One must be extremely careful when choosing a pumpkin for your dubious needs; one must have the skills to pick the best one from the patch. You must choose wisely, lest your endeavor end in doom for both you and the maybe-innocent pumpkin. Remember, when you pick up a pumpkin, make sure it’s ripe. You can check this by keeping an ear out for if it’s hollow or not. DO NOT KICK THE PUMPKIN! It WILL seek revenge. It being hollow will also lead to an easier carving experience. 

Next, use a dry-erase marker. This will give you a clear guide to carving into the corpse of your pumpkin like a DIY Lobotomy. If you make a mistake (you always do), simply wipe it off with a paper towel and some water.

DO NOT cut the top off yet, cut a hole into the back of your pumpkin like so, but remember to leave a small hole for the smoke to properly ventilate. It’d be a shame to accidentally commit arson and get charged for a crime you may or may not have intentionally committed. 

Next, invert your pumpkin and shove out the bottom in case of an alternate candle placement. Then, add a notch on top to spruce things up a little bit so that you can re-cap the pumpkin after and restore it to the best of your meager ability. Now, it’s time to enter the danger zone.

Bring out the scooper! A delicious one! This tool is prime scooping design and also helps limit messes. You could go at it with your hands too if you really want too, you animal.

Cookie Cutter

An easy way to get a clean and sharp, designed pumpkin is to use cookie cutters. If you are hesitant with using a knife on its own while carving, this is a great alternative! All you need are the two simple tools of a cookie cutter and mallet or hammer. To begin this process, you need to place the cookie cutter onto the desired spot on the pumpkin. While holding the cookie cutter into place, use the mallet to press the tool into the pumpkin. If the tool does not go all the way through, remove the cookie cutter and use the outline formed as a guide. You can use the knife to cut through the remaining layers of the pumpkin. To end this process, you simply poke out the shape that has now been formed. 

Stencil

If you have a steadier hand, then this next technique is perfect for you! If the source of your struggle is your designing, then maybe consider using a stencil. This can be done in many ways. One option is to print or draw out the photo of your design and then tape or glue it onto the pumpkin. After this, you can continue by either carving around the designs with the stencil still on, or cut out the shapes on the paper and trace the designs on the pumpkin. If the tape ends up getting in your way while carving, try using pins as an alternative to stick the paper to the pumpkin.