Featured Creature: In The Cities

"In the cities, the effects of the plague were much worse.  Within the massive populations of larger cities, the infection spread almost overnight.  The newly dead, enclosed within the complex networks of city infrastructures, were restricted to close quarters and did not disburse into smaller groups as in rural areas.

Featured Creature: Gentleman Death

Gentleman Death steals babies breath

and old men in their sorrows.

He takes our moments then and now

and all of our tomorrows.
He comes for those asleeping,

he comes for those awake,

he comes for all in their good time,

disruption is his wake.

His touch is sometimes sudden,

or gentle as falling snow
but never is the time of it
a thing that we can know.

When we hear his raspy voice
acalling on the wind

we know that he has come to take

an enemy or friend.

Sometimes his touch is a great gift

but many times a sorrow

when we see not the reason for

that taking of tomorrow.

{Digital Images created in Adobe Photoshop}

UPDATE 091014:  A permutation of this piece now available on a tshirt design and other cool paraphernalia at my Neatoshop!  Drop by and check it out! 

Exhumed: Reexamining the Dead

This week I'm beginning one of the new features I mentioned previously in the Featured Creature Last Bites for 2012-2013.  With Exhumed posts, I'll be digging up older pieces and exploring them with fresh color and tones.  I'll be pulling from the backlog of images I've posted on Zombie Bites, ranging from older From the Archives posts to older Featured Creature posts.  Exhumed posts will focus mainly on the process of taking a drawn image and bringing it to the next level with tones and color.  The posts will be generally infrequent, but I'll try to keep them as regular as possible.  Exhumed will be appearing on Fridays.

From the Archives: Moody Sketches

Here are a couple of moody developmental sketches from a zombie comic I was working on some time ago.  I was planning something grandiose at the time, but this one may still emerge as a single story.

{8x5.33 Sharpie}

Featured Creature: One Last Candle Before the Dark

As the Autmunal Equinox passes and we enter the dark half of the year, here's one last candle to celebrate the light.  This wraps up my month long celebration of the one year anniversary of the Featured Creature.  I hope you've enjoyed everything so far and will stick around for what's to come in 2013-2014.  Thanks for viewing and reading!

Featured Creature: It Is Better to Light a Candle...

Here's another creepy, candle themed treat to celebrate the first year of the Featured Creature!  I've actually turned this one into a greeting card as the very first item at my Zazzle Store.  Check it out!

{Digital Images created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature: Another Juicy Birthday Treat!

Here's another juicy birthday treat to celebrate The Featured Creature's first year.  Also, this piece is to help add a little more zombie action since the living dead have been missing around here for awhile. Enjoy!

UPDATE Night of the Living Dead: Barbara Zombie Greyscale

Here we have the greyscale of an earlier drawing of Barbara from the original Night of the Living Dead, after we see her dragged into an undead horde.  With there being no living flesh left at the old farm house, she is wandering off into the night to find something fresh.

From the Archives: Digital Zombie Self-Portrait

In this piece I was trying to develop a digital style to help create comics more easily.  This method turned out to be much more involved and time consuming than simple hand drawing.  I do like the final look of this piece, but it took way too much time to get to arrive at this state.

Featured Creature: Bathroom Floor Zombie

Here we have another zombie from the ongoing outbreak.  This one seems pretty harmless, but beware the unguarded ankle!  That's why you have to check everywhere and under everything when cleaning out spaces for Z.  You never know where a half eaten corpse might be animating.  All it takes is one bite.

Featured Creature UPDATE: Reaching Zombie Guy

Here is the promised toned version of the reaching zombie guy.  Please check out the original post to compare it to the original sketch.

{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature UPDATE: Overalls Zombie Tones

Here is the promised toned version of Overalls Zombie.  Please check out the original post to compare it to the original sketch.

{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature UPDATE: Long Haired Female Zombie Tones

Here is the promised tone version of this Long Haired Female Zombie.  Please check out the original post to compare it to the original sketch.

{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Reaching Zombie Guy

Here we have the last of the fill-in zombies to round out the HZO.  This will probably be my last zombie drawing for a little while.  I'm going to stick to non-zombie creatures for a bit until my self-inflicted PTSD wears off.  I am also in the process of rethinking on how I plan to present the Featured Creatures and what my goals are with these pieces.

I'm going to include the link here for the site that caused my dramatic change of heart.  I feel like I need to share this link because of the intensity of its images and its effect upon me.  PLEASE BE WARNED: if you choose to hit the link below that this is harsh material.  If you have the stomach for it, the site that broke me is called Charon Boat.

Thanks for bearing with me and I hope you enjoyed the HZO.  I'll post a toned version of this piece soon.

 
{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

UPDATE 112512:

Here is the toned version for this piece.  This has been a long haul to get the fill ins for the HZO all completed.  The end of October and the whole month of November haven't taken any prisoners.  One of my housemates had surgery to have a tumor removed, my other housemate has been sick, my truck is having some kind of catastrophic failure at the moment, and I've been battling the flu for almost 3 weeks.  It turned nasty this weekend, pneumonia like, so I may be headed to the hospital soon.  You'd think by now I'd learn to respect the evil power of November.  It always kicks my butt.  Enough bemoaning my fate, eh.  Hey everybody - ZOMBIES!

Featured Creature: Overalls Zombie

Here we have a good ol' boy who didn't get away quite fast enough.  I'll post a toned version of this soon.

Featured Creature: Long Haired Female Zombie

I didn't notice when I was drawing but someone I showed this to noticed that she looked a good bit like Laura Croft. An unintentional likeness as I've never played much Tomb Raider.  I'll get a tone version of this up soon.

 

Featured Creature: Dead Wolf

Here we have an undead wolf.  I forget exactly what inspired this piece.  I think I'd read something or other about the legend of an otherworldly black dog.  I'll update this piece with a toned version at some point later.

Featured Creature: Liberty Spikes Zombie

Here we have a punk rocker who wasn't quick enough to escape the hordes.  He was changed some time ago and grown dry with age.

{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature HZO: An Apology

I must tender an apology.  I have run up against a truly unexpected barrier with the Halloween Zombie Outbreak.

There is a fine line in film where a horror movie can turn into a snuff film.  I enjoy being frightened as simulated catharsis, but I am not into murder porn.  I feel like I've been dancing around that line with the HZO pieces and maybe even crossed over it at a couple of points.  In my searches for reference material for the Halloween Zombie Outbreak pieces, I've come across some real world images that have made my soul hurt.

Generally, I find myself inured to most horrific imagery, but there is real violence and real suffering in the world that is soul humbling.  I just can't draw anymore undead children with their intestines hanging out.  I'm not done with horror or with even with zombies, I just have to take a break.  I can't draw any more horror right now.

I may not be able to create anything new, but I do have some other zombie pieces that have been waiting in the wings that I will post to round out the Halloween Zombie Outbreak.

Thanks for understanding and viewing.

  

Featured Creature HZO: Black Cat

"I work security over at the park off main and north.  The first one I saw was when I was patrolling near the front.  Halloween night is usually pretty busy so I had one other guy, Ted, working with me. I don't wanna talk about what happened to him, okay?