How to Draw and Color Ness from Earthbound

Stephanie Lam ENGL 2116-021 Set of Instructions 3 Aug 2017

Ness is the silent protagonist from an RPG-game called Earthbound, How to Draw and Color Ness released by Nintendo in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment from Earthbound System. He lives in Onett alongside his mother and sister. One day, a futuristic warrior arrives in a meteorite that crashed in Ness’ hometown. The warrior, named Buzz-Buzz, tells Ness about a doomed future and that Ness is one of the Chosen Four who could save the world. Ness sets out on a journey across Eagleland to find the rest of the Chosen Four and put a stop to the evil encroaching his homeland.

Throughout the game, the player mostly controls Ness, though in some parts he or she controls one of the other Chosen Four. Ness uses bats or yoyos to fight, and wields pychokinetic powers called PSI. He and his friends fight wacky enemies they encounter in the overworld, such as the New Age Retro Hippie or the Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom, in a turn-based party battle system. The game is mostly known for its offbeat humor and heartwarming moments.

Although Earthbound sold well in Japan, it did poorly in the United States because of a horrible ad campaign. Its commercial failure in the states caused the game to fall into obscurity. Physical copies of the game sell for over a hundred US dollars and complete sets can even go in the thousands range. The game has developed a cult following which hopes for Nintendo to someday turn its attention to the series.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to draw and color a simple cartoon version of Ness. By the end of the guide, you should have a drawing of Ness similar to the picture on the left.

Step 1: Drawing the head

Table of Contents

I. Drawing the head pg. 2 II. Drawing the body pg. 4 III. Lining pg. 7 IV. Coloring pg. 8

Materials

o Pencil Fig. 1-1: Base of Head o Big eraser

o White paper or notebook/graph paper  Using a pencil, draw a circle to start off as a base. Then draw a o Red, blue, yellow, and brown colored pencils* straight line down the circle’s center past its bottom by a bit, o Black gel pen** which will act as a guideline. *Markers or crayons can also be used.  Draw a U-shaped curve starting from one side of the circle, **An ultra-fine tip black permanent marker can be substituted. going down to the guideline drawn earlier, then connecting to the other side of the circle. This will be the chin.

 Draw a horizontal guideline about ¾ down the base circle from one side of the head to the other.

STEP I: DRAWING THE HEAD

Notes  The final size of Ness will depend on how big you make the head.

 Make sure to give yourself enough room to draw the body. Ness will be about 2 ¾ Fig. 1-2: Face Fig. 1-3: Cap and Hair heads high.

 Ness’ eyes are small, filled-in vertical  Starting from the left end of the cap line,  The base of the head does not have to be ellipses. They are located on the horizontal draw a horizontal ellipse which extends a perfect circle. guideline and each eye is almost half the outwards, then comes back and stops when distance from the vertical guideline to the it touches the cap line. This is the front part  When sketching, it helps to make the corresponding side of the head. of the cap. strokes fast so the lines look more natural.  The mouth is a horizontal D-shape between  To create Ness’ hair, draw small, filled-in U- the eyes. The ends of the mouth are shapes on both sides of the head. Also,  Don’t draw too hard with the pencil or directly below the eyes, and the top part of draw a filled-in shape with three downward indent marks will show up while coloring. the mouth touches the bottom of the circle curved humps (where the middle hump is base drawn at the beginning. slightly larger than the other two) from the middle of the cap line to slightly past the  Draw a slightly-curved-upwards line that top of the eyes. splits the base circle in half horizontally. This is the bottom of Ness’ cap.  Draw small D-shapes on both sides of the head to represent the ears. Their size

should be from the top of Ness’ eyes to the top of Ness’ mouth.

Step 2: Drawing the body

Fig. 2-1: Horizontal Guidelines Fig. 2-2: Shoulders, Spine, and Hips Fig. 2-3: Torso Base, and Leg and Shoe Lines

 Make a horizontal guideline about one Ness  Draw a vertical line down starting from the  Draw tiny circles inside the ends of the head down from the bottom of the head. bottom middle of the head to the first ellipse to represent the leg joint, and draw This will be where the hips are located. horizontal guideline. This represents Ness’ slightly angled vertical lines from those joints spine. to the second horizontal line. These are the  Make another horizontal guideline about 1 leg guidelines. ¾ Ness heads down from the bottom of the  Draw a horizontal line slightly below the head. This marks the bottom of Ness’ shoes. chin. The length should extend from one  Draw wide, upside-down U-shapes side of the head to the other (discounting extending outwards from each leg as the ears). This represents the shoulder line. guidelines for Ness’ shoes. You can draw tiny circles at the ends of the  Then, connect the shoulder joints with their line to help you visualize the joints. corresponding leg joints to form a  Draw a regular ellipse that is as long as the rectangular shape. This is the base for Ness’ shoulder line at the first horizontal guideline. torso. This is Ness’ hip.

STEP II: DRAWING THE BODY

Fig. 2-4: Arm and Hand Guidelines Fig. 2-5: Neck and Shirt Fig. 2-6: Shirt and Backpack

 To make Ness’ arms, draw a small line  Draw Ness’ neck by making a short, open-  Draw triangles starting from the top of each slightly angled outward, extending from ended rectangle from the chin to the shoulder joint to make T-shirt cuffs. A line each shoulder joint until about half of Ness’ shoulder line. On the shoulder line, draw a should extend outwards the same way as the torso. At that point, the line will go towards U in the middle slightly wider than the neck. arm guidelines but should be slightly above the side of the hip, ending with an oval to The U marks Ness’ T-shirt collar. them. About two-thirds the length of the represent Ness’ hands. Try not to make the upper arm, cross the line over the upper arm  Two short lines should connect from the top angle of the elbow too acute though, line towards the torso base. of each shoulder joint to each side of the because Ness’ arms will appear too long. neck. These lines are slightly above the  Define the sides of the T-shirt by solidifying shoulder line, showing that the T-shirt is the lines on the sides of the torso base. The above the body. top of the lines should end halfway through the height of the cuffs.

 Draw fang-like shapes from the top of each shoulder to the sides of the torso right below the cuffs. These shapes are the backpack straps.

STEP II: DRAWING THE BODY

Fig. 2-7: Arms and Hands Fig. 2-8: Pants, Legs, and Shoes Fig. 2-9: Erased Guidelines

 To make Ness’ arms, draw pointy-bracket-  Starting from where the hands touch the hip,  Next, erase as best as you can the basic like shapes (< and >) starting from the end of draw rectangles extending down and out on guidelines. The lines left form Ness’ outline. the cuffs to the hips. Use the arm guidelines both sides, where the inner side of each Although this step may seem useless since drawn earlier to help with placement. rectangle should connect to the middle we are going to be erasing all the pencil Remember to connect half-ellipses at the bottom of the hip ellipse. These are Ness’ later, it will make the next bit easier. bottom end of the arms to form Ness’ hands. pants.

 Like the arm guidelines, the leg guidelines are a skeleton. To make Ness’ legs, just enclose the leg guidelines with short lines on both sides, starting from the bottom of the pants. Leave room for the shoes. The shoes will be similar in shape to their guidelines. The back of the shoe should align with the inner part of the leg.

Step 3: Lining STEP II & III: DRAWING THE BODY & LINING

Fig. 3-1: Outline Pen over Pencil

 Using the black gel pen, go over the pencil lines you drew earlier. Fill in the hair and eyes like done with the pencil.

Fig. 2-10: T-Shirt Stripes

 Draw lines on the T-shirt to make stripes. The middle portion has horizontal lines while the cuffs have lines parallel to the bottom of the cuff. Make sure you have the same amount of lines on both cuff.

Fig. 3-2: Erase Pencil

 After waiting for the pen to dry, erase the pencil underneath.

Step 4: Coloring STEP III & IV: LINING & COLORING

Fig. 4-1: Color Key Fig. 4-2: Fully Colored

Red: main part of cap, mouth, main part of shoes

Blue: front part of cap, pants, every other stripe (alternate with yellow) Fig. 3-3: Add Details Yellow: every other stripe (alternate with blue)  OPTIONAL: Add extra details like lines on the cap, pants pockets, Brown: backpack straps and shoelaces.  Refer to the pictures above if coloring locations are unclear.

Notes  Avoid erasing on top of the filled areas because the Notes heavy-concentrated ink is likely to smudge.  Make sure you color on a flat surface free of stray debris. Crumbs, shavings, and the like will make the coloring  Your pen lines do not have to be the same as the uneven. pencil outlines, just close.  The most bottom stripe of Ness’ shirt is yellow. Alternate the colors from there.

Congratulations! You just drew Ness from Earthbound. Sign the drawing if you want at a nice spot!