Creating a Zombie Cover: Guest Post by Rachel Tsoumbakos

This post is by Rachel Tsoumbakos, the author of Emeline and the Mutants, and The Ring of Lost Souls.  It originally appeared on the Cabin Goddess blog as part of Zombie week.

My kids are eleven and eight. For them, a normal day is to come home and find their own mother elbow deep in blood splatters. Such is the woes when mum is an author of the post-apocalyptic zombie novel, Emeline and the Mutants (insert Amazon link here). Sometimes their input is endearing: "Mummy, that's looks great!" Other times disturbing: "Can I have a go at smearing the blood?" But, all in all, it is something they no longer bat an eyelid at.

Rachel, in a non-bloody moment

So, how does one go about creating a bloody cover for a book? It sounds simple enough. Red paint + handprint = cover. Right? No, wrong. The bloody handprint wasn't the first idea. It wasn't even the first cover Emeline and the Mutants ever wore.

The very first cover involved blood spatter too, but it wasn't my own, so it had to go. Now being the handy (excuse the pun) sort of person I am, I decided cover art is something I could do. And certainly, I did produce a cover, but it was a long hard journey for a novice.

First, blood red is not a colour my local art supplies store stocked. You'd think it was a common shade of red, but according to the creeped-out look on the assistant's face, it's not. Instead I bought several tubes of paint in an attempt to mix my own. The first batch was pretty good too- until it dried. It went from shiny, vibrant, life-giving red to a darker shade of Uluru in about three hours.

This led me to the conclusion that I needed to photograph as I went or find another way to make the red stay the right colour. I decided to take photos, but first I had to property design the background newsprint. Is it just me or does everyone who is cutting and pasting newspaper look over their shoulder constantly and feel the need to have a hostage to complete the task? It's probably just me, yeah? Thought so.

So, with the background suitably newspapery, it was time to start with the blood. I mixed up my blood red and painted my hand. With it poised and really above my masterpiece, I suddenly had the brilliant idea to add PVA glue to the paint. Perhaps this would make it shinier. Not to mention more globular when I started the splattering phase of my artwork.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to wash acrylic paint off your hand? Neither did I. Having to explain 'blood' under my fingernails at school pick-up was a real challenge also. With a (mostly) cleaned hand, I added the glue. Then some more red followed by a smidge more black paint since the PVA lightened the colour quite significantly. But it was an instant improvement. Not only did the paint take longer to dry and stayed shinier and lighter, but it didn't dry on my hand as quickly.

Take two of my bloody handprint turned out to be a great success, or so I thought. The image was clear on the paper and the colour was fantastic. One look at it by my critics (read: my children) and the general announcement was that it was boring. Boring? How could a bloody mess on a piece of paper be mundane? I quizzed my kids further. Turns out, they just wanted to see more blood and a smearier image. Once again, I wasn't sure if I should be proud or disturbed at their comments.

There is much fun to be had in blood spattering, let me tell you. Not only do you have to don old clothes, but you need to cover your entire dining room with newspaper. You may be planning to hit just one small piece of artwork with paint, but the reality is that even the roof is within firing line!

Now, it seems to take a certain amount of maniacal glee to create the right spattering effect in blood. Light flicking aimed at the exact spot you expect it to land results in nothing more than a pinprick or two of colour and one big ugly blob. The trick is to really get your arm back over your head and fling your implement (in my case an old chopstick) like you are intending to cause injury. This level of intensity creates a splatter pattern akin to repeatedly stabbing someone you no longer like. Great viscous strands of bloody carnage result, the likes of which you can see in the image of my current book cover of Emeline and the Mutants.

Rachel Tsoumbakos is a stay home mother of two. Her main passions are writing, reading and organic gardening. Rachel lives with her husband, two kids, three cats and seven chickens in suburban Melbourne, Australia. While she has had several articles published through mainstream magazines, she has also written extensively for Suite 101 and True Blood Net.

Wishes

I wish my child didn't spray toothpaste in such a wide splatter arc when she spits. If there was ever a CSI investigation in her bathroom, they'd think a serial killer worked that room.


I wish that I didn't find the audiobook for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw quite so funny. What does that say about me when I laugh out loud at jokes that are based on Cheese Touch and boogers?

I wish that the rate of growth for the hair on my legs and underarms and the hair on my head could be exchanged. One set of locks is long and luxurious, the other small and stubby. It's just the wrong way round.


I wish that the Easter Candy wasn't still hanging around in June.


I wish that someone could switch the flavors for creme brulee and celery sticks. That would be great. Thanks!


I wish that my credit card bill wasn't so large, but if we can't do anything about that now, then I wish that the money had been spent on new clothes, pedicures, and massages, instead of on termite treatments and a tire rotation.


I know I have a lot of wishes about my kid, but there's a lot going on with that child. I wish, for example, that she didn't feel the need to save every scrap of paper, including clothes tags and math worksheets. I'm ready to call Hoarders.


While I'm on that topic, I also wish that she didn't have quite so many stuffed animals. One more birthday, and my husband and I will have to sleep in the garage.


I wish all claw machines would go back to the fiery pit of hell where they were spawned.


I wish Clive Owens lived next door, but that's another story.

I wish Hub didn't bring home his travel mug with a cold, wet teabag inside it every night. 


I also wish he put all dirty socks in the hamper. There is one on the floor of the closet right now, guaranteed. ONE sock means that its mate made it into the big time; couldn't the effort be extended?


I'm certain that you have much better wishes than I have. Please feel free to leave a few in the comments section.

My Favorite Foodie Blogs

I love food blogs. I subscribe to most of them by email, so when I come down in the morning and pop open the lap top, BLAM! There are recipes for mojito cupcakes, and chicken fajitas, and Irish Cream Milkshakes right there.

The best food blogs are fun by entertaining people who serve up a bit of chat (what my Irish mother would have called "Grand Crack") along with the goodies. Here are some of my favorites:


1. Confessions of a Cookbook Queen - Last year I made my daughter Butterbeer Cupcakes, right from this site (complete with little Harry Potter brooms. Are you impressed?) But there are tons more yummies, including these mile-high Chocolate Cookie and Cream cupcakes. They're a good contender for this year's birthday. Kristan, the site's author and cook, makes me chuckle every morning and if I don't have a post from her I'm sad.

2. Another cool baker's blog is Brown Eyed Baker. She did the Mojito cupcakes up there.


3. Cabin Goddess - Sure, it's cool that I made Butterbeer cupcakes and all, but I am not baking in a dry cabin in the Alaskan tundra. Kriss, who runs Cabin Goddess, does exactly that, and she achieves a high level of fun and humor and deliciousness at the same time. Who else would feature a Zombie dessert? And obviously, anyone with the first four letters K-R-I-S in their name has to be a great cook; must be some sort of foodie law. Plues, the Cabin Goddess also dishes book reviews and chats about the Manbeast and the Hairy Eyeball. What's not to like?

4. chocolate & carrots - For the healthy cooks out there, and for organic expectant mothers, this site is like a digital Moveable Feast for all senses. Caroline, the blogger-cook, has designed a deceptively simple site loaded with deliciousness. I'll never be pregnant again, but I do want to make this Cauliflower Pizza.

5. I just started following eat real, and all because of these vanilla waffles with lemon cream. Sandy has a nice, long archive of delicious recipes. Some are exotic, but she includes loads of basics along with them.

6. That's What We Said - This isn't strictly a food blog, since they dish about Real Housewives, Whatta Man, and the Batchelorette. I can deal, though, since they have Friday cocktails and weekly meal plans.


There are many, many more food blogs out blogs out there, but I'm picky - I want a fun column as well as  cool recipes to try. These blogs serve all that and more.