This is the second tutorial in 31 Days of Easy Holiday Paint Projects. Today we’re painting Haunted Houses. If you’ve ever said “I can’t even draw a stick figure” this paint tutorial is perfect for you.
In fact, the more crooked, wavy, and ‘off’ the lines are, the better spookier your house will look!
I mentioned in the Bat & Harvest Moon tutorial that we’ll put these Halloween images all together in one paint project in a few days – a tealight lampshade.
We might even paint another project or two, (maybe a burlap table runner?) so take a look at how simple these houses are to paint.
Start by drawing an outline of a haunted house. Just make sure you have a few windows for ghosts and witches to peek thru.
If you’re not comfortable drawing your own, I’ll be happy to give you these patterns or you can grab some clip art you like online.
Next, paint all your windows. I used Turner’s Yellow by Plaid.
For the house walls I mixed light grey and black because a) I wanted it lighter than true black and b) I wanted a slightly blotchy look.
You could also paint a small section black and then stroke on some light grey to get that old, worn look.
Then outline the rooftops and walls with black. Add some finials (just a ball and a thin line) to the top of each roof.
Finally, just outline the windows in black.
Super simple, right? You don’t really have to do the whole grey + black thing. You could just paint the whole house black and have a nice silhouette of a haunted house. But c’mon. . . it’s really much more fun to have your haunted house look old, isn’t it?
Ready for a bit more?
I labored for hours on this sketch. Can you tell? {kidding, just kidding.}
Paint the windows first again, just because it’s easier to paint black on yellow, than yellow over black. Just in case you paint outside the lines a bit.
Not that I’d know anything about that. I’m just sayin’ . . .
Basecoat the house with grey + black again.
Then take light grey and brush it on in horizontal strokes.
Ta-da! An old clapboard house. Kinda.
Dab some black on the chimney . . .
Then dab some light grey around the black dabs.
Outline the windows and door in black. Don’t forget the little finial on top of the roof.
I have no idea why, but I’ve seen finials on nearly every haunted house I’ve seen. And I’m not one to break with tradition.
For just a little extra detail, add a little black here and there between the grey strokes. It’s a small thing, but those little details make a ton of impact in paintings.
What d’ya think?
Well I think a haunted house needs a scraggly old tree next to go next to it so that’s what we’ll do tomorrow on Day 3. Then on Day 4 we’ll put the house, tree, bat and harvest moon together on something you’ll actually want to put up for Halloween.
I promise!
Have you checked out any of the bloggers doing Nester’s 31 Day Challenge? Last I looked there were close to 600! Six hundred!!! I haven’t had a chance to visit very many, but I really like what Kelli’s writing at Adventurez in Child Rearing. Hope you’ll stop by and pay her a visit!
Linking this project to these fun Sunday parties –
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