Friday, October 29, 2010

Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2010 The Green Man


Having encountered Pumpkin Carving this year - not just a 2D face or scene, but actual 3D sculpture, I decided to take a swing at it! And being ambitious, I chose a Green Man for my subject. Now, the trick is to pick a pumpkin with a thick rind so that you have something to work with...note, this will not work with one of the carvable fake pumpkins. They're not thick enough.
I didn't have the right tools, and the online tutorials were all very helpful, but made one feel very incompetent, given the level of art they were showing! In fact, I have never done any 3D carving or sculpting like this before in my life. So...this is a big step. Here is how it went....
The Pumpkin - you figure out which has the thickest rind by weight - line up a bunch of pumpkins roughly the same size and test the weight - the heaviest one is the one that's the thickest.

Skinned off the outside peel...really needed better tools for this, but I made it work.



Roughed in a face, carving in the deepest parts first, as per tutorials.

Ok...looking pretty good....



Had to try a candle at this point...hmmmnnn. Not too bad!
My favorite picture of the lot - even though it's not finished here...

There's even an acorn!
Loved doing this, had a wonderful learning experience and look forward to doing more and better next Halloween! And intend to practice this summer on watermelon! WaterJacks!
Have a Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain!

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful! Makes me eager to try my hand, but it will be next year, when I again live in a land of pumpkins. I did get a photo last night of me with three GIANT pumpkins because I am briefly in Seattle. I head back to the land of ice tomorrow. Good wishes to you on your special day/night.

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  2. You did a magnificent job -- hard to believe it's your first attempt at sculpture (but then, you ARE an artist!) I know my Rare One wants to try her hand at doing this type of carving too. I'm happy just to do the 2D kind!

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