Scary Pumpkin Coloring Page

This one has an attitude. Our scary pumpkin coloring page shows a huge jack-o'-lantern with narrow slanted eyes, thin slit pupils and a jagged grin full of crooked teeth. Thorny vines run out from its twisted stem. Behind it, two bare trees reach up on either side of a giant moon, and a pair of crows watch from the branches.

It is spooky rather than frightening, with no gore and nothing violent. We made it for older kids, teens and adults, ages 10 and up. Set aside an hour or two if you plan to layer your colors.

Details worth a slow look

The pumpkin has lumpy ribs with fine lines near the top and bottom, so the skin looks rough and old. Each carved shape has a thick inner wall, which gives the face real depth. Look at the small furrows between the eyes. They are what makes the expression feel so sour.

Behind the big pumpkin you will find an iron fence and two blank gravestones. Five bats cross the sky. In the front, two grumpy little pumpkins sit beside toadstools and fallen leaves.

Scary pumpkin coloring page color ideas

The glow is the whole show. Keep the eyes and mouth pale yellow in the center, then move to gold and orange at the edges. Use a dark brown for the carved wall. The pupils can be nearly black.

Stay away from a single flat orange on the skin. Layer burnt orange over yellow, and let a little red creep into the creases between the ribs. A touch of olive or brown near the stem makes it look like an old pumpkin that has been sitting out for a while.

For the night, mix navy with purple. A moon in pale cream with soft gray craters will throw the stem and branches into sharp relief. You could also try a sickly green sky for a stranger mood, or go all in with a deep orange moon behind black trees.

Techniques for older colorists

Work from light to dark. Lay down the yellow glow first, because you cannot get it back once dark pigment is on top. Then build the shadows slowly in thin coats.

Use the fine shading lines as a guide. They show the direction of each curve. Stroke your pencil along them, and the ribs will start to look round without any extra planning.

Rest a sheet of scrap paper under your hand so you do not smear the dark areas. A white gel pen can add a thin shine along the top of the stem, or small sparks in the eyes.

Turnips came first

Long before pumpkins, people carved root vegetables. This history of the jack-o'-lantern says the custom is believed to have begun in Ireland and Britain. In the 1800s people hollowed out turnips and mangel wurzels, then often cut grotesque faces into them. An Irish folk tale tells of Stingy Jack, who wandered the earth carrying a coal inside a turnip. A Canadian newspaper tied carved pumpkin lanterns to Halloween in 1866.

Finishing touches

Paste the finished piece on black card stock for an instant frame. It looks especially good in a window with a light behind it for a day or two. You can also use it as a design guide for a real pumpkin, since the eyes and teeth are simple to copy with a carving kit and an adult's help.

Stuck on the trees? Treat them as dark shapes. You do not need much bark detail, because the eye goes straight to that glowing face. A dark brown with a little black layered over it will push the branches back into the night, and it leaves all the drama to the pumpkin.

More spooky sheets

Round out your set with the jack-o-lantern coloring page, which has a gentler face. If you like moody scenes, the haunted house coloring page has plenty of them.

Questions