In Overworked And Underpaid, we aim to interview designers, learn more about them, and have them share their journey and design advice. In an exclusive interview with one of the top designers in the community, we got to sit down with Zambi4.
Designed by Cassie
Zambi4’s Early History
Zambi4 began his foray into graphic design as a member of the Light Troops in 2014. Initially doing it to boost his chances at a promotion, Zamb started with Microsoft Paint before quickly changing to Paint.net. Zamb would regularly freelance for S/M armies (such as Salsa and Parkas) which he had made a home and would become one of the first members of the Royal Designing shop upon its foundation. Through his connections with RD, he became a close associate of Apollo, Ming, Carlos, Zeer, and Wyoskyguy. They all helped influence his style and exposure.
Zamb’s first graphic-a Xat inner for the Light Troops in 2014
Zamb’s first major paid design would be for the Dark Warriors. Though never formally used, it helped Zamb gain connections to secure designs for Golds (by then using the alias Percy). Afterward, he eventually retired in 2016, offering his services for non-Club Penguin Army communities in the interim including Minecraft.
“Zambmania”
Returning in 2020 as a high-command member of the Dark Bandits at the insistence of former Royal Designing partner Carlos. Zamb would quickly rise to prominence for redesigning Club Penguin Army League and the Doritos of Club Penguin after a few minor redesigns.
An example of Zamb’s 2014-2015 style prior to the adoption of the “Ming style”
Multiple armies and organizations would line up for the massive “Zambmania” fad. These included the Army of Club Penguin, Club Penguin Army Media, Ice Warriors, Elites, Golden Troops, Dark Warriors, Underground Mafias Army, Pirates, Help Force, Water Vikings, and Light Troops. Zamb would also be one of Club Penguin Army Hub‘s two main designers alongside Koloway (akin to the modern-day Head of Branding in Club Penguin Armies). In this capacity, he helped make tournament graphics and the organization’s style.
Through Zamb’s role as CPAH Executive Producer, he would vouch for the creation of the Overworked and Underpaid Graphics Tournament; the tournament was the first of its kind in over four years. Zamb would ultimately be victorious in the tournament after narrowly beating Koloway. Accordingly, Zamb would share the Best Designer of the Year honor with Koloway later that December and as a result was inducted into the organization’s hall of fame.
Top: Zamb’s first Dark Warriors header in 2014 (prominent for being his first paid design) Bottom: Zamb’s second Dark Warriors in 2020 (used briefly before closure)
Modern History
After the new year, Zamb mostly took a more reserved role, retiring in January 2021. He would return later that year in December to help collaborate with Dino on the Club Penguin Army Headquarters redesign. He would also work on winter design for Help Force using a new style—departing from his old one. Furthermore, Zamb would be tasked with the March Madness graphics for that tournament in 2022.
Zamb would collaborate with Koloway and Dino to create the Club Penguin Armies design, although he chose not to take up a directive role in the organization afterwards. Since the summer of 2022, Zamb has seldom done many designs other than paid work for Club Penguin Army League and Water Vikings. Today, Zamb solely works for the Doritos (the army that helped propel his career to where it is today) using a new style.
Zamb’s latest major design, an APNG header for the Doritos in December 2024
A QUICK CHAT WITH Zambi4
In addition to providing his history, we were able to sit down with Zambi4 for an exclusive interview regarding his time as a graphic designer.
Who would you say influenced your graphic design style the most (ie. is there a specific style set by a contemporary that you followed before branching out into your own)?
When starting out, my style wasn’t really influenced by anyone in particular since my goal was to copy art that already existed. Later on, I’d say my greatest influences would be Blizzard880, who taught me to have structure in my art (how its important to have penguins in the corners, text in the middle, type of background, etc.) and Ming. I had an effect heavy style at this point due to involvement with another graphics community, but Ming helped me transform it into a style similar to his, which would be my goto style up until around 2022, when I was began to take inspiration from Monsoon and Dxdzn’s more minimalist headers that used Club Penguin assets.
Quite interesting. What would you say was historically your biggest difficulty graphics-wise, and how did you overcome it?
Funny enough, it was my transition to Photoshop. I genuinely don’t think I became used to using Photoshop until around 2020, when I returned to the community. I used to operate in Paint.net and thought my setup there was decent, and if I could make art in there fine, then there’s no need for other programs.
First, I tried Photoshop CS2 since that was free but it ran poorly on my laptop. Later, I got ahold of CC but I wasn’t making anything special, so there wasn’t much motivation to learn PS. After armies, I didn’t touch Photoshop that often unless it was for school projects.
Upon coming back though, I had all the time in the world (COVID) and raging motivation, so that helped me finally break past the barriers and laziness that prevented me from growing. Learning Photoshop let my creativity run rampant and I feel I’ve experienced the most growth after investing the time in learning how to use it.
That makes sense. On the topic of Photoshop, many designers do not have the luxury of Adobe products. Given you started humbly, what is your biggest advice for non-Adobe designers who are starting?
For designers starting out, I do believe that if you want to take this seriously, you need to invest in yourself. Of course, not everyone has the money (neither did I), so get the program by any means necessary if you can. Any means necessary.
However, one of the greatest ways to learn is to try and make something that your program doesn’t come with features to make. Most innovations present in our everyday life are the result of scarcity, where people found a way to perform some task with fewer and cheaper materials. It can be redundant, as if you’re recreating a wheel, but it really teaches you the most important part about designing: the process.
To go from blank canvas to final product, you need to be able to visualize the process betweens point A and B. If you can see one step ahead, that’s good, but if you can see every step from start to finish, you are doing something right. That’s what it means to try and make something in a software that doesn’t let you make it so easily: it teaches you how to systematically approach things and turn your ideas into a reality.
Wise words. One of those tools that are scarce for some programs (like Paint.net which is almost strictly raster) is the bézier—or pen—tool. A proverb you live by is the usage of the pen—tool. Can you explain the importance of the tool to the improvement of your designs? Would you recommend it to others?
I consider the pen tool to be a “bridge”. What I mean by that is that for traditional Photoshop or image manipulation designers, they tend to use assets that aren’t necessarily their own, creating a dependency and restricting their creativity. The pen tool to me is what vertical integration is to corporations.
The pen tool lets me create my own assets, which is how I draw EVERYTHING in my graphics (very few times I use a tablet, but only when necessary). It lets me control the entire graphic process and prevents my creativity from being restricted. The only thing restricting me at this point is my own skill and motivation, but when there’s something I want to do, the pen tool has made it 100% possible.
If you want to make the most out of graphic design, learn tools like that. The pen tool gives you the ability to draw without a stylus or tablet, it gives you finer control over selecting a graphic, it is literally your Swiss army knife.
Perfect, thank you. In your opinion, what was your favourite design? Likewise, what was your least favourite?
My favorite either has to be the Doritos Orange Summer or the header I recently made for the Doritos. The Orange Summer header feels like one of my best works and is something far more advance than what I was capable of at the time. However, the one I recently finished is my best work to date, with everything being custom drawn. Not to mention, the accompanying site components (the buttons and background), I think it’s a consistent design and I glaze it everytime I see it.
As for least favorite? It’s hard to say, since while I do dislike some designs, it was the best I could have produced at the time. Among my designs since returning, I did come to not like the CPAL [2020] one as much because of how little thought I gave it. A lot of the graphics from that period were mass produced with little thought, but that one was very overwhelming to the eyes and had too much going on. My current works also have a lot going on, but difference is that there’s still a theme and the colors are balanced. That one was an eyesore.
A common concern in the modern graphics market is payment. Although more people can afford graphics than ever before, the loss of Xat has eliminated Xats and Days. As a result, many designers are undercharged (or not charged at all). What is your perspective on that dilemma?
I think it’s discouraging for newer folk, as they see no reason to get into design. Nowadays, if you see a new designer on the block, it’s not because of us but rather it’s because they came from another community that encouraged design more. I feel this undercharging is mostly because people don’t see the necessity to pay for graphics. A lot of armies nowadays are old guard that stood there at a time when someone was willing to pay for graphics, and since then they’ve reused those assets. Graphics remain just as important and do make a difference in the branding/professionalism of your army. If you maintain subpar graphics and don’t see a desire to pay, don’t expect your community to appeal to anyone outside of the people already around.
I relate to those that don’t get paid, having spent every year of design until 2020 not being paid (2021 I was finally paid real cash, but 2020 I was mostly paid in Nitro). There’s not much of an incentive but you do come out of this community with a very relevant skill, which is much better than spending your days on Discord arguing about who’s more chronically online.
A Round of Advice
Initially, Zamb was hoping to make a video to help show how to create custom penguins similar to his. Unfortunately, because of technical limitations, Zamb was unable to create the video. Instead, he has created a free PowerPoint tutorial for public viewing so viewers can learn more.
One of the most highly-respected designers of the modern era, it was a pleasure to have Zambi4 take the time to sit down with Club Penguin Armies. We were able to chat about his long history and important advice. Will this inspire you to take up the art of making custom penguins? Are you going to try designing? Who would you like to apply to our team? Which one of Zamb’s designs was your favourite?
Dino
Senior Reporter
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