Pumpkin Carving TIPS
from a Facial Expression Expert
Key Concept: Pumpkins are not as smart as they look. You wield the knife with savvy and you'll get spectacular Jack-O'-Lantern faces. |
Figure 1. Carving a stylized face on a pumpkin is pretty simple. But careful attention to the shape and details of the eyes and mouth can take the look from good to great.
Halloween presents the perfect holiday for fans of facial expression to both create and observe stylized emotions. The All-American pumpkin - a true native species, unlike apples, potatoes, carrots, wheat, or corn - lends itself to carved faces better than nearly any other natural form.
And, since most of us tend to underestimate just how subtle and effective simplified faces can be, checking out the array of carved pumpkins on holiday display can be quite educational. In this blog I examine three of the six Cardinal Expressions – Joy, Sadness & Anger – including why some faces work much better than others, and offer tips for your upcoming Halloween pumpkin carving project.
JOY #1: Smiling Pumpkins
And, since most of us tend to underestimate just how subtle and effective simplified faces can be, checking out the array of carved pumpkins on holiday display can be quite educational. In this blog I examine three of the six Cardinal Expressions – Joy, Sadness & Anger – including why some faces work much better than others, and offer tips for your upcoming Halloween pumpkin carving project.
JOY #1: Smiling Pumpkins
 Figure 2. A D E Q U A T E |  Figure 3. E X C E L L E N T |
It’s almost impossible to get the smile wrong. Pretty much any upward, open arc will do for your jolly Jack'o'-lantern. But if you compare my drawn version of Figure 3 (right), it’s obvious that the more radical arc, as in the “Excellent” version, the more warm and amusing the smile than the merely adequate flat arc in Figure 2 (left). Surprisingly, the two lower teeth in Figure 2 also dampen the effect, as they come so close to blocking the mouth opening that they make the smile arc that much harder to read.
The eyes are also a factor. Figure 2 has crossed-eyes. Without any obvious eye-widening or reshaping, the eyes send a fuzzy message of a confused pumpkin. Figure 3 has a much smaller iris, making the eyes seem wider, and it is carved with a taut (straight) lower lid – always a boost to the expression of joy. The upwards directed gaze is also much more appealing. Our happier pumpkin looks amused by something in its surroundings.
The Iris Matters
It’s possible to create an expressive face on a pumpkin with simply an eye opening and no iris. But with a wide, triangular shaped eye shape, as in my test results below (Figure 4), the message is highly ambiguous, since the missing iris could be of any size, or in any position within the eye opening, and every variation has a different effect. When I added a small iris, at the very bottom of the opening, the pumpkin appears as a surprised) eye with a tight lower edge, and thus creates the look of the eager smile, like a typical Disney character, or any of hundreds of other wide-eyed cartoon creations.
The eyes are also a factor. Figure 2 has crossed-eyes. Without any obvious eye-widening or reshaping, the eyes send a fuzzy message of a confused pumpkin. Figure 3 has a much smaller iris, making the eyes seem wider, and it is carved with a taut (straight) lower lid – always a boost to the expression of joy. The upwards directed gaze is also much more appealing. Our happier pumpkin looks amused by something in its surroundings.
The Iris Matters
It’s possible to create an expressive face on a pumpkin with simply an eye opening and no iris. But with a wide, triangular shaped eye shape, as in my test results below (Figure 4), the message is highly ambiguous, since the missing iris could be of any size, or in any position within the eye opening, and every variation has a different effect. When I added a small iris, at the very bottom of the opening, the pumpkin appears as a surprised) eye with a tight lower edge, and thus creates the look of the eager smile, like a typical Disney character, or any of hundreds of other wide-eyed cartoon creations.
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Figures 4 & 5.
JOY #2 - Laughing Pumpkins
Laughter is part of the group of facial expressions which are always accompanied by intense eye squinting, which also includes sneezing, coughing, and no-holds-barred crying (see below). To get the laugh right, the mouth needs to stretched sideways and dropped open, along with a set of obviously squinting eyes. With a simplified face like a pumpkin, that's easy to do - a slant-sided trapezoid with an arched upper edge serves nicely for the mouth, and a narrow, upwards-curved arc gets the job done with the eyes. And although the pumpkin in Fig. 6 has a much less effective mouth carving - the dip in the upper lip contradicts the necessary sense of stretching, and the overall shape is too narrow - it still gets the message across. Fig. 7 is much better; Fig. 6 seems like the laugh of a very old man with a bit of muscle impairment.
Laughter is part of the group of facial expressions which are always accompanied by intense eye squinting, which also includes sneezing, coughing, and no-holds-barred crying (see below). To get the laugh right, the mouth needs to stretched sideways and dropped open, along with a set of obviously squinting eyes. With a simplified face like a pumpkin, that's easy to do - a slant-sided trapezoid with an arched upper edge serves nicely for the mouth, and a narrow, upwards-curved arc gets the job done with the eyes. And although the pumpkin in Fig. 6 has a much less effective mouth carving - the dip in the upper lip contradicts the necessary sense of stretching, and the overall shape is too narrow - it still gets the message across. Fig. 7 is much better; Fig. 6 seems like the laugh of a very old man with a bit of muscle impairment.
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Figures 6, 7 & 8.
ANGER - Scowling Pumpkins
The “evil smile,” a combination of the angry scowl and the happy smile, is a mainstay of pumpkin expressions, and for good reason – it’s a universal, instantly readable face of malignancy combined with sinister pleasure. The blade-like teeth add to the nasty effect.
The “evil smile,” a combination of the angry scowl and the happy smile, is a mainstay of pumpkin expressions, and for good reason – it’s a universal, instantly readable face of malignancy combined with sinister pleasure. The blade-like teeth add to the nasty effect.
 Figure 9. A D E Q U A T E |  Figure 10. E X C E L L E N T |
In Figures 9 and 10 above, I show two versions of evil pumpkins which get the message across, one much more powerfully than the other. In Figure 9, the basics are in place: the downwards slanted upper eyelid, the extra wide eye opening (see the nearly vertical rise of the other eyelid margin), and the upwardly arced mouth. The weakest element is the mouth, as we can see more clearly in the drawn version. It is too blunt at the outer corner and the upwards arch is too slight.
In Figure 10, the “Excellent” pumpkin carving does several things well. The mouth (clearly illustrated in the drawing) arcs much more radically upwards, making it look happier. More unusually, the artist has created a deeply curved brow mass, which is often used in animated characters as a replacement for eyebrows. The green arrows mark the point of intersection where the central brow mass overlaps and covers the slanted upper eyelid, which up until that point matches the upper eyelid of the “Adequate” version. The sudden change of eyelid direction is a very effective way to indicate an intensely frowning brow, and is why the eye looks much more sinister than in Figure 9. Both Spiderman's and Iron Man's masks could benefit from a similar eye treatment.
SAD - Crying Pumpkins
In Figure 10, the “Excellent” pumpkin carving does several things well. The mouth (clearly illustrated in the drawing) arcs much more radically upwards, making it look happier. More unusually, the artist has created a deeply curved brow mass, which is often used in animated characters as a replacement for eyebrows. The green arrows mark the point of intersection where the central brow mass overlaps and covers the slanted upper eyelid, which up until that point matches the upper eyelid of the “Adequate” version. The sudden change of eyelid direction is a very effective way to indicate an intensely frowning brow, and is why the eye looks much more sinister than in Figure 9. Both Spiderman's and Iron Man's masks could benefit from a similar eye treatment.
SAD - Crying Pumpkins
 Figure 11. A D E Q U A T E |  Figure 12. E X C E L L E N T |
Open-mouthed crying, like laughing or sneezing, is always accompanied by a squinting of the eyes; the more intense the action, the stronger the squint. The crying pumpkin in Figure 11, which one assumes is meant to be vigorously crying (all those tears!) has neither the correct mouth shape – compare to the pumpkin in Figure 12 – nor nearly enough eye squint. The effect is vaguely unhappy (scared?), but not anywhere near what's indicative of crying. In Figure 12, the squared, stretched mouth shape, with the anatomically-correct raised middle section of the lower lip, combined with a maximal squint gets the job done nicely. In fact, the pumpkin seed tears are clever, but completely superfluous.
Mr. Anxiety meets Ms. Crazy
Mr. Anxiety meets Ms. Crazy
Figure 13.
Here’s a charming pair of pumpkins who most likely won’t read well at night, but as a photo setup in bright light, they're hard to beat. Both faces benefit greatly by the juxtaposition of their expressive carvings.
Mr. Anxiety, on the left, has the correct radical sideways stretching in his rectangular mouth, and his lower teeth are completely exposed, as they always are in a fearful mouth. His eyes are spectacularly widened and looking AT something, which helps him look terrified. By contrast, the fully exposed, clenched teeth of Ms. Crazy, on the right, combined with her extra-opened eyes, creates the impression of an expression that is on overdrive - energetic, naive and a bit crazed – something that’s definitely worrying her friend. Is he onto something?
Mr. Anxiety, on the left, has the correct radical sideways stretching in his rectangular mouth, and his lower teeth are completely exposed, as they always are in a fearful mouth. His eyes are spectacularly widened and looking AT something, which helps him look terrified. By contrast, the fully exposed, clenched teeth of Ms. Crazy, on the right, combined with her extra-opened eyes, creates the impression of an expression that is on overdrive - energetic, naive and a bit crazed – something that’s definitely worrying her friend. Is he onto something?
CREDITS: Figure 1. Photo from www.MentalFloss.com; Figure 2. Photo from www.mentalfloss.com article, "15 Things to Do with Pumpkins (Besides Carve Them) + Author drawing; Figure 3. Photo from www.myfreeproductsamples.com + Author drawing; Figure 4. Results of Author anonymous iinternet survey; Figure 5. Author drawing; Figure 6. Photo from Oneluckybug.com - Pumpkin Carving; Figure 7. Photo source not found; Figure 8. Author drawing; Figure 9. Photo from www.bagitau.net + Author drawing; Figure 10. Photo from www.costumes.tammam.co + Author drawing; Figure 11. Photo from www.PumpkinLady.com + Author drawing; Figure 12. Photo from www.weburbanist.com + Author drawing; Figure 13. Photo from http://imgrez.com/design
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