We’re always chatting up interesting ideas we see that help push consumers, particularly the younger demographic, to make prints.
Well, we’ve spotted yet another as a gentleman by the name of Rob Sacchetto is raking it in with his Zombie Portraits idea. He has set up a website (www.zombieportraits.com) whereby visitors upload headshots of themselves and Sacchetto uses a painstaking hand-illustration technique to turn the portraits into that of brain-chasing ghouls.
The final result is rather shocking which is exactly what his target audience is looking for.
"After I receive the photo headshot, the entire process begins with getting the likeness down with pencil. Believe it or not, this is the most important part of the process. These are custom portraits so likeness is paramount,” Sacchetto began.
“I have to make sure that placement, proportion and the likeness is absolutely spot on and this is why a good quality photo is important. It’s during this process that I look at light, facial structure and I go about creating a zombie that is still recognizable. I don’t use any references, by the way, all this chaos comes from my twisted psyche. Pencils are done and I begin the background work. People look at my scanned work and don’t realize I use a lot of paint in my work.”
He returns a print in a variety of sizes and/or configurations and charges around $80. At last report, particularly in the weeks prior to Halloween, he was cleaning up.
This is just one example of someone who found a particular niche, the horror genre fan, and simply drilled down to offer them an imaging print app that hit on their passion. It’s truly the gift that keeps on living.
