How to Paint a Spooky Halloween Landscape in Watercolor! 🎃 Its easier than it seems!, by Emma Jane Lefebvre (EmJ Watercolour Studio) on YouTube. 13 min 45 s.
- Video length
- 13 min 45 s
- Time to do it
- 45 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Tape your paper to a flat board so it stays flat while it dries. Lightly sketch a circle for the moon in the upper middle of the page, keeping the pencil line faint.
Mix a strong puddle of deep blue or purple. Wet the sky area with clean water, then brush the color around the moon, leaving the moon circle dry and white.
While the sky is still wet, drop in darker pigment along the top edge and corners. Tilt the board slightly and let the colors blend on their own for a moody night sky.
Let the sky dry completely before going further. Touch it gently with the back of your hand to check it is no longer cool or tacky.
Paint a dark silhouette of hills or a distant treeline across the lower third of the page. Keep the shapes uneven and low so the moon still stands out.
Paint the haunted house on dry paper with a small brush: a simple box shape for the body, a triangle roof, a chimney and a few small yellow-lit windows.
Add bare trees on both sides using a small brush. Start each trunk thick at the base and taper it upward, then pull out thin branches with a quick flick.
Paint a few bats as small V shapes in the sky with the tip of your brush. Space them out so the scene stays balanced rather than crowded.
Load a brush with white ink and tap it over the sky to splatter stars. Test the splatter on scrap paper first, then let everything dry fully before removing the tape.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep the moon white by painting around it and never brushing wet paint back into the circle.
Wait for each layer to dry before adding the house and trees, or the dark shapes will bleed into a blur.
Mix only two or three colors per wash so the sky stays clear instead of turning muddy.
Rinse your brush between colors and blot it on a towel so you control the water-to-paint ratio.
Questions
Do I need expensive watercolor paper for this?
No, but cold pressed paper made for watercolor handles the wet sky washes far better than printer or sketch paper. Thin paper will buckle and the colors will look patchy.
How do I keep the moon perfectly round and white?
Paint the sky around the moon and leave that circle dry the whole time. If a little color creeps in, lift it with a clean damp brush while the paper is still wet.
Can I use black paint for the house and trees?
You can, but a very dark mix of blue and brown looks more natural next to the night sky. Save pure black for the smallest details if you use it at all.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
