How to Draw a Monster

Today, we're covering a somewhat unusual topic as we delve into character design, and more specifically: a monster! And I'm not talking about cartoon monsters. No. Here, I'm talking about monsters that are truly frightening, the kind you wouldn't want to meet. The real deal!

So, it's actually quite a complex topic, as there are many ways to proceed.

• Start with something existing and then deform it in a way that makes it "monstrous"
• Embark on a search for silhouettes and look for something out of the ordinary, something with an interesting shape, etc.
• Mix different elements together (somewhat like mythology or the Middle Ages with creatures such as the manticore or sphinx, for example).

There is another method I find interesting which involves scribbling randomly on your paper, then observing the lines and drawing something from them. It can be quite random and might not always result in a monster (it could turn out to be a character or an animal).

I think that if you're not used to it, it might be interesting to start with the first method. Take something existing and distort it until it becomes monstrous. (Sensitive souls, beware!)

I feel like revisiting the deer we have already drawn (some time ago). Please see this article to learn to draw a deer.

HOW TO DRAW A MONSTER STEP BY STEP

So, I have no clear idea of what I want. Except that the final creature must be very scary. The good thing with monsters is that they don't need to resemble anything specific. They can even be completely asymmetrical (which is actually better). This allows for a wide range of freedoms.

This article isn't exactly going to provide you with a foolproof step-by-step guide or enable you to do what I do. Instead, it will show you how I go about it, what I test, distort, reset, move or not in order to achieve a monstrous result.

It might actually be interesting if you took this drawing of a deer and tried the exercise by distorting it as you would have done it (you probably don't have the same ideas as me ^^).

DRAWING THE HORNS

So, the first thing that catches my eye is the antlers. I'm definitely not going to leave them like that. I see them more like jaws. Jaws with randomly placed teeth, of course.

Paradoxically, I will not move the location of the eyes, but I will make them smaller. And I will add wrinkles around them too.

THE MONSTER'S EYES

DRAWING THE NECK

I don't know why, but I feel like thickening his neck a lot too. Until it drags on the ground. With big rolls. What other way would you draw it? :D

 

We're moving away from the deer and this is intentional. I'm using the deer as a base. I'm going all out for the example, but of course, you can be more restrained (that’s kind of the principle with most zombies in games ^^).

In short, I am now thinking in practical terms. This creature has a huge neck that is probably very heavy. I'm trying to think about how it can move and how it can eat. I can quite easily imagine that it tilts its head, jaw forward, and that it can actually move very quickly, somewhat like a snake, when it attacks. But with its head raised, it would be slow.

This leads me to reconsider the position of its eyes. If it dashes to attack, then its eyes should be positioned so that it can always see whether its head is raised or tilted.

I therefore abandon my two little eyes and opt for a large eye near the corner of the mouth. In my mind, there is another one placed on its back, so that this creature has almost no blind spot.

So, following my reasoning and to support its neck and head, this thing needs short, thick forelegs (for stability and strength). So, I quickly scribble something down. I don't know yet exactly how I'm going to make them.

DRAWING THE BODY

I'm moving on to the rest of the body. As I was saying, this creature is slow and clumsy, with its head in the air. It actually drags itself along. And it can charge headfirst (over short distances, I assure you).

So for me, the majority of its strength is located at the front of its body. The rear, on the other hand, will be frail. I am therefore going with a shape about the same length as the body of a deer, but ending much thinner.

 

Seeing that, I thought it would be more interesting to modify the curve of the back downwards. I prefer the dynamics and silhouette it gives to my monster. It fits more with the idea I have of it.

 

And the hind legs follow the same logic. They are scrawny, gnarled, rachitic, and abnormally long too. Radically different from the front legs. I have no hesitation in creating strange or "impossible" joints, but ones that work.

I think that here, you have no trouble imagining how it works, even though it's very ugly and abnormal to have kinds of double joints.

And I'm thinking of adding a tail to rebalance the silhouette.

FINALIZING THE DRAWING

Now that I have my base, I'm going to detail everything. I don't know about you, but generally when I grimace while drawing something because it disgusts me, I assume it must have roughly the same effect on other people. And you haven't even seen the colors I have in mind. It's worse! Really, it is.

While I have my rough design, the posture of my monster isn’t very natural. So, I'll relax its neck forward and give a bit more movement to the front legs.

Then it occurs to me to add two ridiculous front legs (like T-Rex, you see?). It doesn't seem like much, but I think when this thing stretches its neck to attack, its little legs must really help.

ADDING DETAILS TO THE DRAWING AND CLEANING UP THE MONSTER

In short, I am going to highlight everything that is normally downplayed: wrinkles, skin folds, cellulite or textured skin, abnormal joints, etc.

That inspires you, doesn't it? :D I'll show you some steps along the way.

 

Here, I felt like adding some kind of warts or some such things, I don't want to know.

As I added warts in some places, I try to make it all uniform by placing them in other chosen spots.

In the end, we get this with some cross-hatching ^^

I hope you like it, I did it just for you ^^

Here, your mission, should you choose to accept it: find it a name!

Of course, it is easier to create a believable monster if you have some knowledge of anatomy. If you are used to drawing humans or animals, familiar with the arrangement of bones and muscles. As is often said: if you know how things are normally structured, you can then have fun deconstructing them, but the reverse works much less well.

I hope this short article has nonetheless helped you understand how to create a monster from another drawing that is unrelated ^^

Quick recap:

• We start from something existing (ideally a living being)
• It is distorted, without abandoning logic, in order to make it disproportionate and abnormal, even going as far as to diverge from the basic model, which then becomes impossible to identify.
• We don’t forget anatomy and making the creature believable. Ask yourself the right questions: how does it move, how does it perceive the world around it (does it have eyes, a nose, a mouth?)
• We freely play with disproportions.

And good luck :D

Illustrator and writer: Rakjah