ALYSSA: Premix or pre-pour your paint beforehand so you’re not deciding on colors while you’re painting. And always mix more of a unique color than you think you will need—you don’t want to run out halfway through your pumpkin.
Our absolute best, totally essential pumpkin painting tips
When you paint a lot of pumpkins,* you get pretty good at it. Not just the design part: all the details, from where to find inspiration to ways to apply paint to how to show them off. So we asked our artists to share their top pumpkin painting tips from start to finish. And here they are—but even better, here’s this year’s harvest of fabulous painted pumpkin inspo. (For a list of supplies and even more painted pumpkin tips and ideas, check out last year’s post.)
Tips for a pretty pile of painted pumpkins
For our fanciest pumpkins, we used artificial craft pumpkins. They’re available in different sizes, shapes, and colors and, obviously, they last forever.
Get in the mood
Want to make sure you end up with a crop of decorated pumpkins that look great together? Start off with a mood board and color palette. Hallmark is lucky enough to have a whole team dedicated to trend-spotting, so every year we kick our project off with them.
But you can do your own version—one that matches your style, your interests, or even your front porch. Search any of these words or phrases in front of “trends 2019” to get page after page of inspo:
- Graphic design
- Hand lettering
- Type
- Illustration
- Color
- Color palette
- Fashion
- Tattoo design
- Album cover art
We handed off our mood board to a group of designers, illustrators, and lettering artists and let them go wild. You can do the same with a group of friends or your roommate. Or, if you’re decorating with family, choose your paints from your color palette and turn the kids loose.
Halloween Supplies
- Pumpkin
- Acrylic Paints
- Fineliner Pen
- Round Detail Brush
- Sponge Applicator
Paint a Pumpkin Step by Step
Step 1: Base Coat – White
No carving necessary! To start off, you’ll need to use a base color of Arteza Premium Acrylic Paints. We picked white to give our pumpkin a shocking ghost effect. Using a sponge applicator, evenly apply the paint over the whole pumpkin (including the stem) in smooth strokes. Make sure not to leave any orange showing. Let this dry before moving on.
Step 2: Create Your Design
It’s all in the details! Now you’ll need to draw out your design. Want to put a cute or ghoulish phrase? Or would you rather leave out words and choose a spooky image instead? You could also go traditional and design your very own jack-o-lantern face! The possibilities here are endless. Once you know what you’d like to have on your pumpkin, draw it out with a fineliner pen.
