Art Friday : Tofu The Vegan Zombie : Zombie Dearest
A wonderful CG short film created by William Vaughan in conjunction with students from the September 2007 class of animation and visual effects school DAVE School. The titular character in this 8:22 min film is a timid little zombie with a tofu (or is that yummy swiss cheese) in place of his brain to curb the typical zombie preoccupation with human braaaaaaiins.
While poking his undead nose around the expansive mansion of Professor Vost whom which Tofu lives with together with the Professor’s daughter Addie as well as his faithful simian sidekick, Lab Monkey #5. The combination of Tofu’s inquisitive nature coupled with Lab Monkey #5’s love for fun and mischief is a potent recipe for disaster and that’s what happens in Zombie Dearest.
© William Vaughan / DAVE School Student Productions
What is Tofu & Lab Monkey #5 hiding from?
As you can see above, animation and visual effects like lighting and shadows are top-notch stuff. You’ll find that the sound effects and pacing are equally well executed when you watch Zombie Dearest 
© William Vaughan / DAVE School Student Productions
Lab Monkey #5 does a Michael Jordan
The DAVE School Movie Theater has quite a substantial showcase of short films by their students – I’ll do up a more comprehensive follow-up post once I finish watching all of them. I do recommend Creeper featuring a gang of bumbling animal superheroes for a start.
Watch Tofu The Vegan Zombie : Zombie Dearest in Flash Video format at DAVE School or download the full high resolution video (68.1 MB) to enjoy at your leisure.
MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Beat Back the Zombie Hordes in Boxhead : The Zombie Wars
Darkwatch Wallpapers & Concept Art
The Last Stand & The Endless Zombie Rampage & Crimsonland
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Hey! I worked on that film! I’m a graduate of the Sept. 07 class, and I stumbled upon your site a while back. It seems you and I have a few common interests, so I end up spending hours following your links. I can credit you with getting me hooked on Jagged Alliance 2 with the 1.13 mod.
Hi Arnold, nice to see you here
I downloaded most of the DAVE School’s trailers several months back but only got the time to watch them a few weeks ago and I’m absolutely blown away by the polished production in Tofu and some of the others.
Is Tofu the first part of a series?
Tofu is the creation of William Vaughan, our first block teacher. The idea has been his pet project for years, and since this was a very personal project for him, expectations were set much higher than usual. Our class was also a test bed for a new and improved curriculum, which has improved even more since I graduated. The episode was created as a pilot with the intent to pitch it to studios to make a series, and also to be packaged along with the toys when they are released.
Ahh I see.. because I noticed that Tofu looked more professionally produced than some of the videos.
BTW, not sure if you heard of 3DCreative. I just found that Tofu was featured in the Dec 2007 issue. A lite version of this e-mag can be downloaded here.