Halloween Drawing · Character Design · Vector Illustration
Halloween Monster Drawing Tutorials — Pumpkin, Vampire & Werewolf
Five drawing videos following a Halloween illustration from rough digital sketch to finished vector artwork — with a Jack-O-Lantern, a vampire witch and a rather enthusiastic werewolf.
A little Halloween drawing session
With Halloween approaching, I thought it was a good time to bring this five-part drawing series back out of the crypt.
The videos follow one illustration from the first loose sketch through clean line art and final color. I start in Autodesk SketchBook Pro, then move into Adobe Illustrator to develop the three characters and complete the vector artwork.
The software interfaces have naturally changed since these videos were made, but the underlying drawing process has not: begin with shape and gesture, solve the character in the sketch, clean the line work, then build color, value and detail on top.
From the archive · Wacom Featured Artist
Originally featured by Wacom
These Halloween drawing videos were originally part of my material as a Wacom Featured Artist and appeared on the official Wacom website.
I was drawing on a Wacom Cintiq, using SketchBook Pro for the rough drawing and Adobe Illustrator for the final vector line work and color.
First: the rough sketch
Before worrying about clean lines, gradients or perfectly shaped vector paths, I worked out the characters together as a loose composition.
The important questions come first: Can you read the silhouette? Does each character have a different personality? Do the three figures work as a group?
Once the composition was working, I placed the sketch on a template layer in Illustrator and began building the finished line art over it.
Video 1 · Sketching
Digital Sketching in Autodesk SketchBook Pro
The first video covers the rough drawing: blocking in the composition, finding the characters and establishing enough structure to take the artwork into Illustrator.
Video 2 · Line Art
Inking the Jack-O-Lantern
Next comes our grinning pumpkin: translating the loose sketch into clean vector line work while keeping the expression lively rather than polishing the character to death.
Video 3 · Character Drawing
Inking the Witch / Vampire Character
The third video moves to the central character, refining the face, costume and silhouette while maintaining the same line language as the pumpkin.
Video 4 · Werewolf
Inking the Werewolf
Then comes the hairiest member of the cast. The werewolf is all teeth, fur, claws and forward momentum, so this part is largely about keeping the drawing readable while adding texture and energy.
Video 5 · Final Color
Coloring the Finished Vector Illustration
In the final video I move behind the scenes of the completed artwork, using flat color, shading and gradients to separate the characters and give the illustration its finished Halloween atmosphere.
From loose sketch to clean vector artwork
The finished illustration was built as vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator. Unlike a fixed-resolution raster image, vector shapes can be enlarged or reduced without losing edge quality, which makes the format useful for applications ranging from small graphics to large-format reproduction.
More importantly, the vector stage comes after the drawing decisions. The software can make a curve perfectly smooth, but it cannot decide whether the werewolf should look menacing, ridiculous or both.
Watch the complete Halloween drawing series
You can also watch the five videos together in the original YouTube playlist.
More character & illustration work
If monsters, mascots and illustrated characters are your thing, you can also browse my character & mascot design, commissioned illustration and comics & sequential illustration.
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