Britons have been carving witches’ cats, fire-breathing dragons and popular Star Wars characters into their pumpkins to celebrate Halloween.
The country’s artistic talent has been on display as many have taken to social media to show off their spooky designs ahead of Monday.
Children’s book author and illustrator Lydia Monks posted pumpkins carved by her partner, designer and musician Johnny Wood, which feature spiked teeth, skull faces, and exposed brains that Ms Monks said can take three to four hours to create.
“He’s getting quicker at it and it helps having the right tools,” Ms Monks, based in Sheffield, told the PA news agency.
“The inspiration comes from looking at what other people have done and trying to emulate them.
“The Americans have pumpkin carving down to a fine art… It’s a very relaxing thing to do. He puts on some spooky Halloween music and carves away for hours.
“It’s stopping him that’s the tricky thing!”
Rachel Anderson, 28, told PA it took her around six hours to create an intricate Pokemon-inspired design.
“It was a little tricky,” the QA play tester and freelance illustrator from Middlesbrough said.
“I’d made the design some years ago as an ink drawing and decided to incorporate this into a carving.
“I’m a huge Halloween fan.”
Charlotte Gompertz, from Shropshire, created pumpkin versions of Grogu (Baby Yoda) and the title character from Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian.
Liam Jones was impressed by his father’s creativity as he tweeted a photo of a giant pumpkin with wide eyes and large teeth seemingly chewing on a smaller, frightened-looking pumpkin.
“My dad’s hidden talent is pumpkin carving,” the younger Mr Jones said about Andrew Jones’ creation.
The handiwork of Tim Hutchinson, who makes fun designs for his two grandchildren, was shown off by his wife, Ros, on Twitter.
This year, Mr Hutchinson, a retired police officer from Yorkshire, carved a cat and fire-breathing dragon for his granddaughters.
My husbands pumpkin carvings for grandkids using @cedarbarn pumpkins. Black cat and fire breathing dragon. #Halloween pic.twitter.com/Y07nC5V3tW
— Ros Hutchinson (@ros_hutchinson) October 28, 2022
“I think they are wonderful and our grandchildren are very happy with them,” Mrs Hutchinson, a 68-year-old retired social worker, told PA.
“He also knocked up some delicious pumpkin soup from the offcuts.”
