From simple to scary Halloween painting ideas, you’ll find everything in this list.

Each year, Halloween brings a renewed sense of magic. It’s sometimes hard to capture, though, without the right Halloween painting ideas to get your projects underway.

Inspiration isn’t always easy to tap, even with something as fun to honor as Halloween. In fact, some of the classic features of the spooky season — like Jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, and bats — cloud our thoughts when we try to think of something new and unique to paint.

From Halloween face painting ideas to Halloween rock painting ideas, grab your brushes and get ready, because this list has it all.

Halloween face painting ideas for costumes and “just because.”

Halloween face painting is a ritual in autumn festivals and on Beggar’s Night. Sometimes, faces are painted “just because.” Other times, they’re painted as part of a Halloween costume, transforming the wearer’s face with paint, prosthetics, and make-up.

Browse the Halloween face painting ideas below and see which one fits you. Who knows? Maybe one of these will inspire a whole Halloween costume to go with it.

Half monster.

Paint one half of your face like a monster. The other half of your face is left like it normally is, whether with your daily make-up or completely unadorned.

Spider eyes.

Paint six additional eyes on your forehead and cheeks to represent spider eyes.

Papier-mâché mask.

Beginner Halloween painting ideas are essential because face painting is a real skill. The most practical option for a novice is to make a papier mâché mask and paint that instead. If you mess up, you can make another. It also means painting will be done ahead of time instead of stressing on Halloween.

Movie makeup tutorials.

Pick a movie whose make-up you love, then find an online tutorial to learn how to do it. There’s no better Halloween face painting inspiration than in the movies.

Vampire bite.

Most beginner Halloween painting ideas are fast, like this vampire bite. Paint two red drops on your neck with blood trailing down from each, and you’re done.

The galactic witch.

Turn yourself into a galactic witch with purples, blues, and whites in a starry design with tiny moons and stars over the eyelids stretching all the way to the brows.

Candy corn stripes.

Candy corn colors are one of the cute Halloween painting ideas to turn to for small kids. Paint strips of orange, yellow, and white across the nose and cheeks for a playful look.

Cracked doll face.

Start with rosy cheeks, then paint cracks around the face to mimic a broken porcelain doll.

Zombie cyborg.

Paint one half of the face with decaying flesh, and the other half with mechanical parts like circuits and wires showing through where the skin appears to have fallen away.

Haunted forest scene.

Paint trees and branches across the forehead and cheeks, then put in some creepy costume contacts to turn your eyes yellow. Your eyes become the ominous glare peeking out from the forest.

Dripping paint.

Let red paint drip down the face from high up in the hairline for a bloodied, melting look.

Electric shock.

Paint vibrant lightning bolts across the face with metallic colors for a bold look.

Halloween rock painting ideas for scene-setting decorations.

Halloween decorations often use painted rocks as props. From tombstones to miniature pumpkins, Halloween rock painting ideas are a crafty way to use stones big and small to set the scene (and have fun setting up).

Peruse this list and see how clever painting on rocks can be this Hallow’s Eve.

Pumpkins in miniature.

Take the roundest rocks you find and paint them orange like pumpkins, then use black paint to add Jack-o-lantern faces on top.

Family of monster faces.

Collect several similar-sized rocks and paint classic monster faces on each.

Gravestone rocks.

Use gray rocks as gravestones and paint made-up names or epitaphs on each. Bury the bottom part of each stone into your yard so they stand up, and you’ll turn your garden into a graveyard.

Hourglass rocks.

Take a rock that can rest securely on another rock, then paint both with the top and bottom of an hourglass, respectively. Show the sand inside with time almost “run out,” and this display will put people on edge.

Mummy stones.

Paint a rock white with a small slit left for the mummy’s eyes, then use black paint to outline the twisted layers of cloth. Paint the eyes peeking through the white wrappings.

Half-buried heads.

Paint the top half of faces on several rocks. Bury the other half of the rocks into the ground, and you have heads peeking out from underneath.

Candy corn stones.

Find stones that are roughly triangular then paint them as candy corn.

Sugar skulls.

Paint several rocks white, then decorate them with sugar skull-inspired designs.

Googly eyes.

Turn rocks into big googly eyes by painting them white then adding a massive iris and pupil in the middle.

Moon phases.

Set several stones out one next to the other and paint the different phases of the moon on each.

Cracking, hatching egg.

Turn an oval stone into a hatching egg with a baby dragon coming out.

Scarecrow face.

Paint a scarecrow face onto a large rock, including its straw-colored hair, patched nose, and extra-creepy stitched smile.

Halloween window painting ideas for all around the house.

Some scary Halloween painting ideas are best for window painting because windows are a decidedly fun medium. They give the creeps indoors and out, and each direction has its own advantage — whether they’re backlit when seen from the yard or have darkness closing in around them when viewed from indoors.

With so many windows in every house, you can create lots of fun scenes. Kid (and pet) friendly washable options for paints include tempera paint or washable markers, each ensuring fun without tough clean-up later.

Bat swarm.

Paint a dozen or more bats flying from one side of the window to the other. Add a starry night sky behind the swarm for added effect.

Foggy forest.

Scary Halloween ideas transport you to creepy places, like this forest scene. Paint shadowy trees with a foggy backlight (enhanced by the actual lights in the house when it’s dark outside).

Broken mirror effect.

Turn a window into a broken mirror by painting jagged cracks across it. White light shining through gives it an even more mirror-like look.

Peeking skeleton.

Paint the top half of a skull peeking out from the edge of a window with the skeleton’s arms extended to other sides, as though pushing it open to crawl out.

Pumpkin patch.

To make a pumpkin patch, paint a row of pumpkins of different sizes and shapes. These will glow beautifully with the light from indoors cast out into the darkness.

Raven onlooker.

Paint a raven perched on a thick, black branch in the corner of the window.

Shadowy silhouettes.

This scary window idea is one of the easy Halloween painting ideas that beginners get a kick out of, too. Paint blurry silhouettes of people standing in the window, as though watching from the other side of a veil.

Grasping zombie hands.

Draw zombie hands reaching up, made even more sinister with a green backlight for an undead vibe.

Candy explosion.

Paint an explosion of your favorite Halloween candy in preparation for trick-or-treaters.

Cat eyes and whiskers.

With big cat eyes and long, black whiskers, you can easily turn your windows into a fun Halloween display from inside and out.

Melting candle clock.

Imagine a clock made of wax, melting slowly. Paint this with relish (and no shortage of inspiration help from Salvador Dali), adding flames behind it to heat the wax even more.

Gargoyle statues.

Paint different gargoyle statues on each consecutive window in the front of your house for a gothic look.

Halloween canvas painting ideas for sip and paint sessions or for more spooky décor.

Halloween canvas painting ideas are perfect for sip and paint sessions with spooky themes like haunted houses and pumpkin patches. For the artsy types who just want to paint Halloween canvases with or without sipping on the side, these Halloween painting ideas provide added inspiration. There are also those who look at Halloween canvas painting ideas as part of their overall Halloween decorations.

Whatever your motivation, find the spooky yet simple Halloween painting ideas to get started on your next macabre masterpiece.

A phantom portrait.

Paint a formal portrait of a phantom, however you imagine it. Does this ghost have hollow eyes or transparent skin? Does it look like someone you know, or someone from a specific time period?

The abandoned carnival.

Imagine an abandoned carnival scene. Is there evidence of the last people on each ride? Does the Ferris wheel stand silhouetted against a full moon?

Haunted houses from the inside.

Paint a glimpse from inside a haunted house instead of the typical view from the outside. Imagine the shadowy stairs or eerie attic with candlelight flickering from just outside the frame.

Graveyard paths at night.

There are few things creeper than a graveyard path at night. Paint one with faint moonlight and a little fog hovering over the ground.

Paint on a pumpkin (as a 3D canvas).

Instead of a traditional canvas, put your next Halloween painting on a pumpkin instead. Keep reading for more pumpkin painting ideas.

Potions on a shelf.

Imagine your own medicine cabinet and fill it instead with potions. Paint colorful but weathered bottles with gnarly ingredient labels like, “Witch’s Toenail.”

Floating candles.

Paint a scene with floating candles, each casting a warm glow in an ominous and otherwise shadowy scene.

Bat silhouettes at sunset.

Simple Halloween painting ideas lean into easy-to-paint critters: bats and spiders. For some added intrigue, depict a whole swarm of bats flying into the last gleam of sunset.

A broken clock just before midnight.

Paint an old and broken clock stuck perilously at 11:59. What does the painting suggest happened right at midnight?

Creepy doll faces.

One broken doll is creepy enough, and a painting filled with them is even creepier. Paint close-ups of cracked porcelain dolls and add special details to each, like a missing eye here or faded lips there.

Monsters in an unlikely setting.

Halloween painting ideas can be on the funny side, too. Paint a colorful collection of classic monsters like Frankenstein and Dracula in an unlikely place, like sitting at a well-lit table in a casino.

A haunted library.

Paint rows of ancient books on dusty shelves with forced perspective looking down then empty aisle.

Where else to use your Halloween paintings when you’re done.

After you’ve painted your next Halloween masterpiece, capture it digitally to use it everywhere else.

Whether you scan or photograph your Halloween painting, you can use it in:

• Gloomy but intriguing Halloween party invitations and announcements
• Spooky social media shares
• Grim greeting cards
• Apocalyptic letters sent as thematic elements of a bigger event
• Sinister flyers and banners promoting a scream-worthy event
• Prophetic posters showing off the spooky scene with extra-eerie fonts
• Creepy collages to combine pieces of your painting with other Halloween icons or images

Exercise: First things first.

Halloween painting ideas are sometimes a big undertaking.

To feel more confident before you make that first brushstroke, sketch your favorite Halloween painting ideas out first.

Here’s an easy exercise to kickstart that sketch and turn your painting idea into something even spookier:

Adobe Express can help.

Adobe Express has templates and customization tools to put your favorite Halloween painting ideas to work. If you want to use these Halloween painting ideas in cards, letters, posters, banners, collages, flyers, invitations, or other creative projects, Adobe Express makes it as simple as picking a template and personalizing it, or making your own idea with easy-to-use tools. Whatever message you want to transmit, Adobe Express brings it to life, no experience required.

Design with your idea