How the Zombie Set Started

The Zombie Set didn't start with a painting.

It started in a hotel room in 2015.

I was with a group of friends, and while everyone else was drinking, hanging out, and enjoying the night, I was sitting at a table with a sketchbook and a handful of pens. Every so often I'd jump into the conversation, but for the most part I was doing what I've always done when left alone with a blank page: doodling.

I've always had a thing for zombies.

At the same time, I absolutely hate gore movies. (Make that make sense.)

Somewhere during that night, I drew a circle. The circle became an eye. The eye became a face. Before long, the page had turned into something entirely different.

The only colors I had available were red, green, and black.

So the skin became green.

The blood became red.

And after about three hours of sketching, scribbling, and adding details, the original Green Zombie was born.

That first version never touched a canvas.

On December 10, 2015, I painted Green Zombie for the first time inside a canvas paper sketchbook. That piece is still framed and hanging in my room today. It has survived moves, life changes, conventions, and nearly a decade of creative experiments.

I never wanted to sell it.

A few months later, in March of 2016, I painted Green Zombie again—this time on an actual canvas. I still own that one too.

By then, an idea had started forming.

What if this wasn't just one painting?

What if it was a series?

I immediately moved on to Blue Zombie.

I didn't want to simply recreate the same painting with different colors. The goal became finding a balance between horror and color. I wanted the pieces to feel strange, a little unsettling, and unmistakably zombie-inspired without leaning heavily into gore.

Bright colors became part of the identity.

The zombies could be gross, but they could also be playful.

Blue Zombie took shape over the course of roughly twelve hours, just like Green Zombie before it. Then came Zombie Cake—a bright yellow cake with pink frosting hiding tiny details like hair clippings and fingernails baked into the layers. The candle itself was a severed blue finger, tying it back to the growing collection.

Eventually the series expanded beyond individual paintings.

The larger vision became a four-canvas continuous image—a polyptych that would connect together as one complete piece.

I've worked on those remaining panels on and off over the years.

Maybe I've been dragging my feet because finishing them means closing a chapter that started with a sketchbook and three pens in a hotel room back in 2015.

But after more than a decade, I think it's finally time.

My goal is to complete the remaining pieces in 2026 and bring the Zombie Series full circle.

Some ideas stick around for a reason.

This one never really left.