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Create a spooky scene with this haunted house drawing tutorial

Grab a pencil and master this easy haunted house drawing! Follow our step-by-step tutorial or download the completed version for your free haunted house colouring page

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Holly Spanner

Published: April 16, 2024 at 10:34 am

The leaves are turning to autumn gold, the smell of pumpkin spice is in the air and we’re more than ready for a spooky art project!

In this easy haunted house drawing tutorial, we’ll show you how to draw your own haunted house and guide you through each step. We’ll begin by planning out the basic shape and proportions of the house, before adding detail to finish.

This fantasy house sits atop a spooky hill with a winding path leading to the front door. This ghost house drawing comes complete with (easy to draw) ghosts, a creaky tree and even the odd spider or two.

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Younger kids may find it tricky to draw their own haunted house, but there’s no need for them to miss out on all the fun. We’ve created a free haunted house colouring sheet for them to colour in!

Top tips for your own haunted house drawing

Take inspiration from real-life houses and churches: Look at some older Victorian properties as gothic architecture had a major revival at that time, culminating in the middle of the 19th century.
Think about your angle: If you’re a beginner, draw your haunted house at eye-level (like you’re looking at the house straight-on). This technique eliminates the need for complicated perspectives and proportions.
How to draw accurately: If you’re aiming for precision, hold the pencil near the tip as this will give you more control.
Practise your haunted house drawing: Don’t be afraid to try out different compositions before you settle on the final design for your haunted house drawing. Draw without the worry that it will be seen by anyone else. Choose your favourite composition to develop into your final design.
Less is more: When adding details like brickwork, keep it simple – you don’t need to draw every single brick (although you can if you want to). Adding the occasional brick here and there is enough to suggest overall brick construction without going overboard.
Add spooky silhouettes: If you choose to draw a creature in front of the moon (we’ve gone for a bat), then you don’t need to add detail as they would be seen in silhouette.
Experiment with different paper: For example, using white pencils (or chalk) onto coloured paper will give your haunted house a ghostly appearance!

Haunted house drawing materials

Before you start your haunted house drawing, you’ll need some art supplies! Here are some of our recommended materials to buy…

Black paper sketchbook

If you want to take your haunted house drawing to the next level, why not sketch it out using light-coloured pencil crayons (or gel pens) onto a dark background?

This helps create a ghostly look to your work, which is ideal when you’re drawing spooky ghosts or abandoned houses. Your drawing will really stand out on the page! You might even like to recreate your haunted house using chalks or pastels.

This black paper sketchbook is perfect for all of your spooky drawing ideas. Try creating your own pumpkin drawing, doodling spider webs or sketching a picture of a creepy witch.

Sketching pencils

A good set of sketching pencils will last for years, so it’s worth getting a set that contains all the standard graphite hardness. A 5H pencil will draw a very fine, light line (the ‘H’ in the name denotes ‘hard) while a 5B pencil will draw a much darker, softer line (the ‘B’ in this case stands for ‘black’). An HB pencil is therefore in the middle; a ‘hard black’ pencil – or, in other words, ‘medium hard’.

The darkness of the line comes down to the amount of graphite in the pencil; in the H-pencils there is less graphite and more filler material, while in the B-pencils there is more graphite than filler material.

Halloween pencil case

Keep all your sketching materials organised in this cute Halloween pencil case. Adorned with pumpkins, black cats, cobwebs and bats, it’s made from high-quality canvas and has a smooth zipper for snag-free access.

This adorable pencil case has a large capacity and can hold a collection of around 80 pens and pencils. It opens wide at the top for easy access, and you can clearly see what you’ve got. Being made from canvas means that it’s hardwearing and durable, ideal if it's going to be tossed around in a school bag.

iPad

This is the latest iPad to hit the shelves – it’s the 2022 iPad air. It comes in at a much more affordable price point than the iPad pro, and it’s ideal for digital drawing.

This is because the 2022 model of iPad air now has the new M1 chip, so in terms of performance that makes it equal to the 2021 iPad Pro. But at around £200-£500 cheaper, it’s a strong contender for those keen to get into digital art, or just catch up on all your favourite TV craft shows. Make sure you check out our pick of the best drawing apps for iPads before you get started.

Apple pencil

If you have an iPad, the 2nd generation Apple Pencil is a must-have when it comes to iPad accessories. Digital drawing becomes easier, and it’s more like working with a real pencil. The 2nd gen model has also had several upgrades when compared to the original. A double tap on the Apple pencil allows you to quickly and intuitively switch between different tools, which is very useful when alternating between sketching and colouring, or when working on different layers.

The first-generation Apple pencil charged by taking the cap off and inserting the whole pencil into the charging port at the bottom of the Pad. The 2nd generation however is a little less cumbersome, as it magnetically attaches to the iPad Pro, charging wirelessly.

Ready to start our easy ghost house drawing lesson? Read on to find out how…

You will need:

Drawing pencils
Paper
Colouring pencils
Eraser (we'd recommend a mouldable eraser)

Sketching a light outline of your haunted house

Step 1

Position your house on a hill

All the best haunted houses sit atop a spooky hill, so let’s begin by sketching out a rough hill shape at the bottom of your page.

Plan out the shape of your haunted house by adding a rectangle on top of the curve. Make it slightly smaller at the bottom than at the top.

How to draw a haunted house step 1

Step 2

Use shapes to build your haunted house

Add three more rectangles to the shape of your house, one to the left and two to the right. Make them as tall (or short) as you like. Tall, skinny rectangles will give you a tower, while shorter blocks give you a more traditional house shape.

Add some roofs to your structure. Keep them fairly simple at this stage – use shapes like triangles and trapezoids.

How to draw a haunted house step 2

Step 3

Sketch chimneys and a winding path

Plan where you want your chimneys to be and add an arched doorway in the front of the building.

For the path leading up to the door, draw in some wiggly lines that extend from the door to the bottom of the hill. Draw the lines roughly parallel to each other, gradually making them further apart as you get to the bottom of the page. This helps create depth.

How to draw a haunted house step 3

Step 4

Set the scene with extra details

Draw two diagonal lines, on either side of the path you drew in the previous step. By extending these lines from the side of the path, instead of either side of the hill, gives the impression of an eroded hilltop.

Draw in some arched windows, a circular window in the top of the tower and a small door to the right. For balance, keep the windows a similar shape to the main door, just a little smaller.

How to draw a haunted house step 4

Step 5

Hang a moon in the sky

Sketch out the shape of a crescent moon in the sky. Another option is to draw a huge, full moon behind the entire house.

In front of the moon, sketch out a large ‘V’ shape. This will be a bat later on!

How to draw a haunted house step 5

Step 6

Build your house with bricks

Next, plan out the bricks that form the edges to the building. Alternate them in size so that you have a longer one followed by a shorter one.

No haunted house is complete without ghosts, so sketch in some balloon-shaped ghosts, tapering their ‘tails’ into a point. Position them so they’re coming out of the chimneys, doors or windows.

How to draw a haunted house step 6

Step 7

Add a crooked tree to your haunting scene

Roughly plan out the shape of a spooky tree. Position it wherever you have a little space left on your hilltop, which in our case is to the right.

For these next steps, we’ve lightened the construction lines to help you see the detail more clearly.

Working with the main shape of the building, start to go over the construction lines to finalise them. Don’t use a ruler; keep your lines a little uneven and add a wiggle here and there to suggest bricks. Start with the outside of the building and the roofs.

How to draw a haunted house step 7

Step 8

Create a creepy doorway

Since the position of the door is the element that informs us on the positioning of the path, it’s a good idea to get this done early on. Go over the outline of the door and add two horizontal cross supports.

Next, draw in some vertical lines (behind the horizontal cross supports) to give the impression of an old, wooden door. Add in a circular door knocker, and some nails to keep the boards in place.

How to draw a haunted house step 8

Step 9

Make an entrance

Working your way around the door, draw in some stones. Make them rounded at the edges and slightly uneven.

Draw in some steps, extending from the door down to the path. Make the vertical sections of the steps shorter, and the horizontal part (the part you would stand on) slightly longer.

How to draw a haunted house step 9

Step 10

Draw a crumbling path

Go over the lines of your path, using uneven, sometimes broken lines. Don’t be afraid to make the edges wiggly – it helps give the impression that the edges of the path are crumbling away.

Using the hilltop curve as a guide, sketch in some tufts of grass. On the right-hand side of the path, angle them towards the right away from the house and on the left, angle them towards the left.

How to draw a haunted house step 10

Step 11

Add texture with clumps of grass

Add in a few more tufts of grass at random intervals along either side of the path. Next, draw in some wiggly, broken lines extending from the path down the hillside.

How to draw a haunted house step 11

Step 12

Make a rough path

Using loose, random patterns, draw in some loose stones (small circles) and scuffs (short, wiggly lines) along the path. This helps give it the impression that it is old and disused.

Draw in the two chimney pots and give the top of the tower a spire.

How to draw a haunted house step 12

Step 13

Work on your windows

Working on the windows, add some leadwork inside the window frames using a series of curves.

Create window frames for your windows by adding a rounded brick at the base of the window, and a thin perimeter line around the outsides.

How to draw a haunted house step 13

Step 14

Finishing the round window

For the circular window at the top of the tower, divide it into quarters and draw a perimeter line around the outside. Add two vertical lines to the small door on the right-hand side, as well as a doorknob and hinges.

Go over the bricks on the edges of the haunted house.

How to draw a haunted house step 14

Step 15

Put tiles on the roof

Next, fill in the roofs by adding some tiles. Start at the top, and working on one line at a time, draw scallop shapes all the way down. Make the tiles slightly rounded at the corners.

Continue until all the roofs have tiles on them.

How to draw a haunted house step 15

How to draw a pumpkin

Looking for more spooky art ideas? Set the scene for Halloween with our easy pumpkin drawing tutorial.

Step 16

Draw a hint of brickwork

You don’t need to draw every brick that makes up the haunted house, sometimes it’s better to just ‘suggest’ something. With this in mind, draw two patches of bricks on your haunted house and leave the edges open.

To add a little age to your spooky house, draw in some random vertical lines (that look like flattened versions of the letter ‘T’) all over.

How to draw a haunted house step 16

Step 17

Complete your scary ghosts

Go over the lines of your ghost. We’ve opted for two, but you can add as many as you like. Colour in the eyes and mouths of your ghosts.

How to draw a haunted house step 17

Step 18

Make a bat soar beside the moon

Draw some ovals on the moon to create some craters.

Using the large V shape as a guide, draw a simple bat. If you don’t feel confident drawing your own, you can find another bat template in our papercraft section that you can trace. Colour the bat in black.

How to draw a haunted house step 18

Step 19

Make your house look empty and eerie

Across one of the windows, draw two rectangles. This adds to the illusion that the haunted house is abandoned (by mortals).

How to draw a haunted house step 19

Step 20

Grow a twisted tree

Roughly draw out the shape of a crooked tree. We’re coming into winter, so leave the branches bare. Colour the tree in black.

How to draw a haunted house step 20

Step 21

Draw sinister spider webs

Draw in some spider webs in the gaps between the branches. Add a simple spider hanging from one of the branches.

Add another spider hanging down from the boarded-up room. That’s all the detail done!

How to draw a haunted house step 21