Jess’s Jack-O’-Lanterns: 2015

Happy Halloween, all! Time once again for my family to engage in our weird, pumpkin-centric form of fan art. This year we went for six designs, all inspired by pop culture favorites. Enjoy!

Luke Skywalker

My older daughter’s choice as we continue to enjoy all things Star Wars, in this, the year of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I love my more obscure, childhood geek references, but it was fun finally getting to create and carve a design I knew that most of our trick-or-treaters would probably recognize.

Hello Kitty

My youngest daughter is obsessed with cats and insisted on Hello Kitty for her pumpkin. We tried to talk her into something geekier, but relented when we realized this one would be easy to carve. And she’s an iconic character in her own right. People certainly recognized her!

Boba Fett

More for Star Wars mania! A last minute addition by my husband, which initially seemed like a design fail until we lit it up. Pretty awesome!

Xena: Warrior Princess

My husband’s beloved Xena, at long last becoming part of our pumpkin collection. It was only a matter of time. He’s such a fan that he was really nervous about finally attempting this design, but I think he did her proud.

The Gentleman (Buffy)

As per usual, very few knew what the heck my design choices were, but at least they turned out nice and creepy! I had a ton of fun designing this one, too, combining multiple images and flipping an exterior shot of the clock to better match the view from the episode’s climax.

Cthulhu

I was sure I was hosed in the recognition department with this one. My kids thought it was a scary jellyfish and some of our early comers thought it was an alien (in fairness, it was sitting next to Boba Fett). I was pretty well convinced I should have gone with a design that included wings and claws. But one of the young ones actually did recognize Lovecraft’s Great Old One! “Look, it’s Cthulhu!” was the highlight of my night. Score!

That’s all for 2015. For those who are interested, our previous collections can be seen here and here.

Jess Lynde is a highly engaged television viewer. Probably a bit too engaged.