What is it about reanimated corpses that captures our fascination? Aside from the “ew” factor, there’s a degree of horror that exists in zombies that vampires, even the non-sparkly ones, Frankenstein’s Monster or mummies just don’t quite capture (even if they are, technically, also animated corpses).

I’ve been thinking about zombies a lot, which has made my sleeping time quite…interesting, let me tell you. The prospect of Friends and family turned into shuffling, mindless strangers is one that sends shivers down my spine.  But what I realized, even in just a quick perusal of resources online, is that I’d need a lot more than just a blog post to even begin parsing through all of the various zombie lore and incarnations, as well as their cultural significance. From Haitian zombie potions to humorous sendups (Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland), to biological weapons of mass destruction (28 Days Later), the topic has been covered in a variety of ways, and by those far more capable than me.

Shaun and Ed being menaced by zombies

Simon Pegg (Shaun in Shaun of the Dead, pictured wearing the red tie), wrote rather eloquently in The Guardian about why the zombie strikes more fear and dread than their undead cousins.

As monsters from the id, zombies win out over vampires and werewolves when it comes to the title of Most Potent Metaphorical Monster. Where their pointy-toothed cousins are all about sex and bestial savagery, the zombie trumps all by personifying our deepest fear: death. Zombies are our destiny writ large. Slow and steady in their approach, weak, clumsy, often absurd, the zombie relentlessly closes in, unstoppable, intractable.

Simply and rather clumsily, zombies are death, the ever-creeping, impossible-to-escape fate that awaits us all. What’s more terrifying than that?

Zombies beware! (Zombieland)

Well, maybe Woody Harrelson.

In any case, I don’t see our zombie love going away anytime soon. So if you’re going to host a Walking Dead marathon, why not do it in style? You can get great zombie makeup tips from Extreme Face Painting by Brian and Nick Wolfe. If you like zombie poetry, check out Zombie Haiku and Dawn of Zombie Haiku, published by our sister imprint, HOW Books. And David Okum gives some tutorials on zombies and the zombie lord in his book, Manga Monster Madness or check out Jim Pavelec’s Hell Beasts.

It’s been a great year at IMPACT Books and we’d like to share some of our highlights with you! Learn how to draw some of our most popular subjects with the help of these free tutorials and then gift someone with your artwork–and a copy of one of the books they come from, too! When learning a new skill is this fun, everyone benefits!

Check out Supittha Bunyapen’s tips for Cloud Do’s and Don’ts, then go in-depth with a skin color tutorial using Copic Markers. You can pick up a copy of her book, Shojo Wonder Manga Art School for more great lessons.

Like Unicorns? Want to learn how to draw one? You can with this great tutorial from Denise Vasquez and Randy Martinez’s Sketch Card Mania.  You can follow that up with Emily Fiegenschuh’s tutorial on how to draw a flying fish from The Explorer’s Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures.

If graffiti is more your style, check out Scape Martinez’s demonstration on how to create your own abstract letters. Scape Martinez shares his vast graff knowledge with you in Graff and Graff2.

Extreme Face Painting went wild this Halloween, but makeup special effects can be used for all kinds of reasons and seasons. If you have your own Miss Piggy, why not show up to a screening of The Muppets in fine style?

The Elephant in the Room

Artist Brittney Lee is a woman after my own heart: Her blogspot profile reads “I love drawing and chocolate.” Well, I can add that I love the art of Brittney Lee to my sentence, and I have no doubt that you’ll be blown away, too. Check it out.

Her works remind me of chocolate, in fact. She uses color in such a rich, vibrant way, and the work is sweet, but not artificially so.

For books that show you great techniques for collage, animated and comic art, check out these IMPACT and North Light books:

• Dreamscapes, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
• New Creative Collage Techniques, by Nita Leland
• Draw Furries, by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges
• Cartoonimals, by Harry Hamernik

Scape Martinez, IMPACT’s favorite graffiti artist, and author of GRAFF The Art & Technique of Graffiti and GRAFF 2 Next Level Graffiti Techniques is out and about again, speaking to classes and giving live demonstrations at high schools. Check out his latest blog here. And stay tuned to this page for more updates!

Want Scape to come to YOUR school? Email him at webmaster@scapemartinez.com. (He swears he reads his own mail!)

Check out these escape pods currently being designed! They hold up to four people and float on water. I could see this being the basis–and the setting–for a futuristic fantasy story. Anyone want to draw that comic?

This pod could someday save your life.

Bleeding Cool has an amazing story of meeting Lily Renee, female comic pioneer and all around amazing artist and woman, that’s well worth reading.

There’s also some great information and links, as well as ideas for further reading about women in comics–both the women who make comics, and the ones on the page! Lily Renee: Escape Artist is now on my wish list, and Christmas is coming!

A sample of Lily's art

Related topics from IMPACT:

• Girl to Grrrl Manga, Colleen Doran
• Women and Girls, Buddy Scalera

And for more about the history of Comic Books, check out Comic Book 101.

As you know here at IMPACT Books we are all about expressing your artistic feelings. Whether it is through creating superheroes fighting evil villains or drawing huge high flying dragons, we are all about artistic expression. With graffiti writers, artistic expression is pushed past the limits of conventional self expression through canvas or paper. From seeing trains with articulate tags, to huge murals that tell a story, graffiti has become a part of our lives and culture, and in Los Angeles graffiti it is one of those things that is just as much a part of the city, like the traffic.

Complex.com compiled a list of the 25 greatest graffiti writers. The list has some pretty well known names (Soon, Revok, Slick) as well as some lesser known, but equally talented artists.

Click here to see the entire list of legendary Los Angeles graffiti writers.

If you like what you see and would like to try your hand at writing graffiti, then check out books by Scape Martinez: Graff, The Art & Technique of Graffiti, and GRAFF 2 Next Level Graffiti Techniques.

With Halloween just around the corner, the ebook versions of Extreme Face Painting by Brian and Nick Wolfe are getting a lot of attention online. Check out what these bloggers have to say about Extreme Face Painting: 25 FIENDISH Step-by-Step Demos (Enhanced Edition) and Extreme Face Painting: 25 FRIENDLY Step-by-Step Demos (Enhanced Edition):

http://dadofdivas-reviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-review-extreme-face-painting.html

http://www.momecentric.com/2011/reviews-2011/extreme-face-painting

http://www.faithfullyfrugal-and-free.com/2011/10/extreme-face-painting-50-step-by-step-demos.html

http://momtinilounge.com/mom-fun/holidays/halloween-safety-tips-easy-costume-ideas

http://www.astheygrowup.com/2011/10/create-amazing-face-paintings-with.html

You can also watch a preview of the demonstration video (included in both print and ebook editions) here:

Still looking for ideas on what to go as this Halloween? Grandma’s Briefs blog shares some awesome Halloween face-painting tips from two new eBooks by award-winning special effects artists and IMPACT authors Brian and Nick Wolfe. Check it out right here…

For more friendly face-painting ideas, purchase the eBook at iTunes or B&N.

If fiendish ghouls and goblins are more your style, there’s an eBook for that too, also available at iTunes and B&N.

And if you more of a traditional, book-in-hand type of person, you can also purchase a copy of Extreme Face Painting in the NL Shop.

This artist, Mike Doyle, does some amazing Victorian House sculptures out of Legos! And nothing BUT Legos, not even glue was used. These are so seasonably appropriate, but check out some of the other ones he’s built, too.

Does this inspire you to dig out your Legos and build? How about something Halloween appropriate?