Product of the Issue

Zombie portraits

By Lindsay Gibb

If you’ve never wondered what you might look like with the skin rotting off of your face, you might be surprised to learn just how many people are dying to see themselves as the living dead.

To Robert Sacchetto’s delight he discovered the desire to be a zombie is high when he started advertising his zombie portraits online in November 2006. Once word of mouth about his paintings spread, the orders came lurching in. A freelance illustrator, Sacchetto now estimates that since he started taking orders he has created about 1.5 zombies per day, in between work on other projects.

A fan of comic books and horror films, Sacchetto chose zombies as his muse because they were the one type of monster that seemed to give him the most options creatively. Where the features of a werewolf would overpower the person’s face, and a vampire would leave the subject of the portrait simply pale and a bit bloody around the mouth, zombies give the artist so much more to work with. “[Other monsters] can’t compare to oozing brains, popped out eyes, bullet holes and other viscera,” says Sacchetto.”For me, a fan of gore and grisly detail, zombies were the obvious choice.”

Born, raised and still living and working in Sudbury, Ontario, Sacchetto has expanded his zombie catalogue to include greeting cards and posters. Gift certificates are also available.

Portraits are $80 and can be ordered from zombieportraits.com