What is it about pumpkins that makes them so lovable? They come in so many different shapes and sizes, and there are a million fantastic tutorials out there for carving, painting, and decorating these handsome fruits (yes, pumpkins actually belong to the berry family!) I've always been especially fond of vintage halloween pumpkin images, complete with wide grins, ghostly eyes, and triangle noses. But there are no vintage style jack-o-lantern DIYs on Pinterest!!! How can this be? I'm remedying that situation...right...now! Here's a (almost too thorough) step-by-step of how I painted this punkin', so you can make one too!
This is super easy to do as long as you break it down into simple shapes. All you need is a pumpkin of any size, acrylic paint in whatever colors you like (I used primary colors and white), a medium brush and a small brush for line work, and a glass of water. And just a little water on a rag will wipe up any mistakes. You can also clean up edges and add detail with a damp Q-tip.
1. Paint two white circles or ovals for eyes. Outline in black (navy). Add a small circle in the center of each eye.
2. Using your outline brush, paint a red circle around the center circle in each eye.
3. Repeat with yellow, then again with red, creating a bulls-eye. Add white fleck for reflection if you'd like.
4. Paint two narrow triangles at an angle from the center of the pupil through the whole eye as shown.
5. With a dry brush, lightly draw in a curved, half-moon shape for the mouth. This way, you can map out exactly where you'd like it to go, and make sure the grin is even. Once you have it outlined, fill in the entire mouth with white. Once that's dry, use your thin brush to outline the mouth with red. I added some little bags under his eyes at this stage too.
6. Carefully paint black vertical lines with your thin brush, and space them equally apart. Slowly draw a curved horizontal line from left to right across the smile to finish the teeth. If you paint slowly with a fluid motion and line up the brush so that you are passing through the center of each vertical line as you go, the teeth will turn out pretty darn straight!
7. This part is really fun! Take your outline brush and paint red "u" shapes along the bottom to create the shape of gums. Let the black vertical lines you just painted serve as guides. Do the same thing on the top but turn those "u"s upside-down. Mix a little red and white, and fill in the newly created shapes with pink.
8. Make three small dots in red to map out your triangle nose. Keep the negative space between the triangle and the eyes and lips equidistant (that will help you make a pretty even triangle!) Outline with white, black (navy), whatever you'd like. I did a little dotted line action, myself. Add any other details (eyebrows) that you'd like, and BAM! You've got yourself a pretty cool vintage style pumpkin!
Now have some fun with him!
xox,
P + E
