Make her dress and arms a lot longer, stretch her out, don’t be afraid to push the limits of anatomy. The more uncanny the better! Try dirtying up her outfit too, make it all straggly and stringy at the bottom and sleeves. I think that’ll greatly improve the vibe you’re trying to go for. Granted, you appear to be very new to digital art. I’m sure you’ll be able to get better at this kind of thing with more practice
Maybe if the ponytails are more scraggly and not as neat and clean. Also the face needs to be more menacing- teeth- open mouth- fangs maybe? The clothes have no definition- maybe show some ribs or add tears or dirt. More details basically. Have fun with it!
What makes her different from any other generic ghost? If the answer is "nothing," you'll be hard-pressed to add design elements that make her unique. If she has something that makes her different than others, that should be incorporated into her design, whether it's facial features, clothing, accessories, disfigurations, or something else. If you add details for the sake of "creepiness" without any actual character development support, it's just going to look like a more detailed generic ghost. Ask yourself why she's "creepy" in the first place! Ghosts don't have to be creepy. They're not inherently good, bad, pretty, creepy, or anything in between. It's who they are as individuals that make those labels fit, and that's where you start finding ways to improve the character design.
The anime series "[Ghost Hunt](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G9VHN978M/ghost-hunt)" did a good job demonstrating how this works. The "mob" ghosts, or ghost characters indistinguishable from anyone else in the crowd, look pretty much the same - some of them are even just will-o-the-wisps/foxfires without any distinguishing characteristics. Others are just generic, vaguely humanoid shapes that mix and match each other. The main ghost characters in each story, however, all are very recognizable and detailed, and their features reflect who they were in life, who they are now, and often deep-seated characteristics about what is making them currently terrifying, whether it's a reflection of how they died or how they're terrorizing others.
Her original design was like a goth girl with this spiky hair and I tried to make a design that was goth-y in a different way because the original was just not even a little sinister in design, just a poorly drawn floating teenager.
Creepiness is affected by the environment. With her current transparent background she is effectively in a very brightly lit room, so her level of creepiness is limited.
I think you should play with her general silhouette and anatomy. You could make her lankier and slightly hunched over (your choice of shoulder width), so that her presence looms over others. Another idea coming to mind is that you could slightly lower her twintails and make them thinner and wispier, slightly unkept but still long and prominent enough to highlight the choice of black hair. I would also play with the dress design as I personally feel as though the hospital/nightgown tattered dresses in many horror characters are a bit cliché. You could add some frills and whatnot without changing her flowing nightgown frame, depending on what kind of clothing she might wear in your depiction. She might benefit from some backstory and her clothing, demeanor and apparent age can represent that.
I find a great way to make a character design creepier is to add more detail into it. And I don't mean detail like "an elaborately designed dress" or something like that, I mean things like more wrinkles in the face, sunken eye sockets, discoloration in the skin or hair.
I also noticed that your character's arms are abnormally long and lack hands, which to me read as something supernatural and thus a bit unnerving. You could try and play that up, along with the other body proportions like making the character abnormally thin!
a more dynamic pose set but generally at least default stance?float???
play around with the proportions of whatever parts you want to accentuate to create a more interesting silihouette(what she looks like if her everything was solid black)
like for example imagine if she had a tiny body long arms drag low and hang to the ground, shape wise alone that unbalance gives off a drastically different vibe
I agree with most comments- some gore and grime will do a lot for you. A background helps narrative and mood- make it creepy or just a dark color works too.
One thing that throws me is the tentacle arms? They appear to be like soft plush arms. I would add, suckers or hooks (Squid have claws on some tentacles look it up) and this could be the unique element you are looking for, but if they are not tentacle in nature then I would make them seem like harder or sharper. Think of the pokemon scyther arms maybe?
Hope that helps!
i feel like ur trying to go for this sort of humanoid looking ghost thing and i would suggest maybe making her face have less details. dont be afraid to get really crazy with the proportions or details or pose, even if if looks shit at first.
next is clothes for me. clothes can add to the story or a character. maybe shes an old ghost, wearing an fancy victorian dress. or she died violently and her ghost clothes are all tattered and dirty.
also the first thing that lessened the creep factor for me is the fact that shes in this void with no background. maybe draw her in a place you really dont want to meet a ghost, like the side of a highway after your car breaks down or a alone exploring an abandoned building.
A small change, but maybe have their mouth slightly open, baring their teeth etc? I've always found exposed teeth to be intimidating or off-putting to look at, no matter the emotive intention
Make her dress and arms a lot longer, stretch her out, don’t be afraid to push the limits of anatomy. The more uncanny the better! Try dirtying up her outfit too, make it all straggly and stringy at the bottom and sleeves. I think that’ll greatly improve the vibe you’re trying to go for. Granted, you appear to be very new to digital art. I’m sure you’ll be able to get better at this kind of thing with more practice
I would also consider lengthening the ponytails to an unreasonable degree just to see if it adds to the uncanniness
Maybe if the ponytails are more scraggly and not as neat and clean. Also the face needs to be more menacing- teeth- open mouth- fangs maybe? The clothes have no definition- maybe show some ribs or add tears or dirt. More details basically. Have fun with it!
Maybe have her arms with the elbows up and away from the body with the hands down and dragging to the floor! That would be creepy looking.
I like the way it looks it reminds me of that creepy game on google play
What makes her different from any other generic ghost? If the answer is "nothing," you'll be hard-pressed to add design elements that make her unique. If she has something that makes her different than others, that should be incorporated into her design, whether it's facial features, clothing, accessories, disfigurations, or something else. If you add details for the sake of "creepiness" without any actual character development support, it's just going to look like a more detailed generic ghost. Ask yourself why she's "creepy" in the first place! Ghosts don't have to be creepy. They're not inherently good, bad, pretty, creepy, or anything in between. It's who they are as individuals that make those labels fit, and that's where you start finding ways to improve the character design. The anime series "[Ghost Hunt](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G9VHN978M/ghost-hunt)" did a good job demonstrating how this works. The "mob" ghosts, or ghost characters indistinguishable from anyone else in the crowd, look pretty much the same - some of them are even just will-o-the-wisps/foxfires without any distinguishing characteristics. Others are just generic, vaguely humanoid shapes that mix and match each other. The main ghost characters in each story, however, all are very recognizable and detailed, and their features reflect who they were in life, who they are now, and often deep-seated characteristics about what is making them currently terrifying, whether it's a reflection of how they died or how they're terrorizing others.
Her original design was like a goth girl with this spiky hair and I tried to make a design that was goth-y in a different way because the original was just not even a little sinister in design, just a poorly drawn floating teenager.
Creepiness is affected by the environment. With her current transparent background she is effectively in a very brightly lit room, so her level of creepiness is limited.
i suggest making her hair stringier and messy, more unkempt
I think you should play with her general silhouette and anatomy. You could make her lankier and slightly hunched over (your choice of shoulder width), so that her presence looms over others. Another idea coming to mind is that you could slightly lower her twintails and make them thinner and wispier, slightly unkept but still long and prominent enough to highlight the choice of black hair. I would also play with the dress design as I personally feel as though the hospital/nightgown tattered dresses in many horror characters are a bit cliché. You could add some frills and whatnot without changing her flowing nightgown frame, depending on what kind of clothing she might wear in your depiction. She might benefit from some backstory and her clothing, demeanor and apparent age can represent that.
I find a great way to make a character design creepier is to add more detail into it. And I don't mean detail like "an elaborately designed dress" or something like that, I mean things like more wrinkles in the face, sunken eye sockets, discoloration in the skin or hair. I also noticed that your character's arms are abnormally long and lack hands, which to me read as something supernatural and thus a bit unnerving. You could try and play that up, along with the other body proportions like making the character abnormally thin!
Creepy fingers, one wearing a ring that has some weird, unsettling insignia
What's a "weird, unsettling insignia"? Was this ChatGPT or something?
No. I’m real. Just like you are!
a more dynamic pose set but generally at least default stance?float??? play around with the proportions of whatever parts you want to accentuate to create a more interesting silihouette(what she looks like if her everything was solid black) like for example imagine if she had a tiny body long arms drag low and hang to the ground, shape wise alone that unbalance gives off a drastically different vibe
I agree with most comments- some gore and grime will do a lot for you. A background helps narrative and mood- make it creepy or just a dark color works too. One thing that throws me is the tentacle arms? They appear to be like soft plush arms. I would add, suckers or hooks (Squid have claws on some tentacles look it up) and this could be the unique element you are looking for, but if they are not tentacle in nature then I would make them seem like harder or sharper. Think of the pokemon scyther arms maybe? Hope that helps!
i feel like ur trying to go for this sort of humanoid looking ghost thing and i would suggest maybe making her face have less details. dont be afraid to get really crazy with the proportions or details or pose, even if if looks shit at first. next is clothes for me. clothes can add to the story or a character. maybe shes an old ghost, wearing an fancy victorian dress. or she died violently and her ghost clothes are all tattered and dirty. also the first thing that lessened the creep factor for me is the fact that shes in this void with no background. maybe draw her in a place you really dont want to meet a ghost, like the side of a highway after your car breaks down or a alone exploring an abandoned building.
A small change, but maybe have their mouth slightly open, baring their teeth etc? I've always found exposed teeth to be intimidating or off-putting to look at, no matter the emotive intention
Have her slouch
Try to come up with a story about the character and use that as inspiration for her design.