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