# First Zombie attempt



## beadyeyedbrat (Oct 7, 2008)

Thomas and I are burying ripped up clothes to age them. Next comes some makeup, so we want to buy a kit that will give us a basic look. We aren't going for bloody; more of an aged, decrepit look. Any tips?


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

Is it for props or make up for you? If for yourself, I used my make up samples for shadowing and such. I have a pic on my homepage showing myself as a zombie. I had watched tutorials to get ideas. It was the first time I had used make up as an effect. I had buried a black trenchcoat in my compost pile for about a year. I uncovered it last year and put it on my graveyard keeper. It had some nice patches of deterioration and lichen, grass and dirt on it. It looked awesome!


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Below is a close up of me from last year. The thing I find with most first time zombies is they tend to over do the shadows. Especially the racoon eyes.

Remember that there are varying degrees of decay. Your first choice is how decayed you wish to be.
Once you have that look online at similar pictures/video's (youtube has TONNES of tutorials). These are your reference.

Myself, I like a minimal decay but wounds are normally where I focus. My makeup I try to blend with my natural skin tone, then add accents of veining, dirt/grime/blood spatter.

This thread http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=33318 shows the makeup I used.

Lastly if there's a camera near this is not the time to be shy. Put on your best zombie face and have fun with it.

PLEASE post pics because you can never have enough zombies:zombie:


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## beadyeyedbrat (Oct 7, 2008)

This is for us, for the zombie walk at Comicon in July.


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## tbishop (Sep 23, 2009)

oes anyone have good way to age dresses and tuxedos for a zombie look. We are going to a Zombie prom and I found a ivory prom dress and for him a ivory tuxedo with tails and need a good way to age it and tea it up some. Any suggestions.,


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## tbishop (Sep 23, 2009)

My Thom and I are going to a Zombie prom in August and need to know the best way to age clothing. I found a ivory prom dress for me and a ivory tuxudel for him and need ideas on how to age and cut these outfits so there are zombie outfits. Any suggestions would be welcomed.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Search youtube for " Zombie Clothing aging" or "How to age clothing quickly" There are numerous tutorials available.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: A lot of "zombie makers" insist burying the clothes for a week or two gives a realistic "unearthed" look. Watered down acrylic paint in a spray bottle works well too, think grays, browns, tans.


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## phobophile (Mar 2, 2008)

One thing I do is use a fingernail clipper to make tiny/short cuts in all of the seams. Lapels, sleeve-ends, collars, etc. Rather than using a scissors, which usually results in big slices, the little cuts make the clothes look worn, rather than simply torn. I also have taken my electric sander (not rotary) to areas that would get lots of wear such as knees and elbows. 
Throwing the clothes in the washer can really tear them up good, especially if they're not meant to be machine washed. This will help the cut edges unravel a bit and look more natural. Pumpkin5's suggestion of watered down crylic paint is a good one, you can also use fabric dye in a squirt bottle. I like to use a bit of green to give a moldy appearance. By the way, all the coloring and aging will show up better on lightly colored clothing. Good luck!


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## Bascombe (May 18, 2010)

If you cut the fabric with scissors, be sure to take a wire brush with extreme prejudice to all the cuts. Doing this will disguise all the scissor marks.

I just distressed an eighteenth century gown for a production of "She Stoops to Conquer" a couple of weeks ago.










We built the dress legitimately and dressed it on a dress form so the rips and such would hang correctly.

A: I ripped seams, leaving parts attached
B: I used a seam ripper to shred part of the fabric
C: I used a heavy duty wire brush on all the rips
D: I dyed the bottom third of the dress and splashed the dye up on it
E: I used Pumpkin 5's squirt bottle of acrylic paint on the bottom third
F: I took wall stucco and added a dark grey colorant to it and spread it on portions of the dress
G: Finally we stitched on the Spanish moss that comes on a roll with a mesh backing

Voila. Distressed


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## ZombieMa (Jul 16, 2013)

Here are my kids' costumes from last year's Zombie Walk in San Antonio. We used cheap black spray paint to make the clothes look dirty, then cut small holes here and there with a boxcutter, and ripped those holes with our hands to make them look bigger and ragged, then used red acrylic paint for the blood. If you use spray paint, try to do it as far in advance as possible so the smell will fade by the time you wear it. Also, if you put the paint on really thickly, it will make the fabric stiff.

To make their hair look wild and matted, we sprayed in dry shampoo until it looked dusty, then backcombed their hair and sprayed it with lots of Aqua net.

We used black eyeshadow to shade around their eyes and make their faces look gaunt, then a red liquid lipstick to look like blood, and black gloss eyeliner over that to look like stitches here and there. The part that looks like skin peeling on her arm was liquid latex painted over beige tissue paper, and then we ripped it and added red color inside the rips.


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

Bascombe, that is one beautifully distressed dress! What does the stucco do? I'm assuming for texture?


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## Bascombe (May 18, 2010)

Hey Copchick,

The character ended up in the horsepond in the show, so I used the stucco to replicate mud on her dress. The nice thing about the stucco was that it dried but since it was an acrylic based product, it still looked wet enough for stage. That and it was flexible without cracking.


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## Halloween FX Props (Jul 14, 2013)

Great pics everyone!


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## awokennightmare (Jan 31, 2013)

Very nice pics!


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