Prepping for Halloween, CMS Style, with Pumpkin Master Ben Peter!

Cinema Makeup School student Ben Peter, who took over a classroom to teach a special one-night seminar October 4, puts a lot of thought into the pumpkins he carves for Halloween. That’s because Ben’s pumpkin carvings aren’t your ordinary Jack-o-lanterns.

pumpkin carving by Ben Peter

Ben uses precise sculpting tools and a reductive shaping technique similar to that used to carve wood or stone and applies it to pumpkins. The result: detailed 3d images with features like realistic eyes, teeth and wrinkles.

For a small lab fee, Ben provided students with a pumpkin and a set of basic carving tools and instructed them on the basics of his method, from how to select the right pumpkin to carve (knock on the side and listen to gauge the thickness) to how to properly shape and round out facial contours and teeth.

another of Ben's past works

Ben’s students—many of whom are normally his classmates at CMS—were generally surprised at the challenges of sculpting on Pumpkins. All walked away with a new appreciation for how difficult and delicate Ben’s work is.

Check out some photos from Ben’s class below!

Students hard at work as they begin to shape their pumpkins

Sculpting on pumpkin can be frustrating... 

...but oh so rewarding!

At the end of the night, students posed with their pumpkins, and many said they now plan to attempt even more realistic pumpkin carvings before Halloween with the skills they learned!

Happy October!