work. Let's just say, for now, that I am really, really busy.

In 2010, sixteen years ago now, I began a personal project to redesign most, if not all, of the monsters in the original Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. That original MM had a profound effect on me and led me to eventually work on the game. While I was already working on the game when I began this project, it did prove useful as I have redesigned many D&D monsters in my career on the game. In the end, I completed over 100 drawings for the project and even had a gallery show featuring the work. 

I thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favorites, and to start things off, I am sharing the very first one that I completed, the Bugbear. Enjoy!

Bugbear redesign (2010)
© 2010/2026 Christopher Burdett 

Two years later, in 2012, I shared the painted version of this drawing. I was making my transition from digital to traditional, and this was one of the first pieces I used to practice and learn what I was doing. I still very much enjoy how this turned out.

Bugbear
© 2012/2026 Christopher Burdett 

That's 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

Gen Con 2026 Announcement!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be returning to Gen Con in 2026! I will see you Indianapolis for the best four days in gaming July 30 - August 2, 2026. Gen Con is one of my main events of the year and has been for over a decade. It is a lot of work, and now that I know I am in the show, planning begins NOW.

Gen Con calls and we will answer that call.

My Gen Con booth in 2024.

No picture from 2025 as we had to cancel last minute. 

 

That is all for another 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

A Second Look at Older Work - The Termite Head

And then it was 2026. This is going to be a very busy year for me, and because of this fact, I will likely be pulling back a bit from the blog. I will be sharing things from the past, keeping you updated as I can on what is keeping me so busy (more on that REALLY soon), and still doing my best to share my journey as an artist. But know that if things go quiet here, it is because a LOT of exciting things are happening behind the scenes.

Today, I am sharing a miniature design that I did for the now long-dead miniatures game, Dreamblade. Dreamblade will always be near and dear to me, as it was the first game I ever worked on and one of the times I felt most free as an artist working in the gaming industry. This is the "Termite Head" design for an unproduced set of the game.

Unreleased Termite Head - © 2006 Wizards of the Coast

Termite Head turnaround - © 2006 Wizards of the Coast 

This was a one and done design for this particular assignment. I did one drawing, they loved it, and did the turnaround, and it was done. Always nice when that happens. But again, the feet, why are they so small? Why did I draw such small feet on things twenty years ago?

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

2025 Art vs Artist

This will likely be my final blog post for 2025. I always enjoy the Art vs Artist posts, so I am thrilled to share mine for 2025. 2025 marked a noticible turn in the work on book two, but I will go more into that hopefully soon. Needless to say, things are really moving now and I have been thrilled with the work this year. I present to you my 2025 Art vs Artist.

 

2025 Art vs Artist

Just a few of the many pieces I created in the past year.

That's all for another year on the blog! See you back here next year. Until then...

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

IX 2026 Announcement!

I am thrilled to announce a convention that I will be attending in 2026! Notices went out last week, and I can now announce that I will be returning to the main show of Illuxcon in Reading, PA, in October 2026. We love IX, and it is a truly unique experience to attend and be a part of. I will share more once we get closer to October. And with the crazy year ahead of me, come October, I will have a lot to share!

Come see galleries of amazing artists at Illuscon 2025!

That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here soon! Until then...

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

A Second Look at Older Work - The Dreamblade Executioner

I have been sharing these posts, looking back at older work, for a while now, and they will become a more common occurrence on the blog in the new year as I transition away from art creation to writing on my next book.

Today, I am sharing a miniature design that I did for the now long-dead miniatures game, Dreamblade. Dreamblade will always be near and dear to me, as it was the first game I ever worked on and one of the times I felt most free as an artist working in the gaming industry. This is the "Executioner" design for an unproduced set of the game.

Unreleased Executioner - © 2006 Wizards of the Coast

Executioner turnaround - © 2006 Wizards of the Coast 

For the original design, I held back a little bit, and I was asked for more detail, and more of everything. Save one thing. In my original design, the Executioner's head was in a half hood, so you could see an open mouth yelling and eyes in the eye holes of the hood. I was asked to remove all of that and give him a full-faced hood. I was told that one of the reasons for more detail was that this was a common mini and would have few paint passes, and his clothes would likely be just black, or black with a little wash or dry brushing. Not sure why I gave him such little feet. A mystery for the ages. 

That's all for another exciting Friday 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