Hi!
First of all, welcome to this blog post which is the very first I write for Rosport Life.
I’m quite excited and a bit nervous too, so before either gets the better of me, let’s jump right into it.
With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it might be fun to do a little ghost drawing. Sounds easy enough but hear me out! They can be either really cute or spooky, whichever you prefer, and have a little extra fanciness added to them by adding the fall of the folds of their sheet.
So, without any further ado, here’s a little tutorial on how to draw a ghost.
1. First, draw an oval shape. A bit like an egg, a bit like a potato… Most beginnings are humble. Remember to draw your sketch lightly, or else it might be really hard or even impossible to completely erase the unwanted lines in the end.
A little ‘pro’ tip: use a (or multiple) coloured pencil(-s) instead of a graphite one. This will make it a lot easier to distinguish sketch and finished outline later and help avoid mistakes.
2. Now add a horizontal line about 2/3 down your egg-ish potato.
3. Add four lines, slightly bending outwards. Two of them should start where the previously drawn line and the oval shape intersect. The inner ones need to come from the egg-shape as well, but each about a centimetre (this may vary depending on the size of your drawing) further inward.
4. In this next step, we’ll close our ghosts’ cloth at the bottom with these wavy lines. Same goes for the outer lines but remember that some sections of the fabric will be hidden behind the anterior part.
5. We then add the fall of the folds with these (here) blue lines. The ones in between the serpentine bottom line bend slightly inward, then outward again, while the those above only bend inward, so that they come closer to each other, at the top, in pairs.
6. The next step is rather straight forward. With a pen of your choice, trace the outlines of your sketch. Remember to only trace those that actually do compose your drawing. It has happened to me more often than I care to admit to be lost in thoughts and accidentality ink a sketch aid line.
As you can see, I’ve also made one of the inner lines of the sheet slightly longer than the other, to have some line variation. The outer lines are also not symmetrical. (The one on the right bends outward a little higher than the one on the left.) This ‘imperfection’ will make you drawing look less stiff and more ‘natural’.
7. When you get to the inking of the fall of the folds, you can do either continuous or broken lines. Personally, I prefer the broken ones. The length of each stroke varies to add a bit of dynamism.
8. Last but not least, after !carefully! (as to not tear the paper) erasing your sketch lines, add a face to your ghost. As previously mentioned, cute or spooky is entirely up to you.
Caution: before you start erasing your sketch, please make sure your outlines are completely dry to avoid smudging!
9. What will become of your ghost? Will they become a lantern, member of a garland maybe, or a Halloween colouring page? If you colour it in, just remember that parts further in the background will be darker than the ones in the front, and don’t forget the shadows the folds will cast! I turned mine into stickers, added a little ribbon-bow, and stuck one to our dog’s food container to spook the cat out of snacking from it. Needless to say, he wasn’t impressed.
Hopefully I was able to give you a little inspiration. Have fun with your little ghosties!
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