Book Review: The Zombook – Author Allan Graves

The Zombook – Author Allan Graves

Zombie fans, I’ve got the book for you. It’s not a big stretch to say how instantly I was impressed with this latest volume that came across my desk. The book is called “Zombook”..and yep if you guessed right it’s a book about zombies. To be more specific (in the genre that has sparked ALL sort of releases in the past year), it is a book dedicated to the “Art of zombies”. As detailed by the author Allan Graves (London-based tattoo artist),it was a project that started and flourished into a huge volume that collects the best of zombie art.

It goes without saying that variety is all across the board ranging from hand drawn, painted, 3D, inked, digital, photography to tattoo art. The talent here is immense and quite a statement about illustration in general. While we often associate zombie art with the makeup work of film productions, they still rely on the imagination of illustrators to guide them along.

The book is in full color, hard bound and contains a whopping 256 pages of intensely focused zombie perceptions, illustrations and artist perspectives of their take on the whole zombie genre. Being a horror fan, I love to just browse thru the diversity here, however it does raise the question of ….”what is our fascination with seeing others eating human flesh? Is it the decomposing anatomies that reveal what we truly look like in age, death, decay and cannibalism? Or is it the notion that these are merely us risen from the dead and recycled back onto the earth?

As you view the many many images within this release, you might ponder a fewer of these same thoughts.

Those who are more attuned with the art world might recognize a few names of your favorite artists who have taken the time to not only contribute but to contribute there own illustrative views of the zombie genre (thru stunning creations).

This book offers great quality, great colorful illustrative work and the promise of accompanying your other art books with a focus into the zombie horror genre. You can check out a few of the art pieces within below, but for buyers, this is one to own.

Also check out the press release prior to launch:

Once more the worlds of movies, computer games, design, lowbrow, and tattoo are experiencing a resurgence of interest in zombies, and this collection presents an incredible array of contemporary art of the undead. A riot of energy, imagination, and colour, this is the book that every zombie aficionado will want to own, as well as being a fantastic source book of ideas and inspiration for artists, animators, and games creators. It includes paintings, graphics, cartoons, illustrations, movie models, movie stills, designs from CGI animation, and 3D.

Curated by renowned zombie expert Allan Graves, The Zombook presents the work of over 100 artists in one magnificent volume. Publisher Ian Castello-Cortes said, “We think artists of this calibre need the best possible print and production quality, and the book I hope will be all this and more. We’re printing on fantastic 176gsm art paper – that’s really thick – and the 256 pages will be stitch-bound and hard-backed. The jacket, a spectacular, eye-popping design by George Campise, will be gloss laminated and embossed. I think everyone who loves zombies will want to own this iconic book.”

The book is divided into 13 stunning sections:
1. Outbreak
2. Contamination
3. Infection
4. Transformation
5. Rage
6. Escape
7. Expansion
8. Containment
9. Anatomy
10. Quarantine
11. Overrun
12. Apocalypse
13. Survival

Book Review: The Zombook – Author Allan Graves