"Walking Dead" FX Guru: How to Be a Killer Halloween Zombie

Directions

1. Start by painting your face with a deep burgundy shade to establish shadowed areas. Next, coat the entire face in a sickly yellow tone known as 'dead' to achieve a complex, pale complexion that goes beyond simple black and white contrasts.
2. Craft your own gore by blending red and yellow powdered food dyes into corn syrup. Stir in a drop of liquid soap for easier cleanup, and incorporate caramel coloring to deepen the hue for a more authentic zombie blood effect.
3. Distribute the homemade blood using splatter and spray techniques rather than simple drops or brush marks to suggest chaotic movement. Aim the spray upward beneath the jawline and across the facial features to enhance the sense of action.
4. Eliminate any natural glow from the skin to maintain a dull, grimy appearance. For the interior of the mouth, swirl a blend of food coloring and black cake icing around to darken the gums and tongue, replacing the natural pink tone.
5. Transform your hair into a greasy, lifeless mess by working conditioner through the strands to flatten and mat them down.
6. Fabricate aged or torn flesh by spreading liquid latex on the skin, then pressing layers of facial tissue or cotton over the wet latex. Dry the area with a hair dryer, apply additional latex coats, tear the tissue to form realistic creases, and finally paint the exposed inner edges red.