Alright, so I decided I wanted to create a "fearsome fairy tale monster." It’s been a while since I just let myself get creative without a specific client or project in mind, you know? Just for the fun of it, or maybe the thrill of making something genuinely unsettling.
Getting Started – The Blank Page Stares Back
First things first, I just sat there for a bit. Staring at my drawing tablet, which was just a blank white screen at that point. Sometimes that’s the hardest part, just getting that first line down. I wasn’t aiming for perfection, just something to break the ice. I remembered this old story my grandma used to tell, not a happy one, more of a warning. It had this vague, shadowy thing in it. That was my starting point, a feeling more than an image.
I started sketching, real loose stuff. Lots of scribbles, trying to find a shape. My first few attempts? Honestly, they looked more like grumpy potatoes than anything fearsome. I almost gave up right then. Thought maybe I'd lost my touch. It’s funny how quickly that self-doubt can creep in, isn't it? Just like that time I tried to fix the leaky faucet and ended up flooding the bathroom. Some days, you just ain't got it.
Finding the "Fearsome"
But I pushed on. I started thinking, what makes something "fairy tale" scary? It’s not always about pure gore. Sometimes it's the unnaturalness of it, the things that are just… wrong. Too many eyes, or limbs that bend the wrong way. I started playing with that. I pulled up some old illustrations, the really old, creepy ones, not the sanitized versions we see today. The kind that genuinely gave kids nightmares. That helped. It wasn't about copying them, but about catching that vibe.
- Eyes: I decided to go with multiple eyes, but not just scattered randomly. I tried to make them look like they were all focusing, intelligently. That's way creepier.
- Texture: Instead of scales or fur, I went for something that looked like old, gnarled wood, or maybe dried leather stretched too tight over bone. Something that would feel horrible to touch.
- Silhouette: This was a big one. I spent a good hour just on the outline. It needed to be instantly recognizable and unsettling even as a shadow. I made it sort of hunched, but with an unnatural length to its limbs.
The Nitty-Gritty: Pushing Pixels (or Lead)
Once I had a stronger concept, I started to properly render it. I work digitally mostly these days, easier to undo the million mistakes I make. Layer upon layer. I started with dark, murky colors. Lots of desaturated blues and browns. I kept thinking about those deep, dark woods from the stories. The kind of place you wouldn't want to be in after sunset.
The teeth were a challenge. I didn't want shark teeth, too common. I made them long, thin, almost like needles, but irregular, as if they’d grown in fits and starts. Some broken, some overlapping. That felt right. It added a history to the creature. You could almost imagine the awful things it had eaten.
There was this one point where the face just wasn't working. It looked more surprised than scary. I nearly threw my stylus across the room. I took a break, made some coffee, stared out the window for a bit. Came back, flipped the canvas horizontally – classic trick, but it works – and suddenly I saw what was wrong. The jawline was too soft. Needed more angles, more harshness.
Bringing It All Together
Slowly, it started to take shape. Adding highlights to those too-many-eyes to make them glint. Deepening the shadows to give it weight and make it feel like it was lurking. I even added a hint of something like old moss or fungus growing on parts of its "skin." Little details that hopefully make you lean in and then recoil a bit.
I remember thinking back to when I was a kid, scared of the monster under the bed. It was never a clear image, always more of a feeling, a presence. That's what I was trying to capture with this. Not just a monster, but the idea of a fairy tale monster, something ancient and patient and utterly without mercy.
And then, it was done. Or, as done as these things ever are.
I looked at it. Did it work? I think so. It’s not something I’d want to meet on a dark night. It has that "wrongness" I was aiming for. It felt like a proper, fearsome thing that could have stepped out of a grim, forgotten tale. It was a good session, reminded me why I started doing this stuff in the first place. Even if it did make me check under my own bed before I went to sleep that night. Just kidding... mostly.
