So, I decided to do some Ursula fan art. Not because I’m suddenly a massive Little Mermaid fan, mind you. It’s more like, I was scrolling, seeing the same cutesy stuff everywhere, and thought, “You know what? Ursula. She’s got actual presence.” Most villains these days feel a bit… watered down, if you ask me.
First thing, I started hunting for references. You’d think that’d be easy, right? Wrong. It’s a total mess out there. I found that screengrabs from the old movie are all fuzzy, and half the fan art you find takes so many liberties, she barely looks like herself. I probably spent a good hour just sifting through images, trying to find a few decent shots of her face and, of course, those iconic tentacles. What a pain that was, really.
Then I actually began the sketching. Getting her expression just right – that specific mix of theatrical villainy and genuine, sharp cunning. That took a few tries, let me tell you. And the tentacles, oh man, the tentacles. Don’t even get me started on those. I was trying to make them look like they have weight and actual movement, instead of just being a bunch of purple pool noodles stuck to her. I must have erased and redrawn those things a dozen times. It honestly felt like I was wrestling an octopus myself by the end of it.
Coloring was the next stage I tackled. I initially figured, okay, purple, black, a bit of that lavender for highlights. How hard could it be? Turns out, pretty hard if you don’t want her to end up looking like a giant bruise or just completely flat. I spent ages getting those subtle shifts in her skin tone, really working to make her look like she actually belongs underwater and has that slightly sinister vibe. For a while, I was just pushing colors around on the screen, hoping for the best.
And my trusty old drawing tablet? Well, it decided to act up, of course. Perfect timing. Just when I was getting into a good groove with the details. The pressure sensitivity started going all wonky. One minute it’s fine, the next I’m either carving lines deep into the digital canvas or barely making a mark at all. You know how it is. You try to get some creative work done, and the tools themselves decide to throw a wrench in the works. It’s always something, isn’t it? I swear, sometimes these pieces of tech have a mind of their own, and they’re just out to test your patience.
After a lot of fiddling, and maybe a few choice words muttered at my screen, I finally got it to a point where I could step back and say, “Okay, that’s Ursula.” Is it a masterpiece? Probably not, I’m honest enough to admit that. But it’s my version of her, the result of this whole process. You do these things, you struggle through the annoying bits, and you inevitably learn something. Mostly, I learned that I might need to start looking for a new tablet, or perhaps just cultivate more patience. Probably a bit of both, if I’m being real.
It’s a funny thing, really, spending all those hours drawing a character that someone else dreamed up decades ago. But hey, it’s good practice. Definitely helps keep the rust off the old drawing skills. And sometimes, you just get an itch to draw a big, bold, unapologetic sea witch. It’s better than just sitting around staring at the wall, I guess. What else are you supposed to do with an afternoon, right?
