Drawing ghosts on old paintings is a very fun trend and very easy to do. All you need to do is find a worthless piece of old art or a painting from a thrift store (or maybe it’s hanging in your basement or attic, check it out first to see if it’s worth it, you’ll be surprised!) and some acrylic paint. This is a fun DIY and also a great way to upcycle old artwork, and it’s not just for Halloween. The most important thing is to know how to draw a ghost first. Then you will be able to apply those ghost pictures and paintings to old works of art that need new life. This easy ghost drawing uses simple shapes and creates a classic sheet ghost that can be used for all kinds of projects such as Halloween greeting cards, Halloween decorations, and other crafts (or painting ghosts on old drawings like the one below). Below you can also find step-by-step instructions that are great for beginners and a video on how to draw a ghost on an old thrift store painting.
Recycled art is perfect because it is almost always already framed. To make the trend work well, it would be nice to use something that incorporates a landscape or landscape. This is a very easy and very cute project! I love how you can actually reuse old paintings that may not be very “fashionable” anymore.
I’m sharing how I draw with chalk on a canvas that I painted black first, so you can easily see how it’s done. Get the hang of it! You can paint ghosts on canvas and add them to your artwork. If you want to learn how to draw ghosts in pencil, see this spooky post. Added a small garden hat and a basket full of flowers.
how to draw a ghost
Once you’ve drawn your ghost, it’s easy to paint it on canvas using the same simple drawing tutorial. Especially if you want to add to an old thrift store painting.
Supplies
They are easy! To upcycle the ghost painting I used: Chalk to draw the ghost (so you can erase the lines later), thick Titanium White acrylic paint, gray and black paint, soft brushes, and of course thrift stores and old art pieces. One with a view is best. My work was a fun print of a garden landscape removed from the frame. This is not an original piece of art, just a reproduction print, but it works anyway. I love the idea of my friendly little ghost strolling by the hollyhocks. I also drew a friend watching over them from the window.
To start painting ghosts
Use chalk to outline the ghost drawing where you want it to be placed in the drawing. If you don’t like it, you can easily remove it. You can also paint the entire ghost family. A ghost is basically an inverted U shape with a frill at the bottom.
Then apply white acrylic paint with a soft brush, fill in the outlines of the ghost’s body, just like you did in the drawing. It may take several coats for full coverage.
Once the ghost is painted and dried, you can add shading to the bottom of the ghost to make it look a little more dimensional, as well as adding shading and shadows to give it the appearance of a floating effect. At the base of the ghost’s body where the sheet hangs together, use a small amount of gray paint to create shadows (see image) and crease the sheet.. This gives the illusion that the sheet has creases.
paint a ghost face
This is the most fun part because it means you can give your little ghoul some personality. My ghost is a friendly ghost, a little pensive. Be sure to get the eye template for this article. I love this cuteness! I painted on an inexpensive framed garden art print I bought at a thrift store.
The expressions of the ghosts and their friends in the garden are very nice. A picture as a background actually looks pretty great. This is a fun project for adults and kids to explore their creativity, adding pumpkins to the original haunted house drawing or adding pumpkins.
Let’s take a peek at the ghosts I drew here. Before adding the hat. I could have left it as is, but I like the added hat and basket better!
