The Haunted Mansion [The FreeCompliments Weekly Art Contest]

Weekly Art contest. Events like this are a good motivation for me to try and draw at least once a week. Although I've been consistent with most of my small goals this year, drawing is something I struggle with. It's either I don't have enough time, or I'm just too unmotivated to do it.
I'm happy to join and luckily win @freecompliments

I wanted to create something as an entry for this week's event, but since I'm busy, I decided to submit a sketch this time around. It's a messy gel pen sketch, but I hope you still enjoy it.

As usual, I made a GIF of my artwork. I think it's cool to see the process this way. haha

Now, why did I choose to draw this? Well, I've been challenging myself to create various things and not just stick to anime fan art and landscape painting... I created a colorful traditional-looking Filipino house last year, so I wanted to draw some building or mansion... and of course, a creepy one.

Aside from being a horror fan, I just finished watching a supernatural anime last night, so the adrenaline from it still lingered and I had to release it through my drawing. hahaha

Now, let me show you some progress shots of my "The Haunted Mansion" messy sketch.

On my graphing notebook, I did a rough sketch of the mansion using an HB pencil. Since I'm using my gel pen, I needed to use a smaller piece of paper... because I'm lazy and I wanted to draw it while waiting for my students.

Using this gel pen, I started tracing... and just randomly created messy lines. I'm not good at hatching and shading... well, I have no patience to seriously do them (that's why I prefer painting)... so, I just went with the flow and stayed random. lol

Based on this photo, you can easily tell which I did first and last... it's a reflection of how lazy and impatient I am when it comes to sketching... XD But worry not, I got a solution for that!

I added creepy roots and vines all over the drawing to make it scarier and make the viewer disregard the fact that I did the buildings sloppily. I kind of like the result, though. It got the vibe I was aiming for, so it's all good.

I always believed that colors bring life to my drawings, but even with just a single black gel pen, I was somehow able to make this look alive... at least that's what I think. :)