Baby-o'-Lantern - My little pumpkin on a pumpkin

[mimik]

I can't believe how nicely this turned out and how easy it was:

Here's the original portait:

I converted it to greyscale in photoshop and played with the threshold - here's what came up with (keep in mind, I know very little about photoshop - that's how easy it was)

My husband did the carving - I love it!!!!

Edited to add:  Just to expand on my tute a little bit, we printed out the stencil and taped it to the pumpkin...then we used a really sharp pen to poke throw the paper along the stencil lines and make marks on the pumpkin...then we removed the paper and drew along the dotted line in pen just to make the carving lines stand out more. 

[koshka7]

This rocks!  Thanks for the tute

[sylviegl]

Wow love it!!
Just may have to try this out too!!!

[THEtayy]

im so trying this, maybe ill have it perfected by next halloween when my baby is here

[I Sew Cute]

Amazing!



 

[RachelKristin]

that is insane! in a totally good way 

[mimik]

Thank you all for the great comments!   

[nolimitnugget]

Very nice!  Portrait pumpkins have been a hobby of mine for a couple of years now.  For your next one, here are a couple of tips for a little more detail...

Most photo programs have an effect called "posterize"...this delineates the areas of contrast a little, and when you play with the levels, you can get it to where you see 3 overall tones (dark, shaded, and light).  It takes a little work, but you can then go over the picture with the "paintbrush" function and turn it to 3 overall colors...black, white and grey

Then, when you carve the pumpkin, you leave the black areas alone, cut the white out completely, and just cut a the skin and a little of the flesh off of the pumpkin which will give you a shaded look.  One example is at the below link (i'm too new to post directly in the body, sorry).

http://www.craftster.org/pictures/showphoto.php?photo=188496

[mimik]

Very nice!  Portrait pumpkins have been a hobby of mine for a couple of years now.  For your next one, here are a couple of tips for a little more detail...

http://www.craftster.org/pictures/showphoto.php?photo=188496

THANK YOU!  That makes a lot of sense and I can't wait to try it next year!  Your pumpkin looks awesome - would love to see more examples!

[nolimitnugget]

Just finished my two for this year...putting the pics in my gallery.

Also, one other valuable tip...if you have a hobby lobby in your area, go there NOW.  They usually have "Funkin" brand foam pumpkins 1/2 off right after halloween, so you can get a good sized one for like $12.  Same carving principles apply, but you have to use a Dremel tool to do the shading.  That's the only way I do them now (all of my pictures are carvings on these fake pumpkins).  Last forever versus a few days.

ps.  Don't be fooled by the fake "carvable" pumpkins at Michaels...not worth it at all.  Stick w/ Funkin brand.

Nugget

http://www.craftster.org/pictures/showphoto.php?photo=189601