Learning from Zombies
Back in late October and early November I began to work on a piece that would lead to another breakthrough for me. I’d been commissioned to do a piece for my friends gaming club, Laughing Corps. My buddy said that he wanted a picture of zombies playing Dungeon and Dragons based on the pictures of dogs playing poker. It sounded like a fun project, so I did some research and got to sketching.
I found these two pictures when I did a Google search for “dogs playing poker.”
Dogs Playing Poker
Waterloo
I decided to base my painting off of the one titled “Waterloo.” So I did a sketch.
Sketch
Once I had a sketch I liked, I transferred it onto another sheet of paper using carbon sheet paper and worked up a drawing.
Drawing
Once the drawing was complete I scanned it in and began an under painting.
Under Painting
After getting the base colors blocked in I began to work on the over painting, the same way that I had done in the Hooded Woman piece. This is where things started to get shaky for me, as I was not at all happy with the results. When I used this method on the Hooded Woman everything seemed to flow at this point, but I really hated what was happening with my zombies.
Over Painting
I contemplated giving up or taking a break from the piece, but I didn’t. For reasons I can’t completely explain I came up with the idea to start drawing over the top of my painting. It had become fuzzy and loose, and it was loosing its coherency, so I took my tablet selected a dark green color and started working up the drawing over the painting. The results were immediately satisfying, and I started selecting different colors and adding in little details. Very slowly I worked up each zombie, and then turned to the background. After hours and hours of detail worked I was really excited about where the painting was going and the results I was getting.
Before and After
Over the Over Painting
Pleased with how things were going I added in the some really specific details: the DM screen, character sheets, and the dog paintings. I then painted over them to make the details fit within the rest of the piece.
Close Up Dog Painting
Close Up Table Details
Details
My final step was to ad in some texture to give the piece a three dimension feel, and adjust the color settings to ad a little brightness to the final painting. In the end I really felt like I had learned a lot from my zombie friends, and once again made a discovery brought on by frustration.
Zombies Gaming Final
I hope you enjoy the piece, you can view it on the Laughing Corpse home page, or via my website. For any gamers out their interested in a print feel free to drop me a line at sam@samflegal.com
An Artist's Journey 
I have seen your painting and read the narration with the same. I would like to see more from you.
If you like short stories and paintings, then a short visit to my blogs wouldbe a refreshing one.
Naval Langa
awesome work
This is my favorite of all the pieces you’ve done so far.