By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by HalloweenDrawings.
A bat is one of the quickest Halloween drawings there is, because it is really just a silhouette. You draw the outline in four lines, fill it in black, and add two dots for eyes. The whole thing takes a couple of minutes, and once you can draw one you can draw a flock.
This walkthrough follows HalloweenDrawings on YouTube, shot straight down over white paper with a black marker. There is no shading and no colour, which is exactly why it works: a bat reads from its shape alone.
A black marker and paper. A fine tip for the outline and a chisel or broad tip for the fill saves a lot of scribbling. If you want fangs or wing lines afterwards, a white gel pen draws over dry black marker cleanly.
Two bumps for the ears. One long swept line out from each ear for the top of the wings. A row of U shapes back from each wingtip for the bottom edge, meeting under the head. That is the entire outline, and everything after it is filling in.
The scalloped bottom edge is the part that matters. It is the stretched membrane between the bat's fingers, and it is the single detail that separates a bat from a bird or a moth in silhouette.
The head is too big. The wings should be five or six times the width of the head. Draw the ears small.
The wings do not match. Check both wingtips are the same distance from the head before you scallop the bottom edge. Extend the short side rather than erasing the long one.
The fill is streaky. Overlap every stroke and go over the outline rather than up to it. A dense, slightly messy black looks better than a careful one with gaps.
Draw the same bat at three or four sizes on black card, cut them out, and stick them up a wall or across a window in a curve. Because they are silhouettes, they read from across the room. A few with wings tilted at different angles look like they are flying.
The same shape-first approach handles the rest of the season. A jack-o'-lantern is three triangles and a grin, and a scary ghost takes the opposite approach, building drama out of shading rather than silhouette. For the fundamentals underneath all of these, start with how to draw.
6 steps · about 5 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Near the top centre of the page, draw two small pointed bumps for the ears with a shallow dip between them. That little W shape is the whole head. Keep it small. The wings will end up five or six times wider than this, and a big head makes the bat look like a moth.
Tip
Make the ears slightly different heights. Perfect symmetry reads as a logo rather than an animal.
From the outside of each ear, draw a long line curving outward and slightly upward, then hooking down at the tip. That hook is the wing's thumb. Do the left, then the right, and check they reach the same distance from the head.
If one side comes out longer, extend the other rather than erasing. Nobody notices a wide bat; everybody notices a lopsided one.
Tip
Draw these two lines in one motion each. A hesitant, wobbly wing edge is harder to fix than a confident one that is slightly off.
Come back from each wingtip toward the centre with a row of U shapes, three or four per side, and let the two rows meet under the head where the body sits. Those scallops are the stretched membrane between the bat's fingers, and they are the one detail that makes the silhouette read instantly.
Tip
Make the U shapes bigger near the tip and smaller near the body. Even scallops look like a picket fence.
Inside the head, put two small dots spaced evenly either side of the centre. That is the whole face. You will be filling everything else in black, so the eyes are the only white left on the bat, and two dots is all they need to be.
Tip
Draw the eyes as small circles now rather than dots, so you can fill around them cleanly in the next step and leave them white.
Colour the entire bat in with the marker, working in overlapping strokes so no white streaks show through. Go right up to the outline and over it, and leave only the two eyes empty. The silhouette is the point of a bat drawing, so make it bold and dense rather than tidy.
Tip
Open a window. Permanent marker fumes over a large fill are noticeable, and a chisel-tip marker fills faster than a fine one.
Two tiny white fangs under the eyes make it a vampire bat. A couple of short lines on each wing membrane suggest the bones without breaking the shape. Or skip the eyes entirely and keep it a pure black silhouette, which is how bats are usually cut for Halloween decorations.
Draw several at different sizes and they make a flock across a wall or window.
Tip
A white gel pen adds fangs or wing lines over dry black marker far more cleanly than trying to leave gaps while filling.
Keep going
How to Draw a Pumpkin - Easy Jack-O'-Lantern in 7 Steps
How to Draw a Bat - Easy Halloween Silhouette in 6 Steps
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