Zombie Boy doll repainted by U.S. artist

U.S. artist Noel Cruz who paints dolls of Hollywood personalities gave himself the challenge of repainting, as faithfully as possible, the reproduction of Zombie Boy, originally from Chateauguay.

The ethereal being riddled with tattoo holes was able to discover the new allure of the toy which resembled him on the web. He seemed delighted with the result. « I was really joyful with the new coverage. The original doll was hot, but when I saw this one, the nuances were much more profound. […]  It reflects my personality very well. […] It's morbid and thrilling, » commented the international phenomenon during an interview with the Chateauguay Soleil.

Noel Cruz wanted to put himself to the test through his art. Why did you choose this?

«Zombie Boy, because of his tats, presented a very challenging and detailed repaint that pushed me to be exacting not only in skin tone, lights, shadows and the nuances that make Rick a human being, but the detail and intricacies of his tattoos. It wasn't easy and it was a very challenging repaint,» attests the U.S. artist/painter who is originally from the Philippines.

Indelible

His first tattoo is not visible on the doll because it is presented differently, ZB explained. At what age was Zombie Boy decorated with his first tattooing? « I was 16. It was a Jolly Roger (a pirates' symbol), he said, pointing to his left shoulder. The freak show follower knew that his plan to tattoo his whole body would attract attention. « I always evolved and had exchanges in connection with freak shows and the world of tattooing. My idols were enigmatic, with vampire women and lizard men, but nobody had ever tattooed himself as a zombie. My surname was Zombie and my idea was to be a freak too, » he asserted.

Permanently undead

Zombie Boy was tattooed by numerous tattoo artists all over the world, but the one who made him a living legend was Frank Lewis. « He's the Dr. Frankenstein who took all my little tattoos and assembled them into one large piece, » he confides. The long metamorphosis began when he was 19 and ended when he was 25. Three sessions per month during those years were necessary to finalize the skeleton designs on his remarkable skin. « I didn't count them, but it came to easily $20,000, » he believes on the subject of the monetary value of his tattoos. The original doll is 43 centimetres tall and comes from the TonnerDoll, company collection, from the designer and distributor situated in Kingston, New York.

(Translation Dan Rosenburg)