The third Walking Dead trading card product I have contributed artwork to has just been released. This product is called Walking Dead: Evolution and it is an all-encompassing product that highlights characters from all of the show’s seasons. For me, this was a lot of fun as I could draw any of the characters that have appeared on the show plus some select walkers.
I contributed 40 sketch cards to this product and have 6 artist returns. Of these 40, roughly half were Walkers and the other half were characters from the show. I wanted to focus on characters that have passed away on the show like Bob, Hershel, and Shane, but also characters that I haven’t previously drawn in the other two trading card sets. When I drew a currently living character, I went for one that is a favourite of mine and that I hadn’t drawn before. To that end you won’t find a Daryl or Rick or Karl, but you will find a Jadis and Jerry!
Methods
The turnaround for producing the artwork for this set was very short. Because of that I didn’t have time for full colour on all of the cards. This encouraged me to take a different approach that I think worked very well: red backgrounds with grey character tones.
All but one of the characters I drew for the set (not including my artist returns) is still alive on the show. This card is of Tara, and I drew with grey tones and a red background but wish I had added colour to her. The rest of the cards are of characters that have died on the show and leaving them in grey tones, I think, works very well for that.
For the Walkers, they too are in grey tones with heavy black inks but have spots of red for where there is gore on their bodies. For the backgrounds I added comic style black lines for texture, either in an alternating pattern or in repeated strokes to almost mimic blood dripping down. I also added white paint splatter for more texture. Overall I think it is a striking look!
Artist Returns
I specifically wanted to draw villains for my artist returns. I drew the Governor, Gareth, Shane, Jadis and Negan, but also included Jerry because his character is just so damn awesome! These are also some of my favourite characters as they are incredibly dynamic. Gareth was an incredibly rich character that despite only being on the show for a handful of episodes, his character was richly realized. Jadis is a new character on the show, and I’m not entirely sold on if she’s a villain, hero, or something in-between but she’s is assuredly 100% awesome!
If you’re interested in purchasing one or more of my artist returns, I am asking $95 plus shipping. Please contact me below and let me know which ones you want!
Previous Walking Dead Sketch Cards
To see my previous The Walking Dead sketch cards, please see my posts on Topps Season 6 The Walking Dead Sketch Cards and Topps Season 7 The Walking Dead Sketch Cards.