How to Paint a Halloween Pumpkin

Learn how to paint a Halloween Pumpkin. Painting a Halloween pumpkin 🎃 is a great activity to try with the kids around Halloween. It’s almost time for Halloween which means you are wondering how to paint a halloween pumpkin! Painting pumpkins are a great way to practice your acrylic painting skills while enjoying and celebrating the fall/Halloween. Learn how to paint a halloween pumpkin my helpful tips below!

How to Paint a Halloween Pumpkin for Kids

Painting a Halloween Pumpkin:

Painting a halloween pumpkin is a great and fun activity to do with kids. You can check out my FREE painting tutorial on how to paint a halloween pumpkin here on YouTube!

Age Recommendation: 7 and up!

Time Length: 20 min.

Materials Needed for Pumpkin Painting:

canvas, canvas board or thick watercolour paper - any size is fine!

yellow, red, white, black, blue acrylic paint (cadmium yellow, cadmium red, titanium white, mars black, and cobalt blue preferred - but use what you have!) - If you would like to try this lesson in other art supplies like pencil crayons, pastels, watercolour paint you can!
brushes - 1 one inch flat brush, number 6 round brush and a small thin brush for details - again - use what you have available!
old rag and container of water for cleaning brushes
palette

Recommended to wear old clothes or a painting apron and protect surfaces - with a plastic tablecloth!

Tips for How to Paint a Halloween Pumpkin:

Practice mixing oranges. You can watch my colour wheel video that explains colour theory here!
Don’t forget to paint the shadows and highlights of your pumpkin
Choose a neutral colour background so your Halloween pumpkin pops!
Paint with curved brushstrokes to follow the curve shape of your pumpkin.

A similar painting to try is my How to Paint a Lemon Tutorial. This is great practice for painting details, highlights and shadows as well as practicing your curved brush strokes!

Painting a Halloween Pumpkin with a Palette Knife:

For Adults or youth you can paint a different halloween themed pumpkin painting. In this farmhouse style pumpkin painting. I show you how to paint a Halloween pumpkin painting with a palette knife.

If you are NEW to palette knife painting you can check out my short video lesson on how to choose the right palette knife, the difference between plastic palette knives and wooden palette knives and use palette knives. You can watch the video here!

Age Recommendation: 15 and up with painting experience and experience using a palette knife

Time Length: 25 min.

Materials Needed for Pumpkin Painting:

canvas, canvas board or watercolour paper
acrylic paint- cadmium yellow, cadmium red, mars black, titanium white, cobalt blue
palette knife
cloth rag, container of water
palette

I love this palette knife painted pumpkin because it is the perfect fall and Halloween decor. You can have it resting on your mantle during a Thanksgiving feast or hanging in your living room in the fall months! There is something about fall decor that just makes a house feel like a cozy home!

The abstract texture of this pumpkin painting is so fun to paint but also so layered and interesting to look at!