Zombie portrait snarling close-up horror

Tags
Subject & Action: A snarling zombie shown in a tight head-and-shoulders portrait, lips peeled back to reveal cracked gums and exposed teeth, staring slightly past the viewer with a vacant, hostile expression that reads as a studied, menacing moment.
Materials & Textures: Skin is mottled and flaking with torn flesh edges, exposed muscle and dried blood on the cheek and jaw, slick saliva at the mouth, ragged hair clinging in oily strands, and tattered clothing visible at the shoulders with coarse fabric threads and grime.
Focus & Depth: Sharp focus on the eyes, mouth, and torn cheek, with a shallow depth that blurs the ears and shoulder edges, placing tactile textures in the foreground while background elements remain soft and unobtrusive.
Lighting & Color: Overall illumination is cool and directional with harsh highlights that pick out wet surfaces and matte shadows that deepen creases, creating stark contrast between pale flesh and dark cavities; color grade leans sickly olive and muted cream against deep charcoal and blood-red accents (#6B8E23, #F2E9DE, #CFCFD1, #2B2F3A, #7F1717, #3A1E1E) to emphasize decay and gore while keeping midtones subdued.
Environment: Neutral, dark charcoal background with a faint, desaturated halo that separates the head from the field, a single rusted metal clasp visible at the shoulder as a prop of implied wear and context.
Camera: Eye-level, close-up viewpoint with a square 1:1 crop framing the head and upper shoulders tightly, composition centered with slight off-center gaze to add tension and intimacy in the square format.
Style: Digital illustration study with realistic texturing and painterly brushwork, emphasis on material realism and tactile detail suitable for concept-art presentation.
License & use
This image uses CC BY 4.0. We chose this over CC0 to discourage abuse and protect creators. You can use the image freely without fear, and attribution is appreciated whenever practical. If attribution would disrupt your project (headers, book covers, products, and similar), it’s okay to omit it.
Prompt breakdown
The image prompt captures subject, setting, and style cues. Primary themes: close-up, digital-illustration, grotesque-texture, head-and-shoulders.
Technical details
The image model used to generate this AI artwork was Seedream 4. Aspect ratio is 1:1.
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