# Zombiefying Dark Skin?



## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

Anyone care to point out some useful tuts, videos, or threads for making people with dark skin look "undead" without looking clownish?

I have no skill with that.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

You may want to do a search on Utube for zombie make-up.
Seems like the only thing I seen was useing shades of grey, blueish grey and black.
Just a thought, check out the Thriller video (Micheal Jackson).


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

This might help a bit:

http://trgdyann.posterous.com/a-draggy-legged-journey

One of the take-home messages is "blend, blend, blend"


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## bansheette (Jan 7, 2009)

I've done zombies on prety much the entire skin rainbow, and the secret to dark skin is to use a lighter flesh tone as the base (not white, because as you said it looks clownish). Ben Nye has dozens of flesh tones, and I use a lighter and olive shades to make the face look sickly and dead and then shades of brown and dark purple to hollow out the face.


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

that was video was pretty sweet. i'm def putting latex on my list this year!


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## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

bansheette said:


> I've done zombies on prety much the entire skin rainbow, and the secret to dark skin is to use a lighter flesh tone as the base (not white, because as you said it looks clownish). Ben Nye has dozens of flesh tones, and I use a lighter and olive shades to make the face look sickly and dead and then shades of brown and dark purple to hollow out the face.


Thanks. This was the approach in the video Roxy posted too. I definitely need to invest in decent makeup. Ben Nye seems popular, so I'll start there.

Maybe I can make my wife into a cool looking vampire this year.


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## sickNtwisted (Sep 29, 2010)

I just made up a dancer with dark skin for a Thriller troupe. I used a medium flesh tone with yellow and green from a bruise wheel stippled over to break up the color. Shading was done with dark purples and blues.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

I like when a zombie's makeup is made for their own skin tone. It's boring to see actors with the exact same makeup base on 20 people. With zombies of any color, start with a much lighter base than their skin tone and go darker to hollow out cheeks, eyes, etc. Cheekbones, foreheads bridge of nose need to be hit with even lighter tones...don't use too may undertones- pick a color pallette like cool or warm and stick with it, otherwise they will look circus-y. It's easiest to put color on in broad, geographic swaths and then blend the bejeebers out of it. It's also cool to throw a thick layer of latex on a cheek, do all the makeup & then scrape the latex up & let it hang. You then hit the actor's skin underneath the rip with a shadow and tip the hanging latex edge with some white to make it pop. Very gross to have jiggly, hanging skin.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

The show "Walking Dead" has really good examples of dark skin zombie makeup.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You also need to consider what kind and color light the zombie(a) will be seen in, the color and type of light can change the perceived color by quite a bit. And the darker the room or setup, the more we perceive the colors as grays/greys.
Setup a room for doing makeup where you can change the color or type of light to match the settings the actors will be in, you'll save yourself a lot of time and headaches, and possibly a lot of money too.
just something to consider.
If you don't already, consider getting and learning to use an airbrush, it will add tons of capabilities to your makeup arsenal, and it uses a lot less makeup than traditional brushes and sponges, and you get better, more wearable results.


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## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

fontgeek said:


> If you don't already, consider getting and learning to use an airbrush, it will add tons of capabilities to your makeup arsenal, and it uses a lot less makeup than traditional brushes and sponges, and you get better, more wearable results.


Yeah, I would love to get into airbrushing. That would be awesome. How to start? How to start?


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## sickNtwisted (Sep 29, 2010)

We'll talk airbrushing at the next make n take


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## JustJimAZ (Aug 19, 2010)

sickNtwisted said:


> We'll talk airbrushing at the next make n take



Fantastic!


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I teach airbrushing on a regular basis.
A couple of the major keys to success in airbrushing are to understand how an airbrush works and sprays, and to practice, practice, practice.
A word of warning though, it's very addictive, and like owning a pickup truck, it's amazing how fast you will become "friends" with those who need it, but don't have the equipment or knowledge to do it themselves.


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