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Gothic Drawing Ideas

Press the button for three dark subjects and the device that gives each its mood, then start the clock and ink one.

Gothic Drawing Ideas

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  1. Gargoyle spout leaning off a parapetHard. A gargoyle carries rainwater, so open the mouth as a spout. Cross-hatch under the jaw and neck.
  2. Photocopied portrait in two valuesHard. Black or white only, no greys. Squint at a photo, fill every shadow solid, add halftone dots at the edges.
  3. Death's-head hawkmoth, wings spreadHard. The skull-shaped mark sits on the thorax, not the wings. Fine hatching for the furry body.

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All 80 ideas

Gothic ornament 30

  • Black lace fan, half open Hard. Lace is drawn backwards: ink the holes and leave the threads. The sticks radiate from one rivet.
  • Cameo profile in an oval frame Medium. A pale raised head on a dark ground: fill the oval black and leave the profile as bare paper.
  • Candelabra with five candles dripping wax Medium. One accent colour: cadmium yellow flames on a Mars black ground. Wax drips are long teardrops.
  • Cathedral front with twin towers Hard. Block it as three tall rectangles, then add pointed portals. Paint it near-black on a burnt umber dusk.
  • Chandelier draped in cobwebs Hard. Draw the arms as mirrored S curves. Webs sag between them in shallow arcs, thinner than the iron.
  • Clock tower at five to midnight Medium. Make the clock face the only light shape: warm white on an ultramarine and black sky.
  • Crypt door with a ring handle Easy. A pointed-arch door of upright planks, two strap hinges, one ring. A black gap down one edge: it is ajar.
  • Flying buttress in side view Medium. A half arch leaning from the wall to a heavy pier. A black sky behind makes the stone read pale.
  • Gargoyle spout leaning off a parapet Hard. A gargoyle carries rainwater, so open the mouth as a spout. Cross-hatch under the jaw and neck.
  • Gas street lamp in fog Easy. A soft raw sienna halo on grey, then the post and crossbar as one dry black stroke added last.
  • Graveyard angel with folded wings Hard. Stone has soft edges: hatch in one direction only and let lichen blotches break the outline.
  • Headstone carved with an hourglass Easy. An old memento mori motif on a round-topped slab. Hatch one side of each carved line so it looks cut in.
  • Heart-shaped planchette Easy. A rounded heart with a circle cut near the point. Wood grain in fine parallel lines, darker at the rim.
  • Lantern on an iron wall bracket Easy. A box with a pitched lid hanging from an S scroll. Leave a halo of bare paper round the flame.
  • Ornate hand mirror reflecting nothing Medium. Fill the glass flat black so the scrolled frame carries the detail. Mirror each scroll left to right.
  • Oval mourning brooch with a plaited border Medium. A jet-black oval with one curved white highlight at top left. The border is a tight two-strand plait.
  • Pair of lancet windows under one arch Easy. Two tall narrow openings with sharp pointed tops. Hatch the glass darker toward the sill.
  • Porcelain doll face with hairline cracks Hard. Keep the skin paper-white. Cracks fork from one point like a river map. Accent: one dark red lip.
  • Quatrefoil panel, outlined twice Easy. Four overlapping circles of equal size. Ink only the outer outline, then echo it 3 mm inside.
  • Raven on a spearhead gate finial Medium. Fill the bird solid black and leave one white glint in the eye. The finial is a spearhead on a collar.
  • Ribbed vault seen from directly below Hard. Diagonal ribs cross at a centre boss. Darken each stone panel toward that crossing.
  • Rose window with twelve spokes of tracery Hard. Compass rings first, then spokes. Fill the glass black and leave the stone bars as white paper.
  • Row of fence finials: spear, ball, fleur-de-lis Easy. Repeat three silhouettes along one rail and fill them solid. Even gaps matter more than detail.
  • Skeleton key in a keyhole plate Easy. The keyhole is a circle on a flared wedge; fill it black. Hatch round the rim of the plate.
  • Spiral stair inside a stone tower Hard. Steps fan from a centre post like a hand of cards. Shade darker on each turn going down.
  • Spire bristling with crockets Medium. Crockets are small carved hooks up each sloping edge. Draw the cone first, then add hooks in pairs.
  • Stained-glass moth in leaded panes Medium. Thick black lead lines first, then one accent: alizarin crimson in the hindwings only.
  • Trefoil-headed doorway Easy. Three overlapping rings make the top; drop two straight jambs. Fill the opening solid black.
  • Wrought-iron gate with a scrolled crest Medium. Rule the bars, freehand the scrolls. Paint them flat black over a pale Payne's grey mist.
  • Your initial in blackletter Medium. Thick upright strokes, hairline joins, diamond feet. Pencil two guide lines, then fill solid black.

Dark nature and still life 28

  • Apothecary bottle with a blank label Easy. A cylinder, sloped shoulders, a cork. Leave one tall white reflection down the glass and hatch the rest.
  • Bare tree against an oversized moon Easy. Paint the moon first in titanium white, then black branches that fork in Y shapes, thinner each time.
  • Bats crossing a full moon Easy. Each bat is a wide M with two ears. Sponge a pale moon on black, then add five flat black bats.
  • Bird skull in profile Medium. One long beak wedge, a huge round eye socket filled black, a small domed cranium behind it.
  • Black cat reduced to eyes and outline Easy. On a black ground, paint only a thin rim light along the back and two green-yellow almond eyes.
  • Black swan and its reflection Medium. The neck is an S. Break the reflection into horizontal dashes. The red bill is the only accent.
  • Black tulip with one dropped petal Easy. Mix the near-black from alizarin crimson and ultramarine. The fallen petal is a curved spoon shape.
  • Bramble stem with hooked thorns Easy. One wandering line with thorns like small shark fins, all leaning back down the stem. Fill them black.
  • Cobweb across a window corner Medium. Spokes first from an off-centre hub, then sagging arcs between them. Dew beads are tiny open circles.
  • Crescent moon behind torn clouds Medium. Cloud edges catch the light: a thin titanium white rim on ultramarine and black masses.
  • Crows spaced along a telephone wire Easy. Two sagging lines and seven teardrop birds, one facing the other way. Flat black, no detail.
  • Dead leaves pressed in an open book Medium. Veins stay white while the blade is hatched. A thin shadow under each leaf lifts it off the page.
  • Death's-head hawkmoth, wings spread Hard. The skull-shaped mark sits on the thorax, not the wings. Fine hatching for the furry body.
  • Dried poppy seed heads in a vase Easy. Each pod is a ball with a flat ridged crown on a thin stalk. Hatch the same side of every pod.
  • Eclipse ring over a flat sea Easy. A black disc with a thin white ring, glow fading outward. One ruled horizon, a broken reflection below.
  • Empty birdcage with the door open Medium. Bars curve with the dome and bunch closer at the sides than the front. One feather on the floor.
  • Foggy forest path with fading trunks Medium. Near trunks black, the next row mid grey, the far row barely there. Three values do all the work.
  • Ivy swallowing a statue's face Hard. Draw the whole face lightly first, then cover half with overlapping leaves. Deep black between the leaves.
  • Moth circling a candle flame Easy. A flame, a dotted looping flight path, a small moth. Shade everything outside one ring of light.
  • Owl backlit on a dead branch Medium. Flat black owl and branch on a Payne's grey sky. Only the two eye rings carry colour.
  • Rainy window at night with blurred street lights Medium. Blurred discs of orange and green wet-in-wet, then rain runs lifted out with a damp brush.
  • Single raven feather Easy. A gently curved shaft, barbs hatched at a slant, two or three splits in the vane. Darkest at the tip.
  • Snuffed candle with a curl of smoke Easy. Short candle, black wick, one S of smoke that widens as it rises. Smudge the smoke with a fingertip.
  • Spider hanging on a single thread Easy. One ruled line from the top edge, a two-part body, eight legs bent like brackets. Solid black.
  • Stopped pocket watch with cracked glass Medium. Lying flat, the face is an ellipse. Cracks run from one impact point. Cross-hatch inside the open lid.
  • Storm clouds over a lone house on a hill Medium. Two thirds sky. Scrub dark grey cloud bellies with a dry brush; one window lit in yellow ochre.
  • Three wilted roses in a jam jar Medium. Heads hang below the rim and petals curl outward. Cross-hatch the water; leave glass highlights white.
  • Vanitas table: skull, guttering candle, open book Hard. A classic vanitas set. Burnt umber ground, light from one side, the deepest black behind the skull.

Grunge and emo 22

  • Chain of linked safety pins Easy. Each pin is a long loop with a coil at one end and a cap at the other. Link five at different angles.
  • Checkerboard melting at one corner Easy. Rule a grid, fill alternate squares black, then let the last two rows sag into drips.
  • Close-up eye with smudged liner Medium. Draw the eye, then drag soft pencil out from the lower lid with a fingertip. Keep one sharp highlight.
  • Coiled belt with pyramid studs Easy. Each stud is a square with an X corner to corner. Shade two of the four triangles. Coil the strap once.
  • Electric guitar leaning on a small amp Medium. Six strings converge slightly toward the head. The amp's grille cloth is tight cross-hatching.
  • Face half hidden by a side-swept fringe Medium. Draw the hair as three big clumps, not strands, filled black. One visible eye with a heavy upper lid.
  • Flannel shirt slung over a chair back Medium. The plaid must bend with every fold. Draw the folds first, then run the stripes over them.
  • Hand with chipped black nail polish and rings Hard. Block the fingers as boxes first. Chips are bare paper at the nail tips; rings wrap as ellipses.
  • Headphones with a tangled cable Easy. Two thick ovals joined by an arch. Let the cable scribble into a knot and leave it as a loose line.
  • Old television full of static Medium. Stipple the screen with a stiff brush in grey, black and white. The room round it stays near black.
  • Photocopied portrait in two values Hard. Black or white only, no greys. Squint at a photo, fill every shadow solid, add halftone dots at the edges.
  • Ripped jeans knee with loose threads Medium. The hole is a dark oval crossed by white horizontal threads. Hatch the denim on the diagonal.
  • Rose stem wrapped in barbed wire Medium. Wire is two twisted strands with a four-point knot at intervals. Thorns and barbs alternate up the stem.
  • Scuffed combat boots with loose laces Medium. Toe caps are half spheres. Scuffs are short dry strokes across the polish; laces trail on the floor.
  • Skateboard deck worn through at the tail Medium. A long rounded plank seen from below, two trucks, four wheels. Scratch the paint away in diagonal strokes.
  • Skeleton hands shaping a heart Hard. Each finger is three bones with knuckle gaps. Get the heart-shaped negative space right first.
  • Small rain cloud tied on like a balloon Easy. A flat-bottomed cloud on a string in one hand, rain falling only under it. Emo, with a wink.
  • Spray-stencil star with overspray Easy. Cut a star from card, dab black paint through it with a sponge and let the soft halo stay.
  • Stitched-up heart patch Easy. A fabric heart with a zigzag seam, cross stitches over it and a frayed edge of short flicks.
  • Striped fingerless gloves Easy. Stripes curve round the wrist and straighten over the palm. Fray the cut finger holes with short flicks.
  • Torn gig posters layered on a brick wall Medium. Invent the band names. Dry-brush torn white edges over flat colour and let brick show in the gaps.
  • Your name in ransom-note letters Easy. Every letter on its own tilted paper scrap in its own style: serif, block, script. Shadow under each scrap.

How it works

Pointed arches, iron scrolls, wilted roses, scuffed boots: in these 80 gothic drawing ideas the look does the work. Every hint opens with Easy, Medium or Hard and names its mood device, which is heavy black fill, cross-hatching or one accent colour. Gothic ornament, dark subjects and grunge each have a group of their own.

Read the full guide

Three ways to make a page dark

Most dark drawing ideas go wrong by turning grey all over. Pick one device and commit. Heavy black fill: in Rose window with twelve spokes of tracery the glass goes solid and the stone bars stay bare paper. Cross-hatching, lines laid at an angle over other lines, sits under the gargoyle's jaw. One accent colour: a single dark red lip on the porcelain doll. The list runs 32 Easy, 33 Medium and 15 Hard.

Gothic, dark and grunge are separate lists

Gothic ornament, 30 ideas, is architecture and Victorian objects under their right names: a lancet window is tall and narrow with a sharp pointed top, and a gargoyle is a rainwater spout, so its mouth stays open. The 28 dark subjects borrow from vanitas painting: skulls, guttering candles, wilting flowers. Grunge and emo holds 22, such as Stitched-up heart patch. For more, see emo drawing ideas. Monsters live on the scary list.

  • Black fill wears out fine liners. Outline with a 0.3 pen, then flood the big areas with a brush pen.
  • For dark things to draw on thin paper, use a 6B pencil: it goes almost black and smudges into fog.
  • Plan the whites before you ink. The glint in the raven's eye and the lantern's halo are untouched paper.

Questions and answers

Where should I start with easy goth drawing ideas?

Choose Easy in the list under the button for 32 flat-black subjects. Trefoil-headed doorway is three rings and two lines; Crows spaced along a telephone wire is seven teardrops. Most fit a lunch break with the clock left on five minutes.

Are there dark painting ideas here, or only drawings?

Choose To paint for 21 dark painting ideas. The hints name real pigments such as Payne's grey, burnt umber and alizarin crimson, and most begin on a black ground with the light shape first, as in Bats crossing a full moon. Halloween painting ideas has more palettes.

What paper takes this much black?

Something heavier than copier paper. A brush pen flooded over a large area bleeds through thin sheets and makes them buckle, so use heavy cartridge paper, or mixed-media paper for the To paint ideas. Black paper turns the job round: on Bats crossing a full moon you draw only the light, with a white pencil or gel pen.

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