Saturday 14 October 2017

Zomtober: Equal Bites

After poor light last week, a sudden spurt of good weather has meant the I was battling with it being a bit too bright to photograph this week's offering. I got there in the end, but many pictures were taken in a variety of locations.


The observant amongst you will have noticed that all of the zombies I've painted are African-American, and this has been a deliberate choice for my week's painting for several reasons:
  1. Some people (actually, quite a lot) are black. Therefore, surely the same would be true of zombies. In fact, roughly 50% of the population of Atlanta (where the early parts of 'The Walking Dead' are set) is black, and although the demographics on the outskirts of the city (such as in Woodbury) would be different, I felt it necessary for the purposes of authenticity.
  2. The walkers I've already done for this game are all white, and games were potentially going to look like this short film...link!
  3. Some of the models in the game are clearly meant to be black, and would look daft if this were ignored.
Interestingly, the lack of equal representation amongst the zombies is something that's been commented on about 'The Walking Dead' TV show. There's some interesting discussion about this issue which raises ideas such as unconscious bias in the casting process, acting (and therefore extra work as zombies) not being viewed as a viable career choice by the black community leading to more white extras being available, and even 'scientific' arguments suggesting that as bodies decompose, the skin would lose pigment leading to more zombies looking white.

Whatever the cause, I prefer a 'freshly dead' look to my zombies, and so, to cut a long story short ("Too late!" they cried.) I felt that there was a need for me to paint some African-American zombies.



This lady came in the Morgan booster and even though all the sculpts in the game are based on images from the comic series, Mantic have cunningly boxed Morgan and Duane with a walker who bears more than a passing resemblance to Morgan's wife in the TV show - she doesn't appear in the comics.


You may notice the use of a flash during daylight in this image. This is because that the bright day was causing me issues with picking out the details on the darker colours I used. You can't quite see, but he's dragging his mangled foot behind him.


This model, I actually have two of, and the first has already been painted. It's one of two zombies that Mantic were giving out at Salute in April, and my diversity project this week seemed a good way to avoid obvious repetition in my shambling horde.


I really liked painting this model. There's something almost cliche about the zombified waitress lurching out of the kitchen in an abandoned diner. I've actually already done a waitress in the same uniform when I painted my Wargames Factory zombies - I like to think that they both worked in the same diner chain, just in different locations (due to basing and sculpt size/style I'm not going to use my Mantic and WF zombies in the same games).

So that's this week done.

Next week you can look forward to Rick. Yes, I know I've already done him, but this time...he's on a horse!

22 comments:

  1. I do like to see this type of variation in zeds (and survivours for that matter) and despite my intention of havingabout 10% of my zeds and 20% of my survivours as Afro-American s, I'd be lucky to have a split of 1% and 10% respepctively.
    I found that I couldn't quite get the skin colouring correct , but you've done a great job on these - I especially love brushwork on the waitress.

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    1. Thanks, although I wouldn't call it 'brushwork', more 'happy accident with washes.'

      In terms of the skin, I've simply used a dark brown and dry brushed with a pale, earthy brown.

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  2. Echoing Zabadak's comments, with the batch I'm presently working on I'm having a terrible time with the skin tones - well done on your batch, looks great!

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    1. Thanks. I try to keep it simple, and so my basic zombie recipes stay the same.

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  3. The greyish tinge to the Black skin tone really looks good, nicely pallid and necrotic. The clothing colours work well, in contrast, to the skin too. Nice one.

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    1. Thanks. I'm really happy with how they're turning out. I'm enjoying using bright colours but using a brown wash to grubby them up.

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  4. Nice work dude. The zombie with dreadlocks and dragging his foot is one of my faves from the walking dead sets. As for diversity amongst the zombies sure they could probably do with a lot more. But to be honest I don't even notice the individual zombies much unless they are unique in some way such as those encased in glass and the one stuck in the well etc. Even the ones Michonne led look similar in skintone to all the other zombie in the tv series only their hair was the real sign of their ethnic origin.

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    1. I know what you mean. It's not something I'd noticed myself - unlike the one-in-one-out policy they had on black male characters for the first few seasons. That was almost comical...

      T-Dog gets bit...hello Oscar.
      Oscar gets shot...hello Tyrese.
      Hello young bloke from hospital...goodbye Tyrese.
      Hello chap with dreadlocks...goodbye lad from hospital.

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  5. Very nicely done. :)

    Totally understand your reasons for taking a more diverse approach, although for my own I just see the zombified pigmentation (green grey) as a consequence of the zombiefication process. :)

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    1. That's the spirit, spurious pseudo science for the win. That's why mine are all bleeding profusely. Zombification prevents coagulation.

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  6. Well done mate, I bottled it with the skin pigmentation and Just went with my generic greens/yellow. This however is much better :-)

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    1. To be fair though, you are painting a billion zombies. Also, with the more greeny-yellow petrified look it doesn't matter as much. I lean towards the just died look.

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  7. Great stuff, Kieron, and that's a particularly good colour scheme you've used. I love the contrast between the clothing and grey(ish) skin tone. Marvellous posting, and excellent link too :-)

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    1. Thanks. I wasn't really planning contrast. It just sort of happened.

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  8. Lovely skin tones and basing!

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    1. Thanks. The basing is due to cheaty GW technical paints.

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  9. Excellent job on these ethnic zeds Kieron :-)
    You've absolutely nailed the skin tone - I think the earthy brown dry brush is magic touch!
    Looking forward to seeing Rick on his 'oss.

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    1. Thanks. It does work out. I think a grey dry brush might also work.

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  10. Nice job. I'm curious though. How would dark skin tones look like once "zombified". Would decay be a great equalizer of all skin tones? Not necessarily I'm guessing but for most, maybe. Then again, damned if I know. Again, nice job!

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    1. Thanks. It is something I thought about, but given they're still bleeding heavily, I figured that decay wouldn't have taken hold too much.

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  11. Nicely done with those. I like how many zombies we are seeing that aren't just white.

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    1. Thanks. It's something you don't notice, until you do. Then you notice it all the time.

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