Tarman One Creepy Zombie: My Inktober Day 1 Drawing
For Inktober Day 1 the prompt was “Poisonous.”, I decided to draw and ink Tarman from the classic horror-comedy film “The Return of the Living Dead” with the title 245 Trioxin. This toxic gas is what creates the zombies in the film, and it’s a key element of the story.
I have a personal connection to this movie because I saw it in the theater when it was released, and it really influenced my joy of zombie movies (even though it also kind of traumatized me!). For this ink illustration, I tried a few different techniques, including an ink-wash background and a solid black figure. I also used a white gel pen to bring out the details of Tarman’s bones, skull, teeth, and eyes, and I tried to give him the creepy grin that he’s famously known for.
Even though my ink drawing doesn’t look exactly like the movie version of Tarman, I’m still happy with how it turned out. It’s creepy and unsettling, just like a good zombie should be. I usually don’t draw scary or horror subjects but I had fun with this Inktober prompt.
I’ve been a huge fan of zombie movies, have been since I was a kid. It’s cool to see so many new zombie fans in the past few years. When I first saw George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead back in the day, I was blown away. He created the modern-day incarnation of what a zombie is. More importantly, he uses these zombie outbreaks to explore the human condition. Something lacking from a lot of modern-day zombie movies.
I was very excited to hear he was working on a new zombie flick (6th), “SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD”. Unfortunately, it didn’t get a mass theater release. I was content with the knowledge I would see it, but probably not until it hit video (DVD). But on a random trip while hitting up the local comic shop I came across a flyer for a 2-night special show of the movie. Yes, I would get the opportunity to see it on the big screen!
There were only three showing! I made it to the final showing on Saturday. The movie was a classic B-style horror film. A few great moments that made me jump. I even got the last free poster they were giving away! – Yay!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
The original cult classic Fright Night movie has always been one of my top favorite vampire flicks. So when I heard there was going to be a remake, I was very excited. It turns out the Assistant Prop Master on the film was looking for comic book artists to work on the movie. They were looking for completely original work in the genre of monsters, demons, dark goth, swords/sorcerers, witches, devils, and all things scary. The film director would then review all the submitted samples. Wow, what an opportunity!
Digital Dark Shadows illustration
Not having a lot of this type of work in my portfolio I decided to do a jam session and create some. The samples need to be received by July 5th. So I spent all day of July 4th penciling and inking several pieces. I created some zombie comic pages and a few monster pinups. ( a Werewolf, Frankenstein type create, and a Vampire.)
To be honest, these weren’t my finest pieces, so I wasn’t overly surprised when I wasn’t chosen for the project. But I had a blast working in a different genre. It’s always good to get out of your comfort zone and explore new territories. It’s also really cool to know that a local comic artist will have his or her stuff in a major motion picture!
Here’s a sampling of the pieces I created in my 4th of July Horror Drawing Jam!
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Here are some quick Zombie Sketches. To help keep the Dark New World zombie comic book fresh and new, I decided to sketch out a bunch of zombies’ faces. This way, I can choose which ones I want to use in the comic. I don’t just want a bunch of stereotypical bland zombies. My goal is to have over 50 different zombies already designed for the comic when I start penciling the sequential pages.
I’ve been looking at people to get ideas for the different-looking zombies. I’ll be at the mall or the gas station, looking at the characteristics of all the different people. So basically I’ve been people-watching and re-imaging them as zombies.
I’ve tried to make them retain some of the human characteristics, but still bring the horror I feel when I think of zombies—with some rotting flesh, biting jaws, and dead eyes.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
I am currently working on the comic book “Dark New World” with Carlos. It’s a continuation of his independent zombie film. He’s introducing a lot of new characters into this awesome zombie-infested comic world.
Here are the initial Character Sketches for Private Andrew Martinez, one of the new characters. The character is a veteran of the recent Iraq war. He uses the skills and training he received from the armed forces to survive this Dark New World.
Andrew Martinez design sketches
With these character design sketches, I took into consideration Martinez’s military knowledge. I was sent several photos of soldiers in uniform for the general look he wanted for Martinez. I used these references and modified them a bit to come up with his look while still keeping to the standard U.S. Army desert uniform. He’s in 30’s so I tried to show that in these sketches. He doesn’t look too old or too young.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Last week I was working on character design sketches for one of my characters named Nemcromn. These were drawn in a pocket sketchbook I carry around. I thought it would be cool to upload these to show the steps in my thought process when designing what I want a character to look like.
These are sketches of Nemcromn’s Face. I did a 3/4 view, a front view, and a profile. I was trying to capture a sinister look. He wears a skullcap. His face has two major scars and his left cheek has one that stretches to his ear. He’s a mystic Zombie Necromancer so I tried to reflect this in his skin by making it look a little rotten. He also has no pupils.
Here’s a front full-body view. I like to draw a quick sketch of the form, then I can start customizing the character’s look. When I originally came up with Nemcromn’s look a few years ago I was really into Brom’s artwork. With his industrial mystic goth creatures and characters.
Here’s a sketch of Nemcromn with a little more detail. The skullcap stretches to cover his upper chest as well. He has leather straps wrapped around his waist and chest. The chest traps hold a small cape that goes over his left shoulder. Like the sketches of his face, Nemcromn’s body is that of a corpse. I wanted to show the scars and stitches that cover his entire body.
So who is Nemcromn? In life, he was Stephen Boyle, a wealthy adventurer who traveled the world looking for new and exciting challenges. Rock climbing, deep sea, and sky diving. He wanted to experience any and all he could. He began to get bored with these types of challenges and started to look inward and beyond. This route took him to dark places and eventually to the study of life beyond death. Using his vast fortune he bought all the knowledge he could in the study of life, death, and the undead. He became a powerful living necromancer and his studies taught him of the dark power that coexists with all life. In these studies, he learned of a celestial object traveling through space that could increase his power 1,000 times that of what he could possibly achieve on his own.
He discovered that one of these objects would fall to earth. Planning on taking the energies from the fallen object, Nemcromn using his original identity took 6 of his childhood friends on a dangerous hike up the mountain where he knew it would arrive. Like his former self, his friends were also adventures in extreme sports. Planning on sacrificing them and using their life forces to bond with the energies Nemcromn made a fatal miscalculation. The object fell to earth sooner than he thought, hitting the group and killing everyone but two of his companions. Nemcromn died in the impact that day. The power he craved was completely absorbed by one of the survivors, John McCarran. McCarran used the power to become one of Earth’s most beloved heroes, Solarus The Radiant Guardian.
Nemcromn who was now a master of life and death was not so easily defeated. No one knew of his secret life and Stephen Boyle was buried at his family plot. Several weeks after the funeral Nemcromn the lord of the dead dug himself out of the grave. He was now a powerful mystic zombie with more power than he had when he was alive. The necromancer used his dark knowledge to escape the afterlife. Now with a new purpose, he wants the destruction of Solarus and complete control of the world’s dead and living. He works in the shadows sending agents both dead and alive to set his plans into motion.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
