My First Attempt at Cake Decorating

I offered to make the cake for my very good friend's birthday weekend, without really thinking what I was getting into.  After a few nightmares and panic attacks, I decided I was nuts for offering to do this, but I made a promise.  So I went all over the internet and researched recipes, techniques, and the usual FAQ's.  Then I bought several books and began my studying.
After two weeks of hitting the books, I set up a timeline for myself for this cake.  I got organized, which for me is really out of character.  I actually had lists.  Of course, I lost several of them in the days that followed their creation, but was able to get back on track eventually.
The one thing I had on my side was the artsy aspect of this whole production.  I'd worked with clay, plaster, wood, and even wax out of boredom once, so I thought fondant couldn't be too difficult.  It wasn't until I tried to cover the cake with it.  (If I can offer any advice to the novice, check YouTube for videos on covering a cake with fondant.  It is a lot trickier than one would assume, but there are tons of really helpful videos on there that will show you how to cover any shape and size of cake.)
So I had to come up with a design of course.  My friend Rob is really into comics and zombies.  So I came up with a Zombie Cake idea.  Basically, it would be a zombie climbing from his grave.  Yes, I realize that might sound creepy or ghoulish to some folks, but the idea was so cool I had to run with it. I also decided to make the zombie slightly comical rather than gruesome, so guests would actually want to eat it.

Here are the basics from my Rob's Zombie Cake:

CAKE:
Chocolate cake to resemble dirt.
Two 9" rectangle pans for base.
One medium sized loaf pan for torso.
One small sized loaf pan for head.

After carving out the basic shape of the zombie, I stacked them together to make sure the fit was right.  (Wooden dowels work nicely to keep the shape of your cake.  However, don't forget to tell people they are in there...)

FONDANT:
I used about 3.5 lbs of fondant.  (There was probably less on the cake to be honest. I made a few mistakes along the way.  But you can decide how much you want to use.  I highly recommend this site for a good measurement for amounts of fondant needed for each cake: http://www.wilton.com/decorating/fondant/fondant-coverage-chart.cfm
I covered the base with fondant that I had dyed green for grass, plain white for the torso, and a different green for the zombie's face, which I also used to mold the zombie's hands.

From there, it was all just details. I molded small creatures and bugs for the grave site from fondant and ran a white picket fence around the base of the cake.

The dirt and mud was created from the excess cake I had from sculpting the zombie's body and head and chocolate icing, which worked as a "glue" to hold the "dirt" in place.

SHADING AND DETAILS:
For this I just used food coloring and a baking paint brush to create the shading and aging of the zombie, his clothes, and the fence posts.

Any questions let me know!  Have fun with your Zombie cake!  Also I would love to see some other baker's adventures as well!