ZOMBIE TYPE 1: PRODBLOG #9

In (un)Living Color

Day 9: Sunday, May 31, 2009
T-minus eleven days left. I'm going to spend the day doing paint tests, even though we're not sure how the final head will size out after the shrinking process.

Meanwhile, the diabolical Dr. Mego has mocked up the outfit (sans gore) with the new scrubs he's sewn and the stock labcoat (which cutomizers can order for their own projects at MegoDoctor.com).:

That's pretty MEGO -- simple and small, with just enough lines for the collector to know what it's supposed to be without all the tedious (and expensive) detail of a larger format doll or figure.

So finally, I set about doing the paint test on the head. First, I create a thinned-out greenish tint to lay down as a base. This will creep into the cracks and lines of the skin via capillary action.

While wet, I quickly wipe it down with a cloth, keeping the recessed paint in the cracks and leaving just a thin, translucent layer of pea green over the Caucasian flesh tone as an underbase.

After the underbase dries, I then continue on with the other colors, a muddy brown for the hair, a light yellow/tan for the dead flesh overlay, a pale bone for the eye and teeth, and several variations of red for the wounded areas. All these colors are flat, and after they dry to a nice matte finish, I go back in and slop gloss dark red around the mouth and the neck wound to simulate wet, fresh blood.

While I'm doing this, I've delegated body assembly to my most reliable helper, my son Alex. At twelve, he's built a bunch of plastic models already, so adhering the chest and thigh wounds is an easy task.

And I should state that yes, that is his workstation in the pictures. When he's not doing homework at it, he's busy with his own enterprise, "Miss ng Eye Productions". MonsterMania attendees have seen his work, as he does custom drawings of popular cartoon characters as zombies. At the last one he attended, he made enough money from his art to buy himself an iPod. Although some parents may wrinkle their noses at the chosen subject matter, I'm more than supportive, as I hope he can sell another 30,000-40,000 drawings to pay for his own college education.

By the time Alex finishes with the bodies, I finish the paint test.

Well, although I can spot an imperfection or two, I'm really happy with the results, especially the texture of the skin. However, I'm concerned that when we shrink the head we may lose a lot of it. And we won't know whether that works for a couple of days or so.

ZOMBIE TYPE 1: PRODBLOG #8

Putting The Pieces Together

Day 8: Friday, May 29, 2009
T-minus thirteen days left. A little stressed, given that this isn't the only thing we're working on and more stuff (that we can't talk about) came up this past week to push this project further into spare-time-land. Which would be great if it were possible for a 7-day-week/18-hour-day situation allowed for spare time.

Anyway, Paul got the casts for the chest and thigh wounds done nicely, and he even squeezed off another couple of heads for me to experiment on with paint.

Can't really do anything serious with the heads until Paul can cast one in what's called "hydroshrink" resin. Recall that we made the head too big and it would need to be cast in this material, which shrinks 50% over two weeks. It'll probably be the perfect size in a couple of days and then Paul can make another mold at the correct proportion, and the resulting casts can be painted and assembled with the rest of the figure.

So, with thirteen days left, here's what remains to be done:

• Cast the head in hydroshrink resin, allow a few days for reduction
• Adhere the wound appliances and new hands to the body
• Paint the wounds and hands
• Cut and sew scrubs
• Dress the figure in scrubs, shoes and lab coat
• Cast properly sized head, with MEGO neck plugs
• Paint the head
• Attach the head to the body
• Paint in all surface detail such as blood and gore splatter
• Design the card art
• Print the card
• Insert card and figure in EMCE clamshell

• Do it all over about a dozen times.

Okee dokee. See you next time.

ZOMBIE TYPE 1: PRODBLOG #7

Finishing the head sculpt

Day 6: Monday, May 25, 2009

It's gorgeous outside and I'm stuck in the studio finishing the sculpt because the kids (as usual) just remembered they had homework due the next day, so we're keeping them in.  Happy Memorial Day.

Anyway, all the details are in, and here's how he looks:

Not used to seeing a MEGO with so much detail, I decided to compare it to other MEGO heads.  Below, you'll see the sculpt compared to (LEFT) the Bill Hinzman Night of the Living Dead head, which we all thought was a bit bigger than most MEGOs, then (RIGHT) a vintage MEGO superhero head.

Yep, I sculpted the zombie head too big.  At this size, it would look way too cartoony, so I'll have to consult my good friend and EMCE Toys partner Paul "Dr. Mego" Clarke about this when I see him tomorrow.

BUT TRAGEDY STRIKES!  That's right, just as I finally finished the damn thing, I dropped it on the floor.  Flat on its face.  Nose, lips, eyebrows all smooshed.  Grateful as I am that I never did this with any of my kids, I'm still pissed, and in about 20 minutes I've gotten it pretty close to where it was before.

Pretty close; if you look really carefully you'll note that the nose is different; actually, I like it better this way.

Time to fire it now so the Sculpey can harden and we can get a mold off it tomorrow at Paul's.  I'm lazy, so instead of setting it up in an oven and firing it over a long, steady period of time, I put it in a boiling pot of water for 15 minutes.  Worked before on other minor pieces I've tinkered with.

BUT TRAGEDY STRIKES!  During the heating process, a long crack opens up in the back of the head.  Right through detail lines.  That's gonna be a pain, but I'll revisit it tomorrow when I go to Paul's.

At Dr. Mego's Horrible House of Handcasting

Day 7: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Paul recommends that I fill in the crack with some more Sculpey and let him cast over it.  So, I do what I think is a good job of hiding the imperfection:

Then Paul sets about putting together the mold for the head, when suddenly...

This head cast is making me nervous.  I just wanna get it cast now before something else breaks off it.  Neck seemingly repaired, Paul finishes molds for it, as well as the thigh and abdomen wounds, disassembling the body in order to do so.

Some SECRET PROCESS later, the thigh and abdominal wounds come out amazing.  Just like makeup prosthetics, they contour right onto the body part.  Good enough to check this part off and let Paul go on producing final resin appliques.

However, the head continues with its bad luck streak, and a large blob of uncured mold material results in a too-unattractive-to-fake-as-deliberate-zombie-goo spot on the first resin pull:

It's getting late, so I keep the resin to do some paint tests later in the week, and I leave Paul with the task of getting a better mold made.

As I leave the project in other hands, I check the calendar to see how much time we have left to finish this whole thing: fifteen days.  No pressure.

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Back to the trials and tribulations of action-figure making in just a few...