Pumpkin Carving Ideas 2020

Our 2019 Family of Pumpkins

Each October I look forward to selecting and carving several pumpkins to display on our front porch for trick-or-treaters on Halloween. While we don't expect as many this year due to COVID, I still planned to carve a few jack-o-lanterns anyway. These are from 2019. I'm waiting until the week of the 26th to carve mine for 2020.

While at the grocery recently, I saw my very first mutant pumpkin. It was one large pumpkin sharing its stem with a smaller hanger-on. Even one of the store clerks had to take a picture of it on his phone. I've seen some carvings that attach small pumpkins, or other fruits or vegetables to create facial features. Two yellow apples or oranges may be used to create the ears of Disney's Mickey Mouse. Cute!

This year, I spent some time browsing the Internet for ideas, thinking that we would get together as a family to try our hands at carving. As usual, I found lots of creepy, scary faces. I wanted to try this one myself because of the depth achieved in crafting the eyes and exposed teeth. My cat pumpkins traditionally have slanted eyes like these, but I typically carve out the whites of the eyes rather than peeling off the skin. It will be interesting to make the iris and pupils the negative space. Maybe next year!

I was also inspired by two rather complicated curvy carvings of Medusa and the character Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Uma Thurman played the part of snake-haired Medusa in 2010's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

In Greek Mythology, the goddess Athena turns the beautiful mortal Gorgon priestess into an ugly hag following her affair with the sea god Poseidon. Anyone caught looking into her eyes becomes one of her stone statues in her garden. Perseus, the only son of Zeus and Danae, is famous for beheading her.

My Davy Jones

👈 Silhouettes are also popular in pumpkin carving, like this dragon emerging from a fiery lair.

Or this raven spreading its wings as it flies in front of the harvest moon.👉

My Raven

My UW Husky Mascot (2018)

I am impressed by this carving of a wolf's head. Achieving the proper effect requires an understanding of +/- space. The head is slightly turned to create more of a 3D look. In 2018 I was able to successfully create a Husky dog profile.

The thickness of the pumpkin flesh gave the letter 'W' a 3D appearance.

My daughter was inspired by her Shikoku dog, Jeju (Korean name), or maybe the wolf pumpkin I showed her. Anyway, she quite successfully captured him here.

My Minion (2017)

I enjoy seeing how carvers achieve their effects without compromising the integrity of the vegetable that is sure to rot and cave in not long after Halloween. These carvings of Harry Potter's face are good examples. Notice how there is flesh left at the bridge of the nose and only the top edge of the frames are cut through, leaving some parts that may be cut only halfway through. I also created a Minion in 2017. Carving away the skin gives the face a different glow to the face than that of the bibbed-overall pants of the minion. I enjoy the range of warm yellow and orange colors and highlights from the intensity of the candle inside. The variation of both the thickness and depth of your cuts provides extra outlining and shading.

Challenge yourself to try more intricate and graphic carvings like this spider or this Star Wars Darth Vader head. Last year, I went with a Spiderman head (see my 2019 pumpkins above) which required carving web lines partway through the flesh, then peeling away the skin between the lines. It took lots of patience and repetition though the final result was worth the time and effort. 

         

Sometimes you may want to channel your inner Martha Stewart and create more decorative designs. Last year, my wife chose polka dots.  I like to use drill bits or kitchen tools but would rather use them to create an owl or this Day of the Dead skull. An awl or screwdriver makes a great hole-punch.

      

My Skull & Raven

👈I'd like to attempt carving these random roses at some point.

In 2015, I did an all-over carving of multiple mini jack-o-lantern faces creating a complicated yet interesting pattern that projected faces on the walls of our porch.👇

My Multi-faceted Jacks (2015)