How to make your own custom cards and survivors:
http://boardgamegeek.com/article/11465953#11465953
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/903615/making-custom-cards-and-survivors
Has anyone made Skill cards for Zombicide? These would just be cards with the Skills and their effects. You would print as many as you need to make custom characters: Slide the Skill card behind the blank custom character board, then choose one when you get to higher Danger levels. N00bs can use them for reference instead of flipping through the rulebook. Adventurous players can shuffle them and make *random* characters! Good luck finding an appropriate miniature!
Color coding the bases (and Storage)
Several on BGG mentioned that it's hard to distinguish the painted (and unpainted) miniatures, so here's an example coloring code to paint around the base edge:
* Walkers: Blue
* Runners: Yellow
* Fatties: Orange
* Abominations: Red
For the edges, you may want to undercoat white so the colors will pop out more. Try a white acrylic paint pen to quickly go around the edges!
Also, for now, you can just color the top of the Walker bases one color (eg. concrete) and the others another (eg. asphalt).
Once we have *more* varieties of zombies (and scupts!) this might be trickier.
* Toxic zombies could have a green splatter on their base, or have green skin. Try glow-in-the-dark paint!
* Berserker zombies could have a red splatter, or have brown skin.
And with three sets, with more to come...
* Base game: Black base
* Prison Outbreak: Grey base
* TCM: Indoor white base
EDIT: Probably overkill.
If you're having problems with storing the mini's in the tray, you can mark the bottom of the bases. You can also paint the tray to match the color codes! I also photocopied the tray with the zombies in them, so I had a "picture" of the tray with the miniatures in it.
Speed Painting with Gesso
If you can't spray primer outside, use clear gesso as a primer. Gesso is available at local craft stores. Clear gesso is white then dries clear. You can add paint to gesso to color or tint it. I usually put a few drops of gesso with a drop of paint on a wet palette and "mix the edges" with a workbrush then apply. This allows me to control the amount of gesso to paint. Most painters will recommend thickly glopping on gesso and waiting 24 hours as a primer. But, for speed painting, thin layers and drying to touch is fine.
Prime and show details: Mix a few drops of clear gesso with a drop of brown paint, then paint the miniature, vaguely like a wash. The mixture will be thick, but will dry thin to the original color of the paint. It will appear as if you washed it and shows off details. You may need to brush on water to help spread the gesso on the miniature.
Prime and paint grainy bases: I'm still experimenting with this one. For whatever reason, if I mix gesso and craft paint together, then paint a flat surface, that surface will show a fine grainy texture, more with metallics than non-metallics. This is GREAT for black bases suggesting roads, worn axes, or other rough surfaces. I'm guessing the chalk or whatever in the gesso, and larger flakes of paint in the craft and metallic paints is causing this. Or maybe because I have a bad habit of leaving excess paint on the wet palette and using it the next day... I don't notice this when using gesso as primer on surfaces that aren't flat.
Speed painting with Primers and Glazing
If you stop before adding colors to your miniatures, you can have nice "Dawn of the Dead" style zombies. With optional beady red eyes!
Prime in black then spray white: Prime the miniature black then spray white. When spraying white, only partially coat the miniature. The white will adhere to the raised surfaces, leaving the black in the shadows. See Massive Voodoo's primer tutorial for more information:
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2009/11/tutorial-kongs-priming-thoughts.html
Drybrush white: LIGHTLY drybrush white any areas that you missed with the white primer. Not sure if this is best done before or after washing.
Wash figure for further detailing: Apply a brown or black wash to further bring out the shadows and details of the miniature.
Color in the eyes: With a red 005 micron pen, color in the eyes. These Zombicide miniature eyes are EASILY colored in with a micron pen!
Fashion sense: If you have time, don't just randomly select clothing -- or zombie skin -- colors for your miniatures! Consider focusing on using three colors, a primary color, a similar supporting color, and a contrasting highlight. Example: On a Runner, the primary color could be the grey skin colored with a little blue, the supporting color blue clothing, and highlight color red eyes. If a zombie is wearing a top and bottom piece of clothing (eg. jacket and pants), try coloring both the top and bottom the same color. This saves painting time, and unifies the miniature as a background character. Unlike most other figures, you can color your zombie's skin to compliment his or her clothing sense! Use Google and search for reference material.
Glaze: A basecoat may obscure the shadows and details you brought out in the miniature. Consider thinning your paints on your wet palette with matte medium and a little water. The consistency should be thin but less runny than a wash, so you can better control where you paint your glaze.
Note: Revised comments on painting on Zombiesdash.com:
http://www.zombiesdash.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=30
Hand Cannon discussion:
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?74870-Tutorial-Speed-Demon-Speed-Painting-Your-Troops
Althai's Hand Cannon article on painting undead:
http://handcannononline.com/blog/2011/11/17/tutorial-advanced-undead-flesh/#more-5313