How to make something more creepy?

[A-weird-girler]

Heya guys! I have another question and now that I am finally out of my inferiority-complex- driven-anxiety episode I can finally ask it!
How can I make an art piece scary? I'm working on this one:

and I feel like the fear factor just isn't so prominent. Any tips or advice for making things...well, scarier? (It'll be colored in black in white, if that helps)

[gh0stcr33p]

use dark colors and dramatic shading, I think it works best if the light is coming from under the characters. a tip for changing color pallettes it that you first use normal colors for the characters and adjust them with filters once you've finished the coloring/shading. also maybe use strong glow effects for things such as lights or anything of that nature if it's a dark scene, and maybe keep everything at a low saturation

[joannekwan]

Obscure the monster as much as you can but just make the eyes stark white/red/whatever its eye colors are. And give little hints to it's features, like a small glint on the scythe, some muted highlights on the tendrils

[A-weird-girler]

Thanks! But it's supposed to be hair, any tips on how to make hair scary?

[qwerty]

To me the scary atmosphere of something seems to largely be created by the colors, so it may not be very apparent just from the line art.

One thing that can work is making something fade into shadow so its form is partially obscured. It gives it a sense of mystery that can contribute to the "scariness" since you feel like you can't know the full nature of what you're looking at.

[Lady_DarkStar]

Right now you have it flowing, soft and organic, make it sharper, more angular at the ends, like it's forming spears or something. Hope that helps.

[A-weird-girler]

FREAKING BET! You have a huge talent with colors!
@Lady_DarkStar You mean something such as this?

[joannekwan]

HM, as hair isn't scary in and of itself, making it do things the opposite of what one would expect hair to do would be pretty creepy.
Like Junji Ito puts a LOT of detail into his abnormal hair

Lots of fine lines here

And here, each strand is clearly defined and the hair looks more like creeping vines

[qwerty]

^u^ thanks haha (char limit...)

[A-weird-girler]

Ah you're right! And I'm so dumb I learned about this before! Apparently if you put too much detail in something, it immediately becomes uncanny valley

[Lady_DarkStar]

Sort of, but not really, that just looks like a mess.

[skicoak]

I'd play with the angles/perspective a tad.

Throw the viewer off guard visually. Something like this.

Just a suggestion.

[Buurd]

I think the color and methods of making hair creepier above are great! ^

Another thing I'd consider is putting less of the front character in the frame? Like enlarge them/focus in more on their face? Their body is pretty still/motionless, so cutting back on the space it takes up might draw more attention to their uneasy expression and the figure behind

[A-weird-girler]

Ah yes, good point! thank you

[A-weird-girler]

@ghostieblu @A_Toad @skicoak @joannekwan @Buurd @Lady_DarkStar here's what it looks like, what do you think ^^
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtUBPEOjif9/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

[joannekwan]

Cool! The flickering effect definitely adds to the mood! Nice job~

[Zemoore]

Hmm i would suggest adjusting the perspective/angle so the lady in the back is not aligned with the guy. If you frame it so it appears like the girl if higher/above the guy, it would give a looming effect.

[joannekwan]

^ an easy way would be to shrink and lower the guy a little~

[Zemoore]

^ true thats what i do

[A-weird-girler]

Aw dangit too late oh well for next time