How Hippie Met Nessie

Turning Two Boring Drawings Into A Cr*ppy Big One

Have you ever felt stuck with two incomplete ideas, only to realize they might come together into something greater? That's exactly what happened to me while working on two very different drawings in Procreate on my iPad Pro. What's more, I captured the entire process on video. Here's how these two projects evolved into one unified artwork.

December 2024 Mildly NSFW

How I drew each individual piece and then combined them into a single image. (Watch on YouTube)

Art is often an unpredictable journey, where initial ideas evolve in unexpected ways. Recently, I embarked on a creative experiment using Procreate on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, and the result was a single image that combined two distinct drawings. Here's how it unfolded.

The First Drawing: A Hippie on a Toilet

It started with a fun and slightly silly idea: a hippie sitting on a toilet. I sketched the rough figure in a side view using Procreate's pencil tool. Once I was satisfied with the proportions, I inked the drawing, using hatching and black areas to give the figure depth and weight. Coloring was the next step, where I experimented with different palettes before settling on a combination of warm yellows and oranges for the figure's skin tone, contrasted with greenish-turquoise and blue shades for balance.

While the result was whimsical and visually engaging, I wasn't entirely satisfied. The image felt incomplete, as though something essential was missing.

The Second Drawing: A Tentacled Nessie

Some time later, I began another project: a cartoonish and grotesque version of the Loch Ness monster. I imagined Nessie's head emerging from water, tentacles writhing from its mouth, and tiny claws curled menacingly. Following my usual process, I started with a rough pencil sketch and then refined it with a technical pen tool. I strengthened the contours and added cross-hatched shading for volume and texture. The final touch was coloring on a separate layer beneath the ink lines and adding highlights and shadows.

Despite my efforts, this drawing also left me dissatisfied. The sky above the monster felt empty, so I added a logo with the word “Nessie,” but even then, the image didn't resonate. I have a principle of finishing drawings I've invested in, so I completed it - but felt stuck in a creative dead end.

Accidental Match: Combining The Drawings

That's when inspiration struck: what if I combined the two drawings? Both the hippie and Nessie were side views, so I mirror-flipped one image so they faced each other. This simple adjustment gave birth to a humorous and surreal composition: the hippie, eyes closed in serene contemplation, sat on his toilet facing Nessie, whose grotesque head emerged from a hole in the ground filled with water.

The juxtaposition reminded me of an anecdote I once read about bathroom stalls without doors arranged to face each other, forcing occupants into awkward face-to-face encounters. The humor and absurdity of that idea tied the two drawings together in a way that felt natural.

Crazy Hatching Across the Backgrounds

To unify the composition, I combined the backgrounds. The hippie's scene featured an orange wall with light playing across it, which I had cross-hatched to create texture. I extended this background to cover the entire piece, blending the elements to give the image cohesion.

Nessie Staring Down the Toilet Hippie

With the combined drawing complete, I recorded the process using Procreate's automatic video capture feature and uploaded the video to YouTube. Watching the playback was a fascinating reminder of how two disparate ideas had evolved into a single piece.

While I'm much happier with the final image than with either of the individual drawings, I recognize it's not my best work. Reflecting on the process, I realize that my tendency to start drawing without much planning might have limited the potential of this project. If I'd planned the composition and themes in advance, the result might have been stronger.

The final image, combining the hippie and Nessie drawings into a single composition.

Don't Draw First and Ask Questions Later

This experience reminded me of the importance of adaptability in art. Even when individual projects feel uninspired, they can come together in unexpected ways. The journey is just as valuable as the outcome, and sometimes the best ideas emerge when we allow ourselves to experiment and play.

There's an old saying that "you can't polish a turd", and I've often found that to be true in art. When a concept feels fundamentally flawed, no amount of tweaking or refinement will turn it into something worthwhile.

Art is often an unpredictable journey, where initial ideas might evolve in unexpected ways.