I'm a high school student in a 3D modeling class, which is part of a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) program. Our project was to enter an Instructable contest, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I thought of many things I love: horror, gore, anime, etc. Then it hit me, I found out what I wanted to do.

Ever since I have seen The Nightmare Before Christmas movie I loved it. I've gained a few items pertaining to the movie, but I would like more, because you can never have too much. I decided to make a Jack Skellington head that can sit on a desk, table, book shelf, or other places. I hope you enjoy this tutorial of how to make a Jack Skellington head.

Step 1: Materials

*SketchUp -- cost: free

*3D printer (optional) -- cost: about $1000

*paint and paint brushes -- a few dollars at Wal-Mart

Step 2: Get SketchUp

Go to sketchup.com.
Click "download".
Choose what you will use it for: professional work, personal projects, educational use.
Fill in your information.
Choose which version you would like.
Click "download".

Step 3: Create a Sphere

Make a circle laying down, it should be bigger than what you want the sphere to be.
Then make another circle intersecting the first circle, for this circle you want to put in the dimensions you want your sphere to be. (ex: 2 inches in radius = 2")
Click the "arrow" tool and click the laying down circle. Then click the "follow me" tool and click the intersected circle.
Erase the circle that is sticking out of the sphere.

Step 4: Make the Bottom Flat

This step is optional. Create a large circle under the sphere.
Then bring it up into the circle, as high up as you want.
Highlight everything, right click, and click "intersect faces: with selected".
Erase the circle and bottom.

Step 5: Print It

There are a couple options for this:

1. First option -- print it yourself.

: a. Go to makerbot.com.

: b. Click "products: desktop".

: c. Click "download".

: d. Choose which computer you have, and click "download" again.

: e. Go into SketchUp and click "file".

: f. Click "Export STL".

: g. Go into your Makerbot program, click "add file" and you file, and export.

2. Second option -- get a company to print it for you

: a. There are multiple websites that will print it and send it to you. One is shapeways.com.

: b. Make an account.

: c. Click "upload" and send them your file.

Step 6: Create the Face

After you have printed it you want to put the face on it.

First draw the face on with pencil, so in case you mess up you wont completely ruin it. Be careful, the pencil marks can rub off. You may want to find a picture on Google to have as a reference when you do this, I used the picture above as my reference.
Trace the lines with paint, sharpie, or what you want to do the face with. I personally used paint. Then fill it in.