DIY Digital Creations for a Spooktacular Halloween

DIY Digital Creations for a
Spooktacular Halloween

From digital pumpkin carving to spine-tingling virtual backgrounds, these simple crafts are so fun, it’s scary.

All illustrations created with Galaxy Note20 and S Pen.

Whether you celebrate by nailing a killer homemade costume, perfecting your jack-o’-lantern’s toothy grin or testing out a new pumpkin spice recipe, Halloween offers countless ways to get creative. This year, we’re turning our attention to spooky digital projects that are super-easy, just as fun as the real deal—and way less messy. Read on for inspiration, plus how to use S Pen to put your personal stamp on the final product.

Spookify your social feed

The real Halloween party this year will be happening on social media. And one surefire way to stand out? Giving your posts a spooky twist that’s uniquely you. You could turn yourself into a monster in a Halloween profile picture, add a skeleton to your videos, have a “ghost” pop up in your Story. Not an artist? Plaster Halloween-themed stickers onto your photos and videos. This time of year, nothing gets ‘likes’ like the frights. (As for captions, we recommend a Halloween pun or five.)

Call the video chat with a haunted virtual background

Why dial into your video meeting from a regular old home office when you could greet coworkers from a horror-filled dungeon or mad scientist’s laboratory? With so many people doing video calls these days, there’s a new place to express your seasonal spirit: the video chat virtual background.

A spooky illustration of a video chat virtual background with Microsoft Teams interface elements. A woman sits in front of the background. Three glowing, menacing-looking jack-o'-lanterns sit in front of two black trees. In the background is a twilight sky of orange, yellow, purple, and red with a large moon in the center.

Let’s make a spooky scene

Follow these instructions to create a virtual background that expresses your sense of Halloween décor–or should we say “dégore.”

Three side-by-side instructions in the PENUP app with brush and color settings at the top of the screen. First: blank canvas in the with the brush settings selected. Second: four broad digital paint strokes of yellow, orange, red, and purple. Third: borders of the different paint strokes blending into each other.

Paint a bright, bold twilight sky

Open a blank canvas in your PENUP app. Then pick three colours from your colour palette for the sky. Select the oil paint brush in a large size and paint three broad strokes across the canvas. The colours will blend automatically but you can also use the blending brush (it looks like a white pencil) to mix them even more.

Three side-by-side instructions in the PENUP app with brush and color settings at the top of the screen. First: twilight sky illustration, now with two curved yellow lines facing each other. Second: two curved lines becoming a half-circle that looks like a moon nestled in the sky. Third: a close-up of this moon, now covered in craters and more detail.

Add a harvest moon

Use your oil paintbrush to make a yellow half circle. This will become your moon. Blend in colours from your sky background. Then use the pencil brush to outline the moon in yellow and add crater details. Play around with different brushes to see which give you the details you want.

An illustration of a full moon nestled into a multi-coloured twilight sky.

Bring in some (un)happy little trees

Use your marker brush to add a black tree trunk to the foreground. Then use the calligraphy brush to add thinner, finer lines for the tree branches. The S Pen can sense how thick you want a line to be by how much pressure you use. Add one more tree to the other side to balance out the image.

Three orange circles are in the foreground of a twilight sky illustration. There are leafless trees in the background that are partially covering a full moon.

Invite a few pumpkin pals

In the foreground, use the airbrush to make three orange orbs. Then select a lighter yellow and adjust the opacity to 30. This will create the appearance of a glow. Now switch to the calligraphy brush (in black) and draw the outlines of jack-o’-lantern faces on top of the orange circles. Finally, use the black marker to colour in the pumpkin except for the eyes and mouth.

Let’s make a spooky scene

Follow these instructions to create a virtual background that expresses your sense of Halloween décor–or should we say “dégore.”
Paint a bright, bold twilight sky

Open a blank canvas in your PENUP app. Then pick three colours from your colour palette for the sky. Select the oil paint brush in a large size and paint three broad strokes across the canvas. The colours will blend automatically but you can also use the blending brush (it looks like a white pencil) to mix them even more.
Add a harvest moon

Use your oil paintbrush to make a yellow half circle. This will become your moon. Blend in colours from your sky background. Then use the pencil brush to outline the moon in yellow and add crater details. Play around with different brushes to see which give you the details you want.
Bring in some (un)happy little trees

Use your marker brush to add a black tree trunk to the foreground. Then use the calligraphy brush to add thinner, finer lines for the tree branches. The S Pen can sense how thick you want a line to be by how much pressure you use. Add one more tree to the other side to balance out the image.
Invite a few pumpkin pals

In the foreground, use the airbrush to make three orange orbs. Then select a lighter yellow and adjust the opacity to 30. This will create the appearance of a glow. Now switch to the calligraphy brush (in black) and draw the outlines of jack-o’-lantern faces on top of the orange circles. Finally, use the black marker to colour in the pumpkin except for the eyes and mouth.

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Draw on photos to make a digital jack-o’-lantern

The jack-o’-lantern is the undisputed king of Halloween crafts. But while those glowing faces look great on the front porch, we’d rather skip the knives, open flames and handfuls of pumpkin guts. Enter the digital jack-o’-lantern.

Two digital jack-o'-lanterns next to each other in front of a brick wall. Their faces are illustrated digitally onto a photo of real pumpkins. There are also illustrated cobwebs and spiders in the corners of the image, a misty purple floor, and a bat with red eyes in front of a moon.

Let’s get started

Follow these instructions to create your own shareable digital jack-o’-lantern with as many spooky (or friendly or goofy) personalities as you want. Unlike a real pumpkin, it will live on, shrivel free, forever.

Two pumpkins next to each other in front of a brick wall with the interface of the Camera app on top.

Take a photo of your pumpkin

Open your camera app and snap a picture. Tap the photo to see the editing tools. If you want to work on your pumpkin pic later, you can also find it in the Gallery app.

Two pumpkins in front of a brick wall with the Camera app's brush selection and editing interface on top.

Pick your brush and colour

Tap the pencil icon, then tap the icon that looks like a paintbrush and palette. There you can select your brush type, size and any colours you want to use. We recommend starting with the Basic brush at size 20 in a vibrant orange.

Two pumpkins in front of a brick wall with the beginnings of jack-o'-lantern faces. Yellow eyes and mouths have been digitally illustrated onto them. The image editing interface is on top of the photo.

Draw the face

With the S Pen or your finger, draw your jack-o’-lantern face on the pumpkin photo. Make it as creepy or ridiculous as you want it to be. Unlike real pumpkins, digital pumpkins give you plenty of chances for do-overs.

Two digital jack-o'-lanterns in front of a brick wall with illustrated white cobwebs in the corners and an illustrated black bat in front of a white moon. The image editing interface is on top of the photo.

Add frightening flair

Use the Glow Pen at the largest size to draw a full moon. Use the Basic tool at the smallest size to add a black bat in front of it, then switch to white to hang some cobwebs. To create a spooky, misty floor effect, use the Marker tool to colour the floor purple. Then draw smaller black horizontal lines across it. With the Pattern/Mosaic pen tool at maximum size, blend the colours together.

Make it move

To add a little motion, save your pic then open it in Live Messages. You can make an animated spider by selecting the Ink tool at the smallest point size. Draw a white line downward to create a dangling web with our creepy-crawly friend at the end. To give your bat glowing eyes, use the same Ink tool but switch the colour to red.

Let’s get started

Follow these instructions to create your own shareable digital jack-o’-lantern with as many spooky (or friendly or goofy) personalities as you want. Unlike a real pumpkin, it will live on, shrivel free, forever.
Take a photo of your pumpkin

Open your camera app and snap a picture. Tap the photo to see the editing tools. If you want to work on your pumpkin pic later, you can also find it in the Gallery app.
Pick your brush and colour

Tap the pencil icon, then tap the icon that looks like a paintbrush and palette. There you can select your brush type, size and any colours you want to use. We recommend starting with the Basic brush at size 20 in a vibrant orange.
Draw the face

With the S Pen or your finger, draw your jack-o’-lantern face on the pumpkin photo. Make it as creepy or ridiculous as you want it to be. Unlike real pumpkins, digital pumpkins give you plenty of chances for do-overs.
Add frightening flair

Use the Glow Pen at the largest size to draw a full moon. Use the Basic tool at the smallest size to add a black bat in front of it, then switch to white to hang some cobwebs. To create a spooky, misty floor effect, use the Marker tool to colour the floor purple. Then draw smaller black horizontal lines across it. With the Pattern/Mosaic pen tool at maximum size, blend the colours together.
Make it move

To add a little motion, save your pic then open it in Live Messages. You can make an animated spider by selecting the Ink tool at the smallest point size. Draw a white line downward to create a dangling web with our creepy-crawly friend at the end. To give your bat glowing eyes, use the same Ink tool but switch the colour to red.

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DIY Digital Creations for aSpooktacular Halloween