2025's Pumpkin designs are here!
I should change the name of this blog to be 'Yearly Jack-O-Lantern Design Blog.'
Yep. Still doing this. Here's this year's set:
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It's that time of year again! Here's this year's contact sheet of goofy jack-o-lantern pumpkin designs:
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It seems like the last few years have been showcasing some new developments. Three years ago was the 10 year anniversary so I shared my process, and last year was special due to turning some old and new designs into commissioned tote bags. So what was new this year you ask? Well, this year I transferred my pumpkin design template document TO THE CLOUD!
Last year gave me the kick in the butt I needed to upgrade my process. So now I'm working off of Photoshop Creative Cloud, (and in a much higher resolution thanks to an upgraded pumpkin image I got for the commission last year). And thanks to being in the cloud, and being able to work interchangeably between devices, this year marks the first year I could draw pumpkin faces while relaxing on the couch thanks to being able to work on my iPad Pro!
Happy Halloween Everyone! Once again, the same deal goes as every year: if anybody actually decides to attempt to carve any of these (like Stephanie, Nicole, Josh, Megan, and I, Laura, Nikki, or Mike, Nicole, and Bonnie, did) please send me pictures at evan.m.boucher@gmail.com and I'll post them up here! That goes for previous years' pumpkin designs as well. You have until the end of the month! I will post all physical Jack-O-Lantern carvings together on Halloween.
Hey Everyone! Don't worry I didn't forget to do my annual pumpkin designs! Yes it may appear that way, seeing as it's now November, but there's something different in store for this year (literally), and when you add the worldwide shipping delays to the equation, we're unfortunately a bit late.
So what's the deal?
Well, earlier this spring, I was contacted by Publix Super Markets Inc. with a request to license some of my jack-o-lantern designs for some Halloween-themed reusable tote bags! They were inquiring about the very first two contact sheets, and upon informing them that I had over 10 years worth of these things, they stuck to their initial request of the 2010 and 2011 sheets.
There was one little complication though. Since I have been using the same template for over a decade, the resolution of my typical designs aren't very high at all. I remember finding a public domain pumpkin image as the background back in the day, but it was pretty low resolution and I can't even seem to track down the original anymore (even with reverse image searches).
The great folks at Publix had a solution, and bought a high res stock image for me, with the understanding that I would up-res and clean up the original facial expressions so they would work when printing (thank goodness for keeping the original photoshop files for all these years!)
So here we have new HD versions of my 10 and 11 year old designs:
For Comparison, here's the original low-res versions:
But WAIT! There's MORE! They also asked if they could commission an entirely new set for them, including one with their logo on it. So this year's designs are literally brought to you by Publix Super Markets, Inc:
Despite this project having wrapped up all the way back in April, because of production and shipping delays, it took a while to get the totes into the stores, and I wanted to wait to post until I had some in my hands. The team at Publix ended up picking and choosing various designs from all three contact sheets and mixing and matching:
I think they look great, don't you? They should be available in Publix stores around the country NOW! (Although I've been informed that they're actually selling out! So get them while you can!)
This turned out to be a great experience for me. I find it fun to see such old drawings that I did as a fun request from a friend bringing joy to people a decade later. As an artist, I look back on these old contact sheets and see them as simple unrefined works - and yet here they are today, still resonating people. It's a good reminder to stay humble and while it's great to constantly be pushing yourself as an artist, your current skills don't invalidate your old work.
So again, sorry for the delay, but HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
As always, feel free to check out previous year designs here:
Happy Halloween Everyone! That means it's time for a "Jack-O-Lanterns In Real Life" post! This year COVID didn't stop people from carving Jack-O-Lanterns - in fact, we had more people submit carvings of my designs than ever before this year!
First up my friend and Giraffe-Keeper Extraordinaire, Mike Bona decided to go with my rhino design from 2018:
Yep. I'm still doing these. Seems to be all that makes it onto this old blog these days. Here are this year's designs...I know they may not be as fun as years past, but neither has this year been, and with Halloween being about celebrating spooky things and leaning into our fears of the unknown, it felt appropriate. Enjoy.
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And, as always, the same deal goes as every year: if anybody actually decides to attempt to carve any of these (like Stephanie, Nicole, Josh, Megan, and I, Laura, or Nikki did) please send me photos at evan.m.boucher@gmail.com and I'll post them up here. You are not limited to this year's contact sheet - I'm happy to see carvings of any designs from the last eleven years. You have until the end of the month. I will post all physical Jack-O-Lantern carvings together on Halloween.
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