Zombie Art Show: "Man Eater"

I want to invite everyone to come out to Long Beach for the annual Zombie Art Walk where there will be an art show appropriately named, Zombie Art Show. I will be displaying "Man Eater", a series painted with the steps showing how I did it shown below. There are 14 or 15 steps in total. Enjoy!

For more information on the Long Beach event go to: http://www.everythinglongbeach.com/long-beach-zombie-walk-street-and-music-fest/

Step 1: Background

Getting that radial gradient down! the background is usually a "race against time" and an upper body workout. With acrylic paint, you can't work with it if it's dry so, when blending and creating a gradient, you need the paint to stay wet. Sometimes, I will use a paint retarder but sometimes I just stick with a good amount of paint and water. Don't use too much water or then, you'll have to wait longer for it to dry and possibly use more layers. It usually takes me 2-3 layers of the same thing to make it solid (when it comes to the background).

Step 2: reference, hands

The white has been set down for the color of the hands. that means that I had to paint the shape of where the hands are going, white. the white is used to refer back to canvas so we can build solid colors, on top.

Step 3: darks on hands

Your darks should be looked at as abstract shapes. In order to get things in the right place you have to look at the shading not only as shading on an object but, as an object all in itself. I'm trying to get the main areas where those darks are.

Step 4: hands, color and shading

After laying down dark colors, I wanted to smooth things out (blend) and then let that dry to complete this phase of thinking. A lot of the time, I will paint a layer and that layer or that color is a single thought.

Step 5: Color and shading

On this hand, after the darkest parts have been painted, I went back and created gradients with lighter colors. There's a lot of "back and forth" in the painting process (with acrylics).

Step 6: Color and shading

On this hand, after the darkest parts have been painted, I went back and created gradients with lighter colors. There's a lot of "back and forth" in the painting process (with acrylics).

Step 7: Shading and details

I'm going by color. the darker I get, the closer to final details I get. After the darks get figured out, it's easier to see where your finishing highlights will go.

Step 8: the sconce

I didn't have any reference for the sconce. This was a situation to where you know where the light is coming from and depending on the shape of the object, you use what you know as to how it will be shaded and highlighted.

Step 9: the candle

White paint is used to set up for the candle. As far as reference, the shape of the candle was something I made up in my head. You don't have to have reference for EVERYTHING. However, what I did was light a candle I had at home to see how the fire affects the glow in the rest of the candle.

Step 10: finished hands

After the flame on the candle has been done, we can call the hands done (for now). I'll add that the way to achieve a glow for the flame is use of a gradient using only white paint.

Step 11: reference(s)

A lot of the time, things will never be perfect. In order to get the zombie female exactly how I wanted in my head, I needed to look at 3 images for reference all at the same time to create what I visioned. I had to take some shots of my friend, a shot of my hand against the wall, and a shot of another woman, in costume.

Step 12: the zombie

At this point, the white has been set for the image. I've gone ahead and started preparing for where the darker, shaded parts will go.

Step 13: creating the zombie

So, quite a bit has been done. The main thing to walk away with is that I had to refer back to canvas which is why I had to paint a white layer underneath her. White was also used as the finishing touches for this session.

Step 14: finishing touches

It's the drips under the circular frame that wrapped this up for me (for the time being).

Step 15: wall ready

I'm going to admit... This wan't the finished product. I added some layers of resin, a thick pour-on gloss. I felt like it "had to be done" for the art show. Don't worry, I'll post up the image from the Zombie Art Show on Halloween. As far as finishing goes.... it is a challenge when to really call something "finished". In this case, this could have been finished....