Mindful spooky Halloween exercise

2 years ago

In this mindful spooky Halloween exercise, we’ll create some freeform shapes, which we’ll transform into ghosts.

It’s almost Halloween and even though I’ve never celebrated it myself (it’s not something we celebrate here in the Netherlands), I thought it would be fun to add a Halloween-themed exercise.

For this exercise, we’ll use our imagination to transform random shapes into ghosts. Look at the shapes and let your thoughts and imagination flow. If this shape was a ghost where would its face be? What is it doing? You can even invent backstories for every ghost shape on your paper if you like.

Then, you can transform your shapes into your own ghost characters. A fun exercise, where you’ll be completely immersed in the moment and your fantasy. A short escape from all your day-to-day stuff.

Have fun with this mindful spooky Halloween exercise. Enjoy some well-deserved creative me-time.

Please let me know if you’ve tried this one, I would love to see it.

You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown

Supplies used:

Watercolor paper 300gr (Fabriano), watercolor (Kuretake Gansai Tambi), water brush (Pentel), black fineliner no. 0.3 (Copic), black fineliner no. 0.05 (Winsor & Newton), a white gel pen (Uni-ball Signo), washi tape, and a paper towel.

Alternative supply suggestions:

Use whatever supplies you have. You can also make shapes with markers, crayons, or colored pencils. Even a regular pencil will do.

Instructions:

Step 1

Before you start, slowly breathe in and out a few times to clear your head. If you like, you can add washi tape around the borders to create a frame around your drawing.

Grab a brush and paint some freeform shapes on your paper. Choose a color or colors that calm you or make you feel good. The forms can be wobbly with many corners or regular shapes such as a rectangle. See what comes out when you start painting. There’s no wrong way to make these.

Step 2

Look at your shapes and see how you can turn them into ghosts. Where would their eyes and mouth be? How would the fabric of their sheet flow?

They can be upside down or sideways it doesn’t matter.

Before we start drawing their face, we’ll first add some extra shading. Add some lines to show some wrinkles in their sheet and add some shadows under their arms and on one side of their face.

Step 3

Now it’s time to add the eyes and mouth. Try to think about what they’re doing and what kind of expression fits with that. You can just draw 2 large circles for the eyes and one for the mouth to make it look surprised or angry. But you can also use different mouths and eyes. If you vary in the expressions it feels like they are all different characters. It’s also fun to design your own characters in a way. If you like you can even invent some backstory for each individual ghost.

Step 4

If you like you can add even more details, such as a hat, a necklace, or flowers. You can also add some accents with a black or white pen. Add what you think is needed for the character.

When you’re done, slowly remove your washi tape. Keep the tape parallel to your paper when you remove it, this will prevent your paper from tearing.

Now you’re done with this mindful spooky Halloween exercise! I hope you had fun.

If you liked this exercise, you might also like my mindful organic shapes exercise.

Are you a stressed-out mom who longs for a little “me-time” but can never seem to find it? Do you love the idea of creative self-care but don’t know how to fit it into your busy schedule? I hear you, and I want to help!

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