Creatures of the Dark

In this post I will share with you my observations on drawing monster creatures based on myths and stories from the darkness. These creatures are meant to emulate fear and danger to humans. A lot of them have stories related to corruption, evil intentions, and destruction. Some even used to be human and are meant to show what humans will become if we do not live in goodwill.

 

That is why I would like to illustrate my observation starting from a human character, and in comparison, how drawing the creatures differ from drawing human characters. Everyone's style of drawing is very different from how you sketch, do the lines, and color so hopefully what I share can be helpful more on the observation of the shapes and texture and how you apply it in your own style.

There he is! Just some guy. A human with all of his ordinary traits. What will dark corruption bring to this character?

1. Ghost

Ghosts are apparitions of dead human beings. Although very often shown to be malevolent, ghosts usually are stuck into the earthly realm due to tragic reasons such as murder, fear, or unfinished business.

This lore would translate to how ghosts are drawn. It would have the same "anatomy" as a human, but faded and almost not there, in the sense that it is transitioning into another being.

A faded, sketchy look with heavy shadows is usually how people see ghosts in real life. Consider something you see in your dreams (or rather, your nightmare) and how fuzzy it is just like how this creature has a weak connection with the living.

Starting with the outline, decides where most of the facial features or the prominent features of the body are and map out shadows instead, where the shapes are still recognizable.

I used fuzzy effect with pencils brushes and alternating between several grey colors and opacities to obtain that ghostly texture. It feels almost like a fog, but you are sure you see human features.

To finish up, use smaller size of brush to create cross stitch effect for the shading. it adds details while retaining the "fuzzy" and "foggy" effect.

 

Ultimately what you can feel from the ghost creature is that you are sure it was once like you, and you feel like you can talk to them, but some things will always be off.

2. Vampires

Vampires are humanoid monsters that lurk in the darkness, created from human beings being bitten by another vampire. The humans themselves could not choose this fate, so the moral seems to be that the world has evils that want more evil to roam the earth. Once a human is turned into a vampire, it can only choose agonizing death or continuing the evil cycle.

 

Although they have intelligence and can be reasoned with, this means they have to live a life where they are aware of how malevolent they are. This can be shown in the creature design.

An aggressive expression yet cold and calm demeanor might be the most iconic presentation for vampires. Often shown to be arrogant, vampires often know they are much stronger than any other creature.

This is shown through the face lines through out the skin, smile lines, nose crunches, and eyebags. to showcase their fangs vampires would also often have a very wide smile.

Although the fangs are the first thing people point out about vampires, their eyes are actually just as powerful. Vampires have the ability to hypnotize, and is nocturnal so a very striking set of eyes is needed.

In contract with their pale skin, yellow, red and black could be used to color the eyes to make them pop out.

In coloring vampires, since they are characteristically pale and is a creature of the undead purple and red can be used as the shadows and to emphasize especially the eyes. The skin folds and the inhumane colors around the eyes will make the pupils pop out even more.

A vampire couldn't be complete without blood, so some blood splatter effect would definitely help in presenting the creature in its glory.

In creating blood splatter, bright red is good for contract effect. In bigger parts of the blood use darker colors as blood will coagulate and darken after it is released.

3. Demons and Ghouls

Perhaps the most "sinful" of its origin story, demons and ghouls could be either once-a-human, or another being entirely. The stories of ghouls who originated from humans who became cannibals through murder are meant to warn humans to never harm. Whereas stories of people selling their souls to the demon and becoming one is about fighting greed.

 

Through these stories, I can interpret them to the designs as a corrupted being where the anatomy is exaggerated. They want to be stronger, but in a very malevolent way.

Realistic anatomy becomes unsettling as you adds excessive amount of skin folds. Picture the folding as overgrown yet very tight skin as if it wants to grow bigger but the body is not following yet.

Bones are protruding and the joints are prominent. limbs become elongated and the figure shapes become very sharp.

The hands are where the details could really be added, as usually these creatures lose their abilities to express themselves through the face. The face usually becomes disfigured, skeletal, or stuck in one shape. The hands are used to communicate or to taunt.

Just like the body, the hands become elongated. The fingers are longer with nails so the movements become more dynamic. Joints and bones of the hands are prominently shown, as if it wants to burst out the skin.

In sketching the pose, think more of how lizards would move. All limbs are used more to move and they have no limitation to how their joints operate, so combining your references to humans and lizards help with finding the movement. The first devil was a snake afterall.

Creating small shadings with small brushes adds in the unsettling feeling of the texture of this creature. It's realistic, yet it's inhumane.

Ultimately this is a creature with the most freedom in designing, yet the most anatomical knowledge and realistic drawing needed? Almost like the origin story where the creatures want to be or will become something more than they are, but are still bound to be what they were.

That is all I can share for this post! Observing creatures that do not exist in real life is fun for artistic exploration, and is a way for me to really think how to draw. I hope this post was useful for you in some way.

 

Thank you for reading!