Ok, so here are some pics and notes on how I went about creating the poster.
I am hugely inspired by vintage propaganda war posters. The one I chose for reference here was from WWII.
The pics may be a bit blurry, I took them with my camera phone.
I started out by sketching the basic positioning of the main element, in this case the zombie killer.
I knew I wanted to make the piece feel dynamic but wasn't sure how to go about it yet. I began experimenting with scale and thought the piece would
create more drama by putting the zombie killer in the front. I wanted to use black, white and red for my main colors to emphasize the propaganda feel
but eventually, I used more color elements from other pieces. I tweaked those elements in order to fit this piece.
Next, I thought about separating the piece into 3 different frames, but I figured that was too much. I began adding secondary elements like clouds, buildings, fire, planes and zombie hands. I was still not 100% on the background so I reworked the gradients and added various transparency effects to give the piece more depth. It wasn't until I added the blood that the piece began to have a more violent feel. Funny how that works.
This project took about 2-3 weeks to complete. Inspiration comes in waves. If you're an artist, you know EXACTLY what I mean.
I was pretty satisfied with the piece until last night. SO much so, that I was about to upload it to my Red Bubble account and
website for sale. However, I was still not 100% on the zombie hands and gas mask. I felt like the hands weren't stylized enough and that the gas mask was TOO detailed. I wanted to keep my minimalist style consistent throughout the piece. So, I started deleting pieces of the mask and leaving just enough to still look like a mask. A friend of mine looked at the mask and said it reminded her of the o_O face...HA! Too true. I kept reworking it until I felt the mask was just right.
I'd have to say that this was one of the more complex pieces I've done and got too carried away at first. SO much that I didn't work in layers. Bad idea. Still, I feel it invokes exactly what I wanted...violence, gore and action. Remember kids, shoot the head!
WALKINGDEADSHOP.COM
