Attack of the Zombie Animals

Subscribers of my email newsletter The James Foley-O will know that I have a new book coming out in October. It’s about a pet rabbit that dies and comes back from the dead as a zombie; it’s called My Dead Bunny. It’s written by Sigi Cohen and published by Walker Books Australia. I’m busting to show you the cover! I’ll reveal more in the next couple of months. In the meantime, here’s some pictures of other zombie animals …

I’ve been visiting a lot of schools lately and testing the book on unsuspecting classes. I usually ask the class to suggest another zombie animal that I could draw, then the students draw their own zombie animal characters. The kids’ ideas have been hilarious. Here are my favourites.

zombie snail and zombie chicken

zombie monkey

zombie sloth (extra slow)

piano-playing zombie chihuahua, zombie tortoise and zombie guinea pig

zombelephant

zombie koala (aka ‘drop bear’)

zombie snake

zobmei desert hopping mouse

zombie octopus

zombie cat

zombie butterfly

zombie narwhal

zombie mermaid (half-animal)

disco-dancing zombie Viking (an animal on the dance floor)

Here’s another that was suggested by students – a zombie cow …

… which I played around with in a photoshop demo at Great Southern Grammar last month, producing this:

This is pretty much the style of My Dead Bunny, just rougher; I’ve used a lot of found textures to render the backgrounds. The images are mostly black and white like old horror movies but with spot colours to highlight the zombie bunny.

I can’t wait to share more with you!

Author: James Foley

James makes books for courageous kids. He’s the author/illustrator of the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series for middle primary: Brobot (2016), Dungzilla (2017) and Gastronauts (2018) star Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, and Joe Tinker, her stinky baby brother. The fourth in the series, Chickensaurus, is out in late 2020. He is also the illustrator of the Toffle Towers series written by Tim Harris. James’ earlier books My Dead Bunny (2015), In The Lion (2012), The Last Viking (2011) and The Last Viking Returns (2014) have all scored several honours, including children’s choice awards, shortlistings in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards, and selection to the International Youth Library’s White Raven list. The sequel to My dead Bunny - There's Something Weird About Lena - is out in late 2020. James comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. Follow him on FB/twitter/insta/youtube @jamesfoleybooks, or at www.jamesfoley.com.au . View all posts by James Foley