This is the method I use when drawing a realistic monster.

I think there are various ways,

I hope you can refer to it as an example.

Decide on a theme

First, consider what monster you want to draw.

When drawing humans, you might think of “a girl who uses magic,” “a strong fighter,” or “a terrifying boss,” but the same goes for drawing monsters.

Solidify images such as "Dragon to manipulate flame" and "Eerie humanoid".

This time, I thought about “Wolf-type monster with water attribute”.

Think about settings

Let's think about habitat and ecology once the theme is decided.

This is because the environment in which you live greatly affects your appearance.

This time, I have two settings.

"I live in swamps and wetlands"

"There is a difference in appearance between male and female"

Creating a design (rough)

Let's make a design from the settings you thought.

① Since the theme is "Wolf-type monster with water attribute", I draw the wolf first.

It will become a monster based on this.

② Since I live in a swamp / wetland, I made my whole body smooth.

If your whole body is mofumofu, your hair will contain water and your body will become heavier.

Because it gets dirty and hardened with mud.

And the shoulders were raised and the stomach was constricted in order to characterize the silhouette.

③ Since there are still few features, we will incorporate the features of creatures that are on the water.

Speaking of a carnivorous animal on the waterside, a crocodile came up with it

”The face looks like a crocodile, and the thorns on the back are also based on the crocodile scales.

】 The overall design is sharp and sharp, giving an aggressive impression.

And with reference to the frog, water the water so that you can swim faster in the water,

I put a throat bag so that I could hear it in a loud voice.

I decided that there is a difference in appearance between males and females, so make a difference.

 

-Females are plain colors with small thorns and throat bags

・ On the other hand, males are flashy and have large thorns and throat bags.

 

The fact that males are flashier than females and that their body parts are larger is a characteristic found in real creatures.

Make a letter

We finish the design that we thought about earlier.

① Create a new vector layer (line drawing) on the draft design and draw a line drawing.

(2) Create a “new layer (paint)” under the line drawing layer and fill the line drawing.

③ Decide the light source and paint bright and dark areas.

At this time, if you work with the paint layer "lock transparent pixels"

It is convenient because the paint does not protrude.

④ Express the unevenness of the muscles with reference to the materials.

Since it is a fictional creature, it does not imitate 100% of the flesh of a real animal

I added the irregularities that I thought were “cool”.

 

The following three brushes were used.

Separate layers for each part

Based on the design draft, separate layers for each color.

 

For example,

Since the stomach is yellow, copy and paste by selecting the part you want to yellow with the "selection pen".

Now you have a stomach-only layer on the layer “whole body”.

Similarly, create a layer for each part with a different color, such as a pattern or thorn.

 

When you list the layers, it looks like the figure below.

Add color with gradient map

Activates the layer “Full Body”.

Select a layer on the menu bar → “New Color Correction Layer” → “Gradient Map”

Adjust the color bar of the gradient map so that it looks good.

If difficult, it is easy to arrange the default gradient set.

When the gradient map is decided, apply the clipping mask to the layer “whole body”.

Similarly, the gradation map was applied to the other parts.

Finish

The part that could not be expressed in the gradation map,

Add reflected light, brightness and darkness.

Create a new folder “Fine Adjustment” on the “Monster” folder that summarizes line drawings and paintings.

I added highlights and reflected light from the ground.

carry out

The scalpel adjusted the gradient map by modifying some of the line drawings.

That's all there is to it.

Thank you for browsing so far!