Ghosts in the ‘Hood

In a week’s time is Halloween. So get your costumes out for some Trick or Treating or just have a costume party! Little One and her boyfriend are dressing up as ghosts this year. How cute! Of course I wanted to paint about it but thought something out of the ordinary would be cool, especially as it is Halloween. How about a sketch on black paper? Now that summer is over, out comes darker backgrounds to match the darker days.

Chalky Beginning

And here, I dug out my Art Gecko black paper A4 sketchbook and doodled away with white chalk pencil. A His and Her ghost costume but see-through and hence they are visibly glowing inside it to look a tad spooky! I had that idea in my head and was trying to see if that could transcend properly on paper. Let’s see…

Going Reverse

And now time to fill it all in! Grabbed my set of 12 grey-scale Polycolor colored pencils by Koh I Noor and began sketching away with a variety of grey shades. The point was working with reverse values; as we normally draw on a light background with darker colors, this time we do that on a dark background using light colors, in this case black and grey-white. The ghost costume was then lined with a white acrylic marker followed by a diamond glitter glue, Once dry, painting completed by lightly applying some of the pencil and smudging for that smoky effect.

Quite an interesting result this drawing ended up. And what a great Halloween theme! Working with reverse values was certainly a challenge but a great learning experience, and I definitely want to keep practicing with it. Of course, all is possible with dry or wet media and even digital art. Creating something different like combining kawaii with spooky is so much fun! Now what a charming pair of ghosts they make…