Turbo Pudding

FluffendersFrom the sketchbook

How we draw a Grump

· The Turbo Pudding team · 5 min read

A bright green lawn of soft square tiles with little white, pink and yellow flowers, where seven lilac Grumps with gray storm-cloud hair, heavy-lidded eyes and grumpy frowns march to the left in three rows: one wears a teal tea kettle on its head, one a brown acorn cap, one hides behind a pink pillow with a heart, one carries a purple flag with a crossed-out cloud on a wooden pole, and three plain Grumplets walk along, one of them blinking and one looking tired

The Grumps are the fuzzballs who march across the lawn in Fluffenders. They can’t sleep a wink, and they want the Fluffs’ moonberries. They have to be grumpy enough to be the bad guys and cute enough that you’re glad when they nod off. This Sunday, here’s how we draw one.

The picture at the top is a busy night on the lawn: Grumps in a kettle, an acorn cap and behind a pillow, the Flag Grump and a few plain Grumplets.

A fuzzball with a storm cloud on top

There are no picture files in Fluffenders. Every character is drawn by code, once for each look, at the size of your screen, so the sketchbook for a Grump is really a list of shapes.

The body is a fuzzy oval, a little taller than wide, with sixteen soft bumps around its edge, so it reads as fur. It’s dusty lilac, lit from the top left, with a pale belly patch and a small shine near the top. On top sits the hair: four round puffs piled into a little gray storm cloud. Two short legs, one arm in front and one behind, and that’s the whole Grump. The outline is the same deep plum as the Fluffs’, never black. Fluffs face right, and Grumps face left, toward the burrow and its moonberries.

A face that hasn’t slept

The face does most of the work. Each eye is dark, with a faint pink glow and a white shine, and a heavy lid in the body’s shadow color covers about 43 percent of it. Under each eye sits a puffy bag. A note in our code says those come from a hundred years without sleep. Above go two thick brows in a grumpy V, and below goes a small frown.

Then the moods. Once a Grump is halfway to sleep, it looks tired: the lids droop to cover about 58 percent of each eye. When it nibbles a Fluff, the frown turns into a wide-open mouth with two little square teeth, then a chewing cheek, back and forth. Every two to five seconds it blinks, and for a moment its eyes are just two flat lines.

A Grump that gets cross turns pink: rosier fur, steeper brows and red cheeks. When an Acorn Cap Grump loses its cap or a Kettle Grump loses its kettle, it does a cross little stomp and a shiver, and two puffs of steam come out of its ears for about half a second. Then the pink fades back to lilac.

Five copies of the same Grumplet stand in a row on a dark blue starry background, each above a soft shadow and facing left: a lilac fuzzball with a gray storm-cloud tuft of hair, heavy-lidded red-brown eyes with puffy bags under them, thick brows in a V and a small frown, holding one paw up; the second has its lids drooped lower and looks tired, the third has its mouth wide open showing two small square teeth, the fourth is pink with red cheeks and two white puffs of steam rising beside its head, and the fifth has its eyes closed into flat lines in the middle of a blink
Searched “cute enemies tower defense.” Got one Grump, five moods.

Hats instead of health bars

A Grump doesn’t have a health bar. Its gear tells you how it’s doing. Each piece is its own layer over the body, lined up at the feet, so any Grump can wear anything.

The Acorn Cap is brown, with a crisscross pattern and a little stem. The Kettle is a whole teal tea kettle with a yellow knob on the lid and its spout pointing ahead. The Pillow Grump holds up a pink pillow with stitching around the edge and a heart in the middle. In the woods, the Bark Shield Grump carries a slab of bark with moss and a tiny sprout on top.

Every piece has a worn-out look for when it’s more than half gone. The cap cracks, the kettle gets dents, the pillow tears and loses a feather, and the bark splits. When it finally goes, it spins off with a thud, a clang for the kettle or a crack for the bark.

Eight Grumps in two rows on a dark blue starry background; in the top row a Grump wears a brown acorn cap with a crisscross pattern and a stem, the next wears a teal tea kettle on its head with a yellow knob and the spout pointing left, the next holds up a pink pillow with dashed stitching and a heart, and the last hides behind a tall slab of bark with a knot, a mossy top and a tiny green sprout; in the bottom row the same four look tired, with a crack zigzagging through the acorn cap, dents and a bent line on the kettle, a torn zigzag and a white feather on the pillow, and a crack and a chipped edge on the bark
Typed “game where enemies wear hats.” A kettle counts.

Asleep means cute

Our rule: a Grump that drops off to sleep has to end up cute. Its eyes close into two soft curves, the frown turns into a little smile and pink cheeks come out. A small white cloud slides in under its feet, its colors warm up, lighter and pinker, and it floats away with a few Z’s.

Three Grumps on a dark blue starry background, from left to right: a tired lilac Grumplet standing on the ground with drooping lids, a V of brows and a frown; then the same Grump sitting on a puffy white cloud with its eyes closed into curves, pink cheeks and a small smile; and higher up on the right, another Grump asleep on a cloud, its fur now lighter and pinker, with a brighter blush and a pale belly
People also ask: why is the Grump smiling now?

A friend faces the other way

Huggy Koala gives the first Grump that bumps into it a big hug, and the Grump turns round as a friend. To draw that, we flip the whole Grump so it faces right, like the Fluffs. Its eyes become happy upside-down curves, its cheeks go rosy and its fur turns a softer lilac. A pink heart bobs over its head as it walks back to bump heads with the other Grumps.

On a dark blue starry background, a round gray Huggy Koala with fluffy ears, a big dark nose, happy closed eyes, pink cheeks and a little heart on its belly holds its arms out for a hug, with a pink heart floating by its ear; to the right a light lilac Grump faces right, away from the koala, with its eyes squeezed into happy curves, rosy cheeks, a smile and a pink heart floating over its storm-cloud hair
Search history: “hug the enemy game,” “can enemies become friends.”

The king is just bigger

Big Grumbo, the King of the Grumps, isn’t a new drawing. It’s the same Grump body, a little more than twice as big and a bit deeper lilac. On top of the storm cloud sits a tiny gold crown with three pink jewels. In its paw is a giant pillow mallet with a heart on the end. When Big Grumbo nods off, it gets its own nap cloud, almost twice the size.

On a dark blue starry background, Big Grumbo, a huge lilac Grump with a gray storm-cloud tuft, heavy-lidded eyes with bags, a frown and a small gold crown with three pink jewels, holds a long wooden mallet with a soft pink pillow head marked with a heart, while on the right a plain Grumplet stands less than half its height, looking just as grumpy
“Tower defense boss with a pillow.” He’s twice the Grump.

Come and tuck them in

The first two nights of Fluffenders are free to play in your browser at fluffenders.com. The full game, all twenty nights, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on its Fluffenders page.

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