Discover the secrets to drawing, painting, and illustrating the undead in How to Draw Zombies.
From the pages of great literature to Hollywood movies, zombies are appearing everywhere. Now aspiring artists can bring them to life, so to speak, by learning to render them with pencil, paint, and digital image-editing software. How to Draw Zombies gets into all the gory details, such as creating bloodshot eyes, forming robust brows, and imitating the look of pale, dead flesh. The book also features 15 step-by-step projects that guide artists from initial sketches to finished works of art, including a Voodoo Queen, a zombie climbing out of a grave, a zombie out for a midnight snack, a gothic zombie, and even a zombie romance.
How to Draw Zombies is not for novice artists, there are a lot of things you aren't going to understand if you're not at least semi-involved in art. I was lost in some of the lessons.
Certain chapters focus on zombie/undead lore, such as religious and historical backgrounds on the legends of the walking dead, and I really enjoyed that. It helps you focus more on what you're trying to do, what you're trying to create. There are also lists in one chapter that recommend zombie books, comics and movies you should check out for more inspiration.
I liked the narration, Mike and Merrie clearly worked hard on keeping things low-key.
However, the first two chapters go over some well-trodden ground and, even if you've never so much as held a pencil, you'll know the tips and you'll get bored with reading them.
The advice in painting and digital illustration (neither of which I care too much about, i'm mainly a traditional media artist) were very vague, especially the ones on digital illustration. They didn't explain what type of program you would need, where to get it, etc.
Three stars. I honestly got better results looking at the pictures and free-handing them than I did following the actual lesson plans. But I liked it, so I'll check out the other Fantasy Underground titles.