Sculpting the Terror

When it comes to creating amazing miniatures, Mike McVey has been a top name for decades. Lately, he’s been putting his considerable talent to work sculpting some of the fantastic miniatures for CMON’s games. Now, he’s taking aim at Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game. We asked him what it’s like sculpting for the game, especially since it’s based on a movie with actual people, instead of artwork of made-up characters. Is the process different at all? Here’s what he had to say.

One of the most enjoyable things about working with CMON is the projects we get to work on. I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the development of some fantastic original IPs such as The Others, Blood Rage, and Rising Sun. When creating the miniatures for these games, we really got to let our imagination run riot and push the boundaries of what could be achieved. I’ve also had the privilege to be part of the team creating miniatures for some licensed properties. They present a very different, but no less enjoyable, challenge.

Generally speaking, the original IPs I’ve worked on have been fantastical in their nature. They’re characters and creatures that are either based on mythology or straight from the mind of the design team. The miniatures tend to be very much larger than life, from designs that push the limits of anatomy, pose, and dynamism. While some licensed IPs have a similar design ethos, others are at the other end of the spectrum. Night of the Living Dead is certainly the latter. The original Zombicide games have a very distinctive design language based off Raphael Guiton’s amazing original art. They really pushed the boundaries of zombie and character design. Trying to impose that design style onto a classic film property was clearly never going to work. The key to the project was always going to be staying true to the look and feel of the film while producing miniatures that were exciting and dynamic.