Introduction: DIY Emoji Pumpkins

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to show you how to make these awesome pumpkins. Emojis are definitely a popular trend, same with pumpkin carving! Halloween is the perfect time to impress your friends with these easy to make Emoji Pumpkins. These will be the perfect Halloween decoration.

Step 1: What You'll Need

Here is what you will need for this Instructable:

  • 4 Pumpkins
  • A pumpkin carving kit
  • Pumpkin Flickering Tealights
  • Acrylic Paint (Black, White, Blue, Yellow, Pink, Orange, and Brown) [Note, brown and orange isn't shown in pictures above]
  • Paintbrushes
  • A paint palette
  • A bowl for pumpkin guts/seeds

You might also need:

  • Tin Foil or Parchment Paper
  • Paper Towels
  • Disposable Gloves
  • Papers with the chosen emojis on them.

Now let's get started!

Step 2: Cleaning Out the Pumpkins

The first step is to clean out the pumpkins.

Cut a circle around the stem like you would normally do before you carve a pumpkin. Make sure you're cutting at an angle. I cut a bit of the orange inside part off so I could fit a spoon or the scraper in the pumpkin. See note on pictures above for tips. Then I used the scraper to get some of the seeds and stuff I like to call "pumpkin guts", out of the pumpkin. I did it over the big bowl so it wouldn't get on the floor. I also used my hands (with a disposable glove on) to scrape the pumpkin guts out. Repeat process for all four pumpkins.

Step 3: Painting the Crying Laughing Emoji

Time to start painting! I started with the crying laughing emoji. I printed out a piece of paper with the emoji on it so I could look at it for reference. You can use your phone instead, but I chose to print it out because it's bigger.

I started by painting a big yellow circle onto the pumpkin. The yellow wasn't very opaque at all, so it took a lot of coats. I found that mixing the yellow with a bit of white paint helped it be more opaque. I let it dry a bit in-between coats. Keep painting it until it's the perfect shade of yellow.

Once I got the shade of yellow I wanted, I took a very small paintbrush and painted a thin line of orange around the yellow circle then blended it a bit. After that I took a bigger paintbrush and did one more coat of yellow. Do this to two of your pumpkins.

Now, for the eyes, paint two somewhat thick curved lines with brown. Paint two more curved brown lines, but thinner and above the eyes going upwards. Look at the emoji on the paper to see what it looks like and that will help. It's okay if they're not perfect or if they're not completely opaque, you will be carving them out later.

For the teeth and mouth, paint a curved line with white in the middle of the pumpkin. Don't curve the line too much. Directly below the teeth, paint a smile shaped mouth with brown. Paint it all around the white, including above the teeth, but make the brown line above the teeth and on the sides of the teeth thin. See notes on pictures.

The last part of this emoji is the tears, draw a big blue teardrop shape coming from the eyes going down to the side of the mouth. Fill it in. I mixed white and dark blue for this, as I did not have light blue.

Ta-Da! That's it for the crying laughing emoji!

Step 4: Silly Face With Tongue Out Emoji

Paint a big yellow circle on the pumpkin like it said in the last step. Then paint a curved brown line on the left side for a closed eye like the last pumpkin. Then, using white, paint a medium sized white circle and let it dry completely. While I was letting it dry, I went to get a paintbrush for the next part and my silly kitten thought it was a toy! Hahaha. So, once the white is dry, paint a smaller circle with black in the middle of the white circle. Then paint a brown smile below the eyes, like the last pumpkin. Let it dry. Paint a pink tongue going down the middle of the smile and almost to the bottom of the pumpkin. The brown wasn't completely dry when I painted the tongue, so it was a little blotchy and brown, but that's fine because we'll be carving the mouth away after.

Also, if you were wondering why I painted the parts I was just going to carve away later, I think it was easier because then you know exactly where to carve. :)

That's it for that pumpkin!

Step 5: Shocked Emoji

For this one, I painted a big semi-circle in blue. Then painted the other half with yellow, kind of in the shape of an alien face. (Like the alien emoji!) Blend the blue and yellow the best you can. The blending part took me awhile, but using a paintbrush without any paint helped blend it. Also using my finger helped.

Paint two tilted oval shapes for the eyes using white. Then paint a oval shape for the mouth using brown. I printed out a picture of this emoji so I could use it as a reference. It's helpful since the hands on this emoji can be hard to paint. Paint a yellow curved line, that is rounded and the top and straight at the bottom. Make the hand cover the sides of the face a little bit. See the notes on the pictures for tips. Paint the hands on both sides of the face.

Outline the chin and hands with orange. I mixed white and black to make gray, then outlined the eyes with it.

Step 6: Ghost Emoji

Now for the last one! This one was my favorite.

With white paint, paint a big upside down "U" shape with the bottom ends curved out, then curves at the bottom. Fill it all in so it's completely opaque.

For the arms, paint a thick line that's slightly curved. Make sure it's rounded at the top. Do this on both sides of the ghost.

For the eyes and mouth, paint one small black circle on the left and one bigger one on the right. Then paint a smile shape, I painted a straight line, one curved downwards and filled it in. Do this with black. Let it dry then paint a tongue like the silly face pumpkin.

That's it! Almost done, now it's time to carve them!

Step 7: Carving

Now it's time to carve the pumpkins!

Laughing Crying Emoji:

For this pumpkin, carve out the mouth. Be sure to NOT cut out the teeth! I accidentally carved out the teeth and had to repaint them on. Carve out the eyes and eyebrows too. When you carve out the eyes, carve around the point of the tears, so that they will still be there.

Silly Face with Tongue Out Emoji:

Carve out the mouth, and the closed eye. When carving the mouth out, do the whole mouth including the tongue that's in the smile. Do not carve out the tongue that's not on the mouth. See the notes on the pictures for tips.

Shocked Emoji:

This one is easy, just carve out the mouth!

Ghost Emoji:

Carve out the mouth, like the silly face one, and both the eyes. Note: I did not carve the ghost emoji, because it started to mold and got too squishy to carve. :(

So that's it! You're done! Now you can show off you're awesome emoji pumpkins!

Pumpkin Carving Contest 2016

Participated in the
Pumpkin Carving Contest 2016

Halloween Decor Contest 2016

Participated in the
Halloween Decor Contest 2016