Welcome Everyone!
For the 6th Altered Books club swap I received Mary's book on Zombies. Since The Walking Dead is my absolute favorite TV show I really had a blast creating art for this book. The most difficult part of this swap was that Mary gave me an impossible task to complete in just one spread. Mary had hoped that everyone creating art for her book would not only create a character and tell that character's story but would also move the storyline alone. Somewhere this got lost in translation. We got characters but very little storyline and much to Mary's disappointment just not enough blood! Since most people shy away from blood and gore the book really became "zombie light". So with this swap I was tasked by Mary to not only pick a character and tell that character's story but to move the storyline along and inject a little more blood and gore along the way. Prior to my receiving this swap I already had a comedic character in mind. However with Mary's special requests I knew that what I originally had in mind just wouldn't fulfill what Mary asked of me. I also knew that her request would take more than one spread to achieve. I did something that is usually an absolute no no for me-I used another persons character. I said earlier that The Walking Dead is my favorite show so I used two of my favorite characters from the show-the Dixon brothers. They are not only fun characters but had incredible story arcs during the course of 3 seasons. And they fit into Mary's survivalist character category.
I won't give all the text here but if you would like to read the story as told by the younger brother Daryl just click on the spreads below to make them larger.
The Walking Dead really has incredible Zombies-here's a closer view of the lovely lady above.
To continue the story: Here are the two brothers.
I love this zombie grouping-Here's a closer pic of it-notice the enhanced blood and gore-Teehee!
Remember when shooting a zombie-always aim for the brain!
You know-ya gotta love blood spatter.
Yikes! Zombies coming at ya! Aim for the brain ya'll.
The compound in flames!
Zombie Merle
Poor Daryl. This is truly a Sorrowful Life.
Close up of a beautiful Digital manipulation I found on the web. Daryl the guardian angel and the avenging angel. This image mirrors the first spread above showing Daryl's vest with wings.
8 spreads -yes I created 8 spreads! Mary you owe me big time. And do I think my 8 spreads worked?
Yes I think I achieved what was asked of me. I picked characters and told their story, injected some much needed blood and gore-I'm sorry zombie "light" just doesn't work and I moved the story along.
I took the compound bound characters and put them back out on the road looking for someplace safe. I like the edgy feel and the layout of the spreads. And I had fun limiting my color palette to black,white and red. That actually was very freeing.
However I am still not all that happy about using characters from a popular TV show no matter how wonderful those characters are.
And for all of you that have not seen The Walking Dead-I strongly urge you to check it out. Its not a show about zombies (they are just the icing on the cake). This is about the survivors. About the choices they make to survive and their struggle to keep their humanity. And in an ultra bad economy and an uncertain world that makes this show very relevant.
Remember to aim for the brain.
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