We recently connected with Amanda Walling and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Fortunately, I learned through myself somewhat . I was always decent at drawing. Not amazing. But decent. And YouTube also had helped a lot too. Also, alot of practice had helped me out due to my shaky hands and bad symmetry lol. If you ever look at my portrait drawings, there is a reason why they all turn to monsters because the symmetry is always off and I’ll just try and hide it with injuries or horns lol. I probably could have sped up the learning process if I actually took the time to sit down and breathe and not be so hard on myself and procrastinate. Doing more research also helps as well.
The most essential skills is probably being able to have alot of patience. If you have alot of patience you can sit down for hours and get every detail. I’m a huge detail freak. So I’ll sit for hours trying to finish one tiny little thing and ignore everything. So it’s good and bad at the same time.
There’s alot of obstacles that stood in the way. For example, my symmetry issues is still the same, I struggle with it alot, with certain looks. My mind also is an obstacle because I can overthink myself out of a mood of painting. My depression can also get me to not paint or when I try to force myself into it, it ruins it. That’s a huge obstacle. I also have the issue of coming up with too many ideas and it spews out into an abomination. I’ll also bite off more than I can chew. A lot of this stops me from learning more because I also have the issue where I’ll look into something try to do it and if it don’t come out how I want it. Scrap it.
Amanda , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi, I’m Amanda. I go by zombie or zombs. . (Hence the name Zombsfx) I’m a special fx makeup artist based in South Florida.
I got into the industry pretty late I guess you can say. It wasn’t something I was wanting to do. Growing up, I wanted to be a tattoo artist because I was always decent with drawing and I loved hearing the stories behind them. I also loved the meaning of different designs in different cultures. I was never really into makeup, hated it actually. Thought it was too girly. , self confidence was horrible.
I got my apprenticeship when I just turned 18, now when you have an apprenticeship you’re basically being taken under that persons wing and they teach you how they were taught . And sometimes you pay for it, or you need a degree etc. I got lucky, in that aspect .
Anyways, Unfortunately , I terminated after two or three weeks due to issues with personal life and due to the way I was treated. He wasn’t too fond of a female being in that industry. Time went on I took things into my own hands, asked around a lot. Got advice. Even went to school for a semester. I got into painting, watercolor, acrylic etc. I got into portraits and my symmetry was so bad that everything I drew had horns or was a zombie cause I needed to hide my mistakes . At one point in time I would draw on myself for Halloween. I loved human anatomy and still do. I hid it for a while because people think it’s weird to draw on yourself. I got into horror movies. Watched a lot of fear.net for Halloween specials. Halloween masks are so expensive. Kept on running out of ideas on what I wanted to be. A lot of people I dated thought I was embarrassing because I go all out for Halloween and paint myself. My dad bought me a latex kit one time and I never knew how to use it’. My current boyfriend when we first started going out, he actually became my biggest supporter and helped me out. He showed me videos on YouTube of people doing what I do, because of that I ended up making a page and getting a following. I found out that I’m actually more happy with what I’m doing now more than I was with the whole tattooing dream. He introduced me to anime, cosplays, etc. and then I got into makeup with it as well. He even bought me my first professional pallette and still does and buys me makeup. He’s a big supporter of mine and helps critique my stuff. Which is something I need because I’m hard on myself. Years later I got sponsored by TotalNightmaretravis , been introduced to other artists, also I got to work on a movie called “Ash” which should be coming out in 2023 . Which was huge to me because I got to meet some really great people and learn new things.
I guess my discipline comes from me being patient already, and the fact that I’m a huge detail freak. I’ll sit for hours on a part of the look just to make sure the shading is right .
The services I provide are mainly horror/ creature makeups and it ranges from prosthetics to body-paint. I charge by the hour but I also negotiate a lot to try and help out. It depends on the situation. I also do classes through zoom or FaceTime step by step.
I honestly have a lot of issues when it comes to some clients. Some don’t want to pay or they want a certain type of work. For example, if it’s something I can’t provide such as like glam, prom, etc. I usually recommend someone that I know of because I just don’t feel comfortable doing it. Another example, if someone doesn’t want to pay me for my work, or if I’m unable to do it, I’ll send a YouTube video on how to do something to hopefully help them out. So they’re able to do it at home .
I don’t think much really sets me apart from people, because there are a lot of great artists. But I think what sets me apart, which isn’t a good thing, from other artists is I’m strictly horror, most people do everything. I mainly just stick with the creatures. I’ll probably expand to glam and stuff, but when I’m ready lol.
I’m proud of the fact that I finally got to work on a movie. And I’m extremely proud of the fact that I’m actually sponsored now.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I am currently still unlearning them: Perfectionist- not everything has to be perfect, I have to stop being so hard on myself. Just because the line isn’t straight doesn’t mean the whole look is ruined. You also need to post what you did and not erase the whole thing and scratch it out. You need to learn from the non perfect things. Art isn’t perfect.
Mood- I need to stop being in a certain mood to paint/ get looks out. I need to stop letting my depression put me in a hole for months and stop me from doing what I love to do.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
There are a couple things that non creatives don’t understand. Non creatives don’t understand that we charge for a reason.don’t lowball people. There’s a huge issue when it comes down to paying someone for their craft.
for instance, I’m taking time out of my schedule to come to you, to do the look that you wanted. It takes time. You pay the person for their time. Also, the money goes towards paints, it goes towards what they needed to make your prosthetics, it goes towards gas to come to you. I charge by the hour because some looks go up to 8 hours depending what you want. Some people even lose sleep making the stuff for you. Just for you to take it off within a couple hours. Or to win a contest. a lot of the work is also detailed. You’re also paying for my time when I’m teaching a class going into detail on how you do something so you understand. Whether that be for you or your child. Things are expensive. Latex is expensive. Gelatin. Etc. Things are even handmade. Pay. The person. For. Their . Time. Stop lowballing them or tell them you just don’t have the money for it. It’s disrespectful to say too expensive. Or to Lowball.
Another thing non creatives don’t understand , is the fact that I don’t provide certain things. I don’t provide contacts. I send you the links for the contacts or tell you what contacts. Mainly because some people have a prescription and I don’t feel comfortable bringing you a pair of my contacts that I wear . Even if it’s a one size fits all, I can get it for you, but you have to pay for it. Other than that, everything else I provide. Just not something to shove in your eyeballs that can mess you up if it’s not the right size or if there is a cross contamination ( yes I know they are cleaned but I’m still not comfy sharing them)
One more thing non creatives don’t understand , specifically in my industry.
I give people a disclaimer about facial structures. You send me what you want. Let’s say a Barbie doll, yeah I can do it, but just so you know all faces are different in shapes and sizes . Cheekbones and everything else aren’t gonna look like hers exactly. But I’ll try my best to get it that way. Some times people take it offensively saying that it means their ugly. Which is never my intent. My intent is to let you know that makeup on me can look different than it does on you. Because everybody has a different facial structure.
That’s it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/zombsfx?igshid=1seywvcefswye
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zombsfx/
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/Zombsfx?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=15bdf413-3474-4fca-b91d-afcbff559020
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/zombiebitxhh
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/mandy51195