understanding how to draw CREEPY or UNCANNY illustrations

Just a short exploration of what I think makes art creepy!

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[katinka]

Sometimes creating something creepy is like a Rorschach test. Take something that is familiar and comfortable, then completely turning that on its head. You kind of want to invoke a subconscious feeling of being attacked. You are in between recognising something but at the same time questioning if you are safe. Experimenting with faces is the best example and is the fastest way to learn this. Tweaking little things so that they're just slightly off. The uncanny valley feeling is rooted in our ability to recognise each other. We store peoples faces in our brain, which is why you might see random faces occur in your dreams. There is a theory that the uncanny valley feeling is built into us because in history we encountered something that looked similar to a human. Obscurity and exposure are two different techniques that can be helpful when creating a creepy face. For obscurity, you would want to hide your subjects face, which makes the viewer feel stalked by a predator and then on the opposite side for exposure, you would want to have your subject out in the open, brightly lit and in your face, making the viewer feel outwardly attacked. It is a more aggressive and visceral approach where the audience can't hide or run away. Creepy art often invokes our primal fears - It's all about what emotion you want to convey from your subject and what reaction you want to elicit from your audience. I hope this was a little helpful - I like to apply this methodology when I create my own art 🤸 I really like this video, it's really helpful and you can actually see the results of what you are explaining

[emero.a.scythe]

I think part of why we find things that have been twisted and distorted so creepy, is that oftentimes you think "Were they always like this?"
And the answer can easily be no.
So the fear comes not from the maimed creature one is encountering, but instead from the idea that something maimed them in the first place. "Is it a threat?"
"Did something else do this to them?"
"Is my encounter with this creature, indicative of an encounter with that thing ?"

[Kira-xszv]

I love how it looks goofy and then it’s just nightmare fuel. This man knows his stuff

[meadowlaine]

I'm autistic so uncanny valley doesn't affect me much if at all. So when I was younger I used to look up what people found creepy because I genuinely had no clue what was considered creepy/ uncanny and it never worked because I didn't actually understand/ feel it

[rue...whenwasthis]

something that i dont see enough people talking about is that the existence of the "uncanny valley" implies an evoluntionary need to fear something that looks human but isnt

[Zilten_]

I think its interesting how different people can percieve something. How this doesn't necessarily invoke creepy or fear to me but rather sorrow, I kinda just feel bad for what I'm looking at; I would like to help it.

[ObsessedwithZelda]

I think the hardest part about getting art to read as creepy is getting it to read creepy in context. It is harder to portray something as ‘off looking’ in a stylized setting. For example, I’ve heard the power puff girls character designs are meant to be sort of literal. They don’t have fingers, their eyes really are big etc. But even if that’s true, they never look offputting to us because the setting they’re in is stylized already, so those elements are lost.
More goes into it of course, but there’s gonna need to be a lot of ingenuity for certain styles if you want your designs in such contexts. Still working on this, personally.

[mangomations]

i wanna hug that background drawing, dude looks so sad :<

[NerdEmoji]

If you really wanna make it unsettling do scribble art. I’ve used a ballpoint pen for a long time and it’s pretty easy to start but can look super good once you do it for a while.

[hypercube]

I'm too used to drawing cute things. Recently i've been on a creepy kick and it's been hard lol. So thanks for the tips!

[just_me]

I absolutely love your drawings, they are an inspiration to my paintings. It's amazing

[atheistmando]

I drew something that was so creepy it filled me, the artist with dread. Because i allowed the scribbles to form the pattern of the creature, i simply filled them in later with ink which gave me this very unholy monster. Sometimes scaring yourself is better than scaring others with your art.

[Tyulenin]

So that's why I really liked how my xenomorphs in the dark turned out, while not digging regular monster doodles

[ScurvySeamate]

Something I like doing is looking at child’s drawings and distorting them further into something horrifying

[lorenzosteffany-looney]

Really awesome video here! Incredible job on explaining that delicate balance on something that looks 'wrong' will always be more creepy than something that is outright 'scary'. Will definitely take this advice for future drawings

[MrDjhz]

A super great example of this I've run into recently is Doctor Salvador in the RE4 Remake. Really all you can see of his head through the bag is his eyes, but they're so far away from where they should be it makes my skin crawl.

[BlenderisedMind]

This was so nice to watch. I love drawing odd/creepy faces and love that you're proud of your work and do what you enjoy. I've pretty much stopped doing creepy stuff because all my friends/family always tell me "you're talented, why do you draw that nonsense. Draw something nice, etc" But this has somehow inspired me to just create weird stuff, for myself that I won't post on social media lol. Thanks so much! All the best.

[levzee]

I would never have thought that a dude with such a comfortable voice would explain such a topic by drawing a very uncomfortable thing. thanks bro, it was helpful! hi from russia!

[thetageist]

Aspiring horror dev here. Thanks for making this, you’ve got my gears turning! Now I know what to do for monster designs and similar stuff.

[orion]

THANK YOU FOR THIS!!! i love your art sm and i think its fantastic to be able to be inside your mind a little while you draw!