zombie 12 step shuffle

Some people have asked about my process ... so in one of my more recent commissions I tried to document the steps. It's not perfect, the camera used to take the pictures is old, and I had to remind myself to stop and take a picture, which I sometimes forgot.

First I sketch in the initial layout of the face using red pen. I tried using blue pencil ... but the wax of the blue pencil doesn't hold the ink very well. So red it is ... and it is done lightly so it's easy to cover up, and red is blood ... so it all works.


Next up I tape it to my plastic board. Any hard board will do ... and green painters tape works great because it doesn't damage the paper to much.


Now I apply the first layer of color to block in the face and hair.


The first layer of red paint is applied.


The first black inks are picked out and you can see the zombie is starting to take shape.


Going in with red ink pen now.


Adding some shading with blue or darker green paint. A bit more red paint is added as well.


Adding some more definition using the black pen again. Also added black to the hair to darken it, and some white paint to cover up the reds in the eyes and teeth.


More blacks, reds and shading. Brought back the pupil, defined the teeth more and drew in the background wall. I like bricks.


Background painted, cast shadow added, pupils colored, enhanced the sores on the face and deepened the reds. Nearly done. Also added some reflective light to help pop it out a bit more.


A few tweaks here and there, some highlights added. Removed the green tape and I'm left with an image with a crisp white border.


So thats my process in a brief summary. It's changed over the last 6 months and it's always evolving. Now all I have to do is package this up and mail it out to the client along with some extra awesome zombie swag. Want a zombie portrait ... email me ;)

there were only 11 steps for this 12 step process

two for tuesday

What do these 2 zombies have in common? First off, they're both on googlePLUS ... 2nd ... they both talk and interact with people that have them circled, and other than that, I have no idea. Oh, I remember now ... they're both green rotting flesh bags on a never ending quest for brains, and if you saw either one, you'd end them with a headshot.

More in common with each other than either of them ever knew.

something different

This image was a semi random doodle. I put out a call for newish people to introduce themselves on googlePLUS, and the incentive was a zombie portrait. Many people responded, some with jokes, some with a little introduction, and one that said she just found out she was pregnant. Another awesome person also nominated her to be the chosen victim, and who am I to argue??

So ... with out using any black pen and trying a few new things with water colours ... here is today's DAILY ZOMBIE !

the picture looks much better in real life, this was taken by digi cam, i'll try to scan it in better some time

is this progress ?

I've been thinking about the progression of my art for the last couple of days. Has my work improved, become stagnant and stale or is it changing in to something better? I used to take a little pride in the fact that i could doodle out a zombie in just a couple minutes, and while I'm sure I could still do that, I find myself spending more time on my art and refining the blends of colors, tweaking backgrounds and just fussing over each image more.

Perhaps I'm changing as an artist, and the art is beginning to reflect that change. So the question becomes, is that change a good thing or a bad thing? Can change be stopped or should it always be embraced?

Until I change my mind, I'm going to embrace the change and see where it takes me.

The first image is about 6 months old, the next image is about 2-3 months old and the last one was done last night.

on the table

this has just been finished, and now being put aside to scan tomorrow and then next zombie is about to be created. For those that are wondering, I don't work digitally, instead I get dirty, messy and throw my ink and paint on thick(ish) watercolour paper. I use decades old watercolor paint, dollar store pens and brushes, and whatever else I have lying close at hand. I probably shouldn't and one day I won't, but until then ...

the walking dead ends ...

Tomorrow is the last episode of season 2, and as much as I am looking forward to watching it, I will also be sad to see it end. Until season 3, then I'll be happy again. Here's a little tribute to it I threw together for shits and giggles.

zombie dog

After spending the whole day yesterday working on the piece for my friend Sean and his partner, I had to take a break and finish off this dog. It is based off the image of someone that works at/for Google. Forgive the slightly poor quality of this image - its not a scan - just a digicam pic.

together

This is my friend Sean and his parnter Blain ... quite possibly the brightest picture I have created in a very long time. This is a crappy digital camera picture ... looks way better in real life.

my warm up

Last night I did a zombie hangout on googlePLUS, and this dude was my warm up victim. I was going to edit it in photoshop but decided not to ... you get to see all the flaws because its just a warm up.
If you didn't manage to see the show, its on youtube http://youtu.be/nJMECJH9WbI and I'm going to be doing another one next week. I even have some music lined up and there will be some swag given away.

zagg skin

A couple weeks back Jordan from Zagg.com contacted me about running a promotional contest and give away ... which I/we did on googlePLUS ... and Joette won. So she got her likeness zombified and now it will arrive as a skin for her wireless device.