zombie popeye
& zombie BLUTO
Popeye's 90th anniversary
Concept
After the sold-out of the Zombie Mario limited edition, In October 2018, the Asian agency Dream Beyond contacted me to design a collection of art toys for Popeye’s 90th Anniversary, under official license.
This was the first project where I didn’t have to sculpt the pieces myself.
As Art Director, the process involved creating a design on paper and, once approved by the brand, developing the four-view turnaround so the manufacturer could model it in 3D for production. This is how I first met ZCWO, with whom I would later collaborate on the Playboy and The Stormtourist projects.
Process
My first idea was to design a Popeye figure made entirely of spinach sprouts. The message was clear to me: you become what you feed on, not only in terms of food, of course. I was really happy with the result and sent it for review.
Defining My Visual Identity
Contrary to what I expected, the design didn’t get approved. They told me it was very interesting, but that they wanted something “more Luaiso Lopez.”
It may sound simple, but it wasn’t at all. Until then, all my works had followed their own language, letting creativity flow freely with each project.
But what exactly was “something Luaiso Lopez”? This forced me to look inward and ask myself what truly made my work mine, something I had never consciously done before.
My visual references were clear: graffiti, cartoons, videogames… but stylistically I didn’t have a well-defined form.
Redesign
I also added the facial paint patterns I had started experimenting with in other pieces, inspired by a small vintage tanuki figure I bought in Japan.
This was a step toward building a recognizable visual language that I could easily incorporate into future works, as an allegory of the masks we all wear.
Then I thought that, since Zombie Mario had resonated so well, I could follow that direction.
I designed a Zombie Popeye with a visual language similar to Zombie Mario, but keeping the silhouette and proportions of the first concept.
The result left me quite satisfied, although personally I still felt that the spinach version was stronger and more meaningful.
Production
The brand loved the new proposal, so the next step was to prepare the four-view turnaround. It was a workflow I hadn't used before, and it was very engaging.
Of course, it was very different from sculpting directly in material and shaping volumes and proportions in real time. The task was imagining the final piece in my head and reproducing its four sides on paper.
Once finished, I sent it for review. When the first 3D render came back, it matched almost exactly what I had envisioned.
Release
In 2019, Zombie Popeye 90th Anniversary was presented at Shanghai Toy Show.
Collection
The next year, following the same workflow, we released Zombie Bluto as part of the collection.
There’s also a third design, Zombie Olive Oil, for which we even had a 3D model ready, but it never made it to production.
Legacy
It’s always been interesting to me how the need for recognition can sometimes limit creative possibilities.
Even thought, it’s something I try to adapt to, as much as possible, always leaving some room for new shapes to take over.
Zombie Popeye represents that step forward in the construction of Luaiso Lopez’s visual language.
