Zombie Kelly

It started with a small itch, one that no amount of scratching could satisfy.  Eventually, Kelly began scratching off parts of her face.  When she noticed that the chunks of flesh dangling from her blood stained finger tips were making her hungry, she knew something was wrong.

This illustration was fun for me, because I (once again) changed my methodology up a bit.  I did the original line art in photoshop, cleaned it up in illustrator, tweaked the line art and added color in flash, then finished in photoshop. Whew!

Too much Castle Crashers

I became addicted over the weekend, to an Xbox Live Arcade game called Castle Crashers.  If you haven't played it, you should; its fantastic.  My one gripe: no zombies?  Sure, there are "undead" characters, but none of the true brain-nomming variety.  I love the art direction of the game (actually, I love just about everything I've seen Dan Paladin do) so I decided to try several new things tonight.

First of all, this is the first illustration I've done in Flash.  I've never really used flash as a drawing tool, so it took some getting used to, but I liked the result.  I decided to try drawing the main character from the comic (tentatively named "Steve") in the style of the game.  I'm not sure I was 100% successful, but nevertheless I like how he turned out.  I believe will eventually transition to illustrating the comics completetly in Flash (once I'm more familiar with it). 

Now on to some of the illustrations I owe people for their generosity!

A more realistic approach

I decided to try zombifiying a more realistic looking face.  This sketch is the beginning of a bigger illustration project I'm doing for someone.    Stay tuned for updates on progress, and of course, more zombies!
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Another day, another dead

Another zombie for another charitable friend who has helped support the zombie comic.  I decided to go a bit more subtle with the zombification this time.  Zombie Weddle was only recently infected, so the virus hasn't fully taken effect yet.  Seeing him from a distance, a friend may not realize anything is wrong with him.

"Hey Weddle, how's it going?  What's wrong with your eye?  OH MY GOD! What happened to your arm!?!  Wait... you're not Weddle!  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Character bios to come?

No zombie tonight, but a zombie-related drawing nonetheless.  I really should have gone to bed, as I now will have only 6 hours of sleep, but oh well.  I'm working on character designs a bit, and thought I'd use this as an outlet to post sketches.  The girl below, tentatively named "Kate," will be one of the staple human characters in the comic series. 

Kate first appeared in the 6th episode of the comic, where it is implied that she is in a relationship with one of the two main zombie characters.  The image below contains the original image (hand drawn and marker colored) on the left, and a sketch of the re-design on the right.  A full color illustration with character bio will follow soon.   In fact, I will be posting character bios for all of the main characters here first, and eventually to the main site when I get time to design it how I want it to be.

By the way, for those of you who are keeping track, I am currently up to 12 zombie illustrations after 17 days.  So I'm a little behind, but I did start this during finals, which maybe wasn't the best idea.  Luckily, I have some days off now, and a couple of zombies illustrations in the queue.  And of course, you can expect a special holiday themed zombie....

Different approach

For this very special zombie illustration, I decided to take a different approach than I normally do with these.  I illustrated this zombification of my friend Lester D in the same style that I normally use for my comic zombies.  It's a little less bloody and gorey, but I like it. 

Frustration

Every now and then, I still make really stupid mistakes when it comes to working in photoshop.  One of those is not saving my work often enough, another is not paying attention to what layer I'm working on. I just spent an hour working on a sweet zombie illustration, which I forgot to save.  I was doing some experimentation with different layer blending, and a combination of me painting on the wrong layer and not having enough "undos" effectively ruined the piece.

That being said, I'm far too sleepy to draw another one, or spend the necessary time fixing the one I was working on.  No zombie tonight.  I'll take this opportunity to say that I've received many requests for zombification over the past few days.  I'd like to thank everyone who has donated to the cause, and let you all know that your zombiefication is coming soon.

in the meantime, if you haven't already, check out the latest comic over at thezombiecomic.com.

Travis

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just a quick one tonight
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Jon's Head

A bit late, I know, but I had a horrible headache.  Decided to just do a head this time.  Again, trying new techniques, I especially like the decaying skin around the holes, and the little bug-creatures poking out of his skull.  My favorite part about this one, though, is that despite being a zombified severed head, Jon somehow manages to keep his hair shiny and full-bodied.  What is his secret?

A zombie with a hair trigger

I keep trying to push these further and further, and I think its really paying off.  I spent alot more time on this than most of the others, but for good reason: its F-ING BRUCE CAMPBELL.  Or it was.  The deadites must have done a number on old Ash here.  I don't think the Necronomicon can help him now...

Barack Ozombie

No one can escape infection!

Disclaimer: This is NOT a political statement of any kind, its just silliness.

Jen S. + cosby

Even in death, Jen can't stop torturing Cosby.  

Zombie #6: Taylor D

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If you live in Pittsburgh, you better support the Penguins, or you'll probably get bitten by a zombie.  I don't know why, it just happens. 

Christy, the brainy girl

Christy was always the brainy girl in her school, and the zombies took notice.  Now shes the girl with her brainies dripping out of her skull, as she slowly begins zombifying. 

Gregory the jawless (zombie #4)

Poor gregory seems to have misplaced his lower face.  It must be hard to say "BRAAIIIINNNNSSS" with no jaw.   Poor gregory.

Apart from posting zombie #4, I have an announcement: I'm now accepting donations via paypal.  Moments after posting this, there should be a button appearing on the right side of the screen that says "Donate and get ZOMBIFIED." Thats because I'm offering anyone who donates $5 or more the chance to be part of the Zombie 360 challenge!  Follow the link to find out how you can become part of the zombie horde!

Zombie of the third kind

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I really enjoyed this one, especially the blood dripping out from his exposed skull, down into his eye socket, and eventually down into his mouth.  I also enjoyed exploring new ways to make the skin look torn and mangled, especially around the mouth.

Stay tuned, these are likely to get better and better.  I'm just sayin.

Zombie #2 - ted

Technically an hour late (though I never promised to do one a day exactly) here's zombie number 2.  Just 358 to go!

Stay tuned for more zombie goodness!  You can also keep up with the most recent "Zombie of the Day" at the new website, www.thezombiecomic.com, the new home of the zombie webcomic series.

the Zombie comic has moved!

The zombie comic series now has a home of its own.  Check out www.thezombiecomic.com for all of the newest comics featuring our favorite everyday undead people.  It is still under development, so you will see the appearance change and new features added over the next month or so.  However, since it is functional, I will no longer be posting comics to this blog.

However, I do not want to abandon this blog entirely, so I have decided to repurpose it.  In keeping with the spirit of the zombie comic, I have decided to take up a 360 challenge: I will illustrate 360 zombies in the next year, and at the end of the year, the plan is to create a zombie hoard illustration using all 360 zombies!

So, to kick things off, here's zombie number 1:

Episode 07 - Automated Service

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Episode 06

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Episode 05

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