Alright, so today I figured I’d walk you through a little drawing session I had. The subject? Ben Drowned. Yeah, that creepy pasta legend. For some reason, I just got the itch to try and capture that vibe on paper, or well, on my drawing tablet, to be precise.
Getting Started – The Idea and Prep
It all started when I was scrolling through some old internet lore. Ben Drowned always stood out, you know? That unsettling feeling from the story. So, I thought, why not try to draw him? First things first, I pulled up a few reference images. Not like official art, ’cause there isn’t any, really. Mostly fan interpretations, to get a feel for the common themes – the Link-esque appearance, but twisted, darker.
I wasn’t aiming for a copy of anything, more like my own take on it. I grabbed my stylus and fired up my drawing software. I usually start with a really messy layer, just to get the basic shapes down.
The Sketching Process
So, I began with a super rough sketch. Think stick figure, but a bit more fleshed out. I wanted to get the pose right first. I imagined him sort of… looming, but also a bit broken. It’s a tricky balance. I played around with a few poses, erased a lot, started over a couple of times. That’s pretty normal for me.
Once I had a pose I didn’t hate, I started to refine it. I focused on the silhouette. He’s often depicted like Link, so I sketched out the tunic, the hat, but made sure they looked a bit off, maybe tattered or ill-fitting. The face was the next big challenge. How do you make something familiar look so… wrong? I spent a good while on the eyes. They needed to be empty, or staring, or just plain unsettling. I opted for that classic blacked-out-with-pinprick-pupils look for one version, then tried a more shadowed, hollow socket look. It’s all about experimenting at this stage.
Adding Details and Inking
With the basic form down, it was time for details. I started adding folds to the clothes, giving them a bit of weight. I thought about the textures. Maybe the clothes are perpetually damp? Or stained? I tried to hint at that with the way I drew the lines. Little things, like the way the hat droops, or how the hair might be matted.
Then came the “inking” phase. Since I was working digitally, this meant creating a new layer and carefully going over my messy sketch lines with cleaner, more defined strokes. This is where the drawing really starts to come together for me. I tried to vary my line weight a bit, thicker lines for outlines, thinner for details. It helps give it some depth. I made sure those eyes were a focal point – sharp and defined, even if dark and empty.
Color and Atmosphere
Choosing colors was next. I knew I wanted a muted, dark palette. Lots of desaturated greens, grays, and blues. Nothing too vibrant. I laid down the base colors first – the green for the tunic, the pale, almost sickly skin tone. I kept thinking about the “drowned” aspect. So, maybe some bluish tints in the shadows to suggest water or cold.
Shading was crucial for the mood. I didn’t go for super smooth blending. I wanted it a bit harsh, a bit unsettling. I imagined a dim light source, maybe from below, to cast some eerie shadows, especially on the face. Highlighting was minimal, just enough to pick out a few edges and make it not look completely flat.
I also played around with adding some “glitch” effects. Subtle, mind you. Like a few displaced pixels or faint, jagged lines here and there. Just a hint to tie into the whole haunted game cartridge story. I didn’t want to overdo it, though. Sometimes less is more with that kind of thing.
Final Touches and Thoughts
For the background, I kept it simple. Just a dark, murky gradient. I didn’t want anything to distract too much from the figure itself. Maybe a hint of dark water at the bottom, very subtle.
And that was pretty much it. I looked it over, made a few small tweaks to the shadows, adjusted some colors slightly. You know, the usual fiddling at the end. It’s not perfect, never is, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It captured a bit of that creepy feeling I was going for, I think. It was a fun little project, and a good way to spend an afternoon just drawing and experimenting. Sometimes you just gotta draw some creepy stuff, right?
