Today we’ll be modeling a very basic jack-o’-lantern in Blender. It’s October, Halloween and stuff like that, you get it. Let’s do it.
I’ll be using the 2.93 version of Blender.
Here’s what our jack-o’-lantern is going to look like:
So, let’s get started. Here are the steps for you to follow:
Table of Contents
Step 1 – Add a UV Sphere
Delete the default cube and save your file. Now add a UV sphere, go to edit mode, select all and scale it up (S3). Rename the sphere Pumpkin in the Outliner if you like.
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Step 2 – Subdivide the Sphere
Go to the Modifier tab and add a Subdivision Surface modifier. Set Levels in both viewport and render to 2.
Step 3 – Flatten the Jack-O’-Lantern
Deselect all and then select just the vertex at the bottom.
Enable Proportional Editing (A) with the default smooth falloff (B). Hit G to move the selected vertex and scroll your mouse wheel until the radius of the circle is about 3 (C). Then hit Z to constrain your movement to the Z axis and hit 1.5 to move the vertex that much up (D). Now you should see a flattened bottom (E).
Next, select the vertex at the top.
Hit G and change the size of the circle to about 2.6 (A). Hit Z -1 to move the vertex 1 unit down (B) on the Z axis.
Go to front view (Num 1) and your jack-o’-lantern should now be flattened at the bottom and the top. Disable proportional editing.
Step 4 – Move the Origin
The origin of the jack-o’-lantern model is now at the coordinates (0, 0, 0), so in the world origin. This is in the middle of the pumpkin. Let’s change this. Select all in edit mode and move it up so that the origin, marked as an orange dot, is at the bottom of the model. This is going to be more convenient if you want to place the model in a 3D scene or in a game. Then, when you add it there, it will stand on its bottom, not be half way down below the ground, as it would be if you left the origin point in the middle.
Actually, when you orbit the scene, you’ll notice that the origin is now outside the model, but it’s fine.
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Step 5 – Apply the Subdivision Surface Modifier
Switch to object mode. In the Subdivision Modifier panel click on the arrow (A) to expand the menu and select Apply (B). Now the modification to the mesh is permanent.
Step 6 – Add a Displace Modifier
The pumpkin looks nice, maybe even too nice. It’s very smooth and regular. Let’s make it slightly less so. To this end we’ll add a displace modifier with a texture. So, select the Displace Modifier (A) and hit the New button (B) to create a new texture.
With the texture added, let’s edit it. Go to the texture tab (A) and under Type select Magic (B). Set Depth to 9 (C) and Turbulence to 3.5 (D). You can experiment with other values, but I think this will work fine.
Go back to the Modifier tab and shade the object smooth. You will find the Shade Smooth option in the Object menu.
Maybe it’s not perfect, but for our purposes it will do.
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Step 7 – Model the Stem of the Jack-O’-Lantern
The stem is going to be a separate object at the beginning. So, in object mode add a circle and move it up (G Z) so that it’s above the pumpkin. You can rename the circle Stem in the Outliner if you like keeping stuff tidy.
Go to top view (Num 7) and switch to edit mode. Select five vertices on the circle, something like this:
Enable proportional editing, hit S to scale, make sure the radius of the circle (not the stem, but the circle that you use for proportional editing) is about 1 and then type 0.6. Hit Enter to confirm.
Then select all the vertices of the stem and extrude it (E Z 1).
Add a Subdivision Surface modifier with 2 levels in both viewport and render. Go to object mode and apply the modifier. Shade the stem smooth.
Go back to edit mode. Disable proportional editing. Make sure all vertices are selected and scale the stem on the X and Y axes (S Shift+Z 0.6).
Go to front view, wireframe shading (A) and select the bottom vertices (B).
Enable proportional editing and change falloff to sharp (A). Hit S to scale and set the radius of the circle to about 1.2 (B). Then type 1.5 to set the scaling factor (C).
Disable proportional editing. Deselect all and now select just the vertices at the top.
Go to solid shading. Hit E to extrude and then immediately S 0.8 to scale.
Repeat the step several times (extrude and scale). You can use different scaling factors each time. Keep doing this until there’s only a small opening in the center.
Zoom in so that you can see it better. Then, in the Mesh menu, under Merge select At Center.
Go to object mode, add a Displace modifier and in the modifier select the same texture that we used for the pumpkin. Play with Strength and Midlevel until you are satisfied. I set them to 1.1 and 0.862 respectively.
Finally, move the stem down so that it sticks out of the pumpkin.
Again, as our model is going to be pretty simple, this will do. Apply the Displace modifiers on both the pumpkin and the stem.
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Step 8 – Join the Objects
Select first the stem and then the pumpkin.
Hit Ctrl + J to join the two objects.
Step 9 – Prepare an SVG Image
To carve the pumpkin we need a vector image, so one with the extension SVG. If you only have a PNG image, you can easily convert it to SVG using one of the online services. Just type something like ‘png to svg converter’ in your browser and you will find a website where you can easily do it. I’m going to use the following image that I downloaded from Pixabay as a PNG file:
I converted it online (on https://convertio.co/) to an SVG file. You can use any image you like.
When you’re done with the file, you have to import it to Blender. Go to the File menu and under Import select Scalable Vector Graphics.
Then find your file in the explorer window that appears.
Step 10 – Carve the Jack-O’-Lantern
Your SVG image is now imported to the scene, but it may be very small and hidden under the pumpkin, so to see it better, select the pumpkin and hit H to hide it. The SVG image was imported as a set of curves. Select one of the curves in the Outliner and hit the period key on your numpad (Num .) to zoom in on it. Zoom out a bit if necessary so that you can see all the curves.
Select all the curves and hit Ctrl J to join them together.
In the Object Data tab (A) under Geometry set Extrude to 0.05.
Go to the Object menu and under Convert select Mesh. This will convert the curve to a mesh. Rename it Face in the Outliner.
Now the origin of the mesh is outside its geometry (A). To fix this, go to the Object menu and under Set Origin select Origin to Geometry (B).
Click on the eye icon in the Outliner to unhide the pumpkin. It’s so much bigger than the face that the latter will be inside the former.
Hit S to scale it up until it’s comparable in size with the pumpkin. I used the scaling factor of 40.
Rotate the face (R X -90 and then R Y 180). We’re going to use the face to carve the pumpkin. Move and scale the face so that it’s the size you like. Watch it in front view so that you can position it correctly. Make sure it intersects with the pumpkin.
Select the pumpkin and add a Boolean modifier. Under Object select the face (A). This is the mesh we’re going to use to cut with. Make sure Difference is selected (B).
Select the face and hit H to hide it. Now you can see the holes.
Looks like the pumpkin needs some more geometry. So, select it again and add a Subdivision Surface modifier. Set Levels in both viewport and render to 2. Also make sure, it’s very important, that the Subdivision Surface modifier (A) is above the Boolean modifier (B). Order of modifiers matters. To move the Subdivision Surface modifier up just click on the little handle in the top right corner (C) and drag it up. Now the holes look better (D).
Apply the two modifiers and delete the face and the collection it’s in. We don’t need them anymore.
Step 11 – Add Materials to the Jack-O’-Lantern
We’re ready to add materials. Let’s keep it simple. We’re going to use two materials, one for the pumpkin and one for the stem. Let’s start with the former. Select the pumpkin and go to edit mode. Switch to material preview shading (A). To select just the pumpkin (without the stem), hover your mouse cursor above it and hit L (B).
In the Material tab add a new material and rename it pumpkin (A). Set its base color to hex F27D00 (B) or any other shade of orange you like. Hit the Assign button (C). This will assign the material to the selected vertices only.
Next, deselect all and select just the stem. To do that, again hover over it and press L (A). Hit the plus button (B) and then New to add a new material and rename it stem (C).
Set Base Color to hex 493300 or any other color you like (A). Hit the Assign button to assign the color to the stem (B).
Go to object mode and watch the materials. The stem seems a bit too shiny, so drag Roughness all the way up to 1.
Step 12 – Punch Real Holes
As you look closer at the model, you’ll see there are faces at the back of the mouth, nose and eyes. Let’s get rid of them. First select just one of the faces.
As all the faces are on one and the same plane, we can easily select them by going to the Select menu and under Select Similar selecting Coplanar.
Go to wireframe shading to make sure only the faces were selected that we wanted.
Go to solid shading and hit X and then select Faces to delete the selected faces.
Step 13 – Add Lights
Go back to object mode. Go to the World tab and change World color to black. Go to wireframe shading. Select the default light and duplicate it. In top view position the two lights in front of the model.
Duplicate the light again and move it to the center of the pumpkin (A). In the object data tab (B) set Power to 200 W (C).
In front view position the light near the bottom of the pumpkin.
Step 14 – Render the Image of the Jack-O’-Lantern
Orbit the scene until you get the view of the model that you would like to render. Then, in the View menu, under Align View select Align Active Camera to View.
Now you will see a subtle rectangle. The model you can see within its bounds will be rendered.
Go to the Render menu and select Render Image.
This is it. We now have a basic jack-o’-lantern model. Happy Halloween.