Pigskin Pumpkin

Little boys of all ages will love this football themed painted pumpkin design.  With this simple tutorial, you'll learn how to create this Pigskin Pumpkin for the hardcore football fan in your life.  This would also make a great centerpiece for a Super Bowl party or tailgating event!  You could even remove the top of the pumpkin and line it with a napkin, then fill it with chips or other snacks.

Materials:

• Water
• Acrylic paint: black, white, red, and choice of helmet color
• Mod Podge
• Paint brushes: liner brush, large flat brush, and an old or disposable brush
• Paper towel and paper plate
• Pumpkin

Video:

Instructions:

1. Wash the pumpkin to remove any dirt and let it dry.
    
2. Squirt a little black paint on your paper plate.  Add a few drops of water and mix until the paint is the consistency of ink—not too thick and not too thin.
    
3. To paint the eyes, paint two large arches and then lines for their base.  To make the pupil, paint a couple more arches and fill them in.  Then paint on some eyebrows, a couple lashes, a nose, and a mouth.  For football players, I usually like to make them show their teeth, so paint a triangle with a little arch at one side.
    
4. Let the paint dry after each step and make sure to rinse out your brush as well.
    
5. Fill in the eyes and mouth with white.
    
6. Add a little blush to his cheek with red.  To do this, dab a little red and blend it out with your finger.  Also, paint the eyes and mouth white again to make the white more opaque.
    
7. Go over the black lines again to fix any mistakes and to make the lines more opaque.  Also, add some teeth.
    
8. Add little dabs of white to highlight the eyes.
    
9. Time to paint the helmet.  To help you with this step, have a reference photo of the helmet you want to paint.  I’ll be painting a local high school football team helmet.
    
10. After the paint is dry, go over the helmet again to make it more opaque.
     
11. Paint the front of the helmet with your liner brush.  Again, look at your reference photo for details on what to paint.
     
12. Add any details to the helmet, or you can leave it blank.  For my helmet, I painted a white strip down the middle and the letter “P” at the sides.
     
13. Seal your pumpkin with ModPodge using an old brush.  Cover the pumpkin entirely, except for the bottom.  Don’t  worry—it dries clear.