Zombie Texture by Design

There are always certain elements of a prop that sell the finished look such as the eyes, the hands, the teeth or in most cases a combination of various elements. The last few weeks I have created a number of zombie heads and the one element that helps to sell the look of these new props is the skin, or more precisely the texture of the undead flesh. This summer I’m offering a number of workshops where participants will build a severed zombie head from scratch. The workshop in intensive, 12 hours of classes spread over four nights each three hours long. During the third session we spend the time applying zombie skin using a variety of commonly found materials. Each material used for the rotting skin may not seem very convincing in its natural state but after being incorporated into the papier mache sculpture it produces a unique texture which after being painted and dry brushed will sell the concept of rotting zombie flesh. Some of the materials used to design zombie skin are:

-Paper Towels

-Shop Towels (heavy blue paper towels)

-Toilet tissue or Facial tissue

-Coffee filters

- Crept paper

-Plastic grocery bags

-Paper clay manipulated to look like raw flesh

Paper Towels soaked in papier mache paste then manipulated with a brush.

Plastic grocery bag after being heated with a heat gun.

Paper towel coated in papier mache paste with strands of unraveled twine.

Combination of toilet tissue and paper towels soaked in papier mache.

Paper towels soaked in papier mache paste.

Paper towels manipulated to look like tendons.

Paper Towels soaked in papier mache paste.

Each material yields a slightly different look and when combined work well to create a zombie head with convincing rotting flesh detail.