Corpsing W/Cotton Part 2

In my previous post, I'd gotten as far as carving the pumpkin, gluing on the cotton, and setting it out to dry.

Once it's dry, I like to base the piece in flat black spray paint.  It is important to get inside all the cut surfaces and all the deep areas.  To make sure this happens, I prefer to start with the piece upside down.  I paint it as thoroughly as I can while it is upside down.  Then, I flip it over and paint all the parts I missed.  I have observed many people will begin with the piece right side up, paint it as thoroughly as they can, then move on to the next step.  That is only good if your piece will ONLY be seen from above.  This guy may end up in a tree or window, or on top of a scarecrow.  All of it needs covered - at least with the base color.

The base color does not HAVE to be black.  It can be dark brown or even red or orange if you like.  I like black because it adds "depth" to the parts that don't get painted over later.

Once this base coat is dry, I begin the process of dry brushing.

My first layer of drybrush is always white.  Yes, white.  I was sure I'd taken a photo of that, but you'll just have to trust me.    When you drybrush dark colors over black, they don't really "pop" very well.  

By dry brushing a layer of white on top of the black, you set the stage for later colors to show up better.  Also, when you dry brush brown over a piece that is black and white, the brown that goes over the black turns out darker, so you effectively get two shades.  It's a little subtle for haunt lighting, but it's there.

In these pics, you can see the black base coat and the brown dry brush coat.  I did NOT put brown on the eyes, so you can still see the white dry brushing there.

For this piece, I dry brushed brown to cover 80%-90% of the black, then red to cover the eyes and maybe 60%-70% of the brown.  I used progressively drier brushes for tangerine orange, pumpkin orange, then mustard yellow.  I mixed some white into the yellow to very lightly dry brush some of the highest points.

  

As I said, there are many ways to corpse a pumpkin.  This is one of my favorites.  

Of course, a Jack O' Lantern needs to be lit from within.  If you do all this work on one, you should make sure it's lit from without as well.  An LED spotlight is nice, or a few candles around or below the pumpkin looks good too.  I hope you try it!

Happy Halloween!