Choosing Your Carving Style

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Now that you know all 9 styles, how to pick the right one? It mostly comes down to what you’re carving.

For a quick carve: Basic Shapes (Style 1), Basic Shapes Staged (Style 1+), or Sawing (Style 2) are your best bet. Simple, fast, and fun.

For cartoons: First, it helps to know the difference between 2D and 3D cartoons. A 2D cartoon is flat and illustrated, like SpongeBob, Bart Simpson, or any comic book character. A 3D cartoon is a movie-style character with depth and shading, like Pixar films, video game characters, or characters like Shrek.

  • 2D cartoons usually work best with Sharpie & Scrape (Style 3). The bold, thin black lines that make 2D cartoons recognizable are much easier to draw with a Sharpie than to carve.
  • 3D cartoon characters usually look best with Sharpie, Scrape & Saw (Style 3+). The extra bright sawed areas really make them pop and add dimension.

For logos: Stick with Sharpie & Scrape (Style 3) and avoid any sawing. Logos are usually displayed indoors where lighting is bright, making it hard to see light shining through holes. The black Sharpie, pumpkin skin and scraped areas create a strong contrast. It shows up clearly even in a well-lit room, even if the pumpkin isn’t lit from inside.

(Photo: Logo pumpkin displayed in-store at a local donut shop. The mascot smiled patiently during the whole carve.)

For anything living, like people, animals, or plants: It’s usually best to avoid the Sharpie styles altogether. Black Sharpie’s harsh contrast looks unnatural against organic subjects. Without it, the shades of pumpkin skin and scraped glow blend together in a way that looks much more lifelike.

  • Animals often look great with Scrape & Sculpt (Style 2+). The soft glow from dim to bright suits fur and feathers well.
  • Portraits of people: Scrape, Saw & Sculpt (Style 4+) gives the most vivid, lifelike results. If you’re just starting out, Scrape & Saw (Style 4) looks great too.
  • Plants and other organic subjects: Scrape & Saw (Style 4) works well, giving three naturally blending shades.
(Photo: First-time portrait carvings by 14–16 year old high school students in Style 4+. A couple of students chose to give their trick or treaters nightmares.)
The Ultimate Book on Pumpkin Carving by Jeremy Burghall

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64 chapters covering every technique, every tool, and all nine carving styles. Written by someone who has carved pumpkin portraits for over 30 years and taught 500+ kids. Illustrated with real carvings by the author and his students.

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