This is my entry for the Pumpkin Carving Challenge. I set two extra challenges for myself: to use every CORE discipline, and to create most of the scene procedurally so that I can extend my asset library. I did end up using all the disciplines (animation the least, especially since I barely use the animated flaming eyes, but still) and I learned quite a bit about geometry and shader nodes. The pumpkins were especially fun: the base is geonodes, the material is shader nodes and the cutter can be swapped with a click of a button. The greenery was significantly less successful and wouldn't hold up against too close scrutiny, but hey, that's what dim lights were invented for.
I tried to imagine the pumpkids' individual personalities but I think I should leave the naming and storytelling to the king himself - that is, if you are interested, 
dostovel ?
nice work!
You NEVER disappoint, Katerina! There's sooo many things for our eyes to feast upon. You've managed to tell a whole narrative with just a still render. Awesome work as usual! 👏
I LOVE the concept here, and the execution is great too! If I was a barber, I would want this on my wall during spooky season. Fantastic job 👏
First, a super awesome submission Katerina, you're always killing it. I see you winning a Melvin someday. Now everyone sees a cute kinda "barbershop" scene, where people go to have their favorite expression trimmed into them. Well wrong, this is Halloween, scary stuff is happening. See the guy looking in the mirror with the green evil eyes? He is the most wanted criminal in the pumpkin organ trafficking business. He's Georgene "The Kidney" Valenzuela. He came all the way from Pumpitaly to set up a friendly business as a front for his criminal activities. See the yellow carving guy, see his evil grim, that's his partner, Alessandro "Tonsil" Lombardi and he used to be a butcher.... of pumpkins. All those little unsuspecting victims, poor pumpkins get all their inner's removed, sold in the orange market, just so they can get what amounts to just a face tattoo carved into them for the rest of their lives. It's not fair, but it is Halloween after all.
Love it, Omar! Your world building is, as always, on point. Let us hope that the PUMPD is not just idly sitting around sipping latte...
This is adorable! I love it!
Also, very clever to use the geo nodes to make carving them so much easier! How did you make the cutter?
And Omar, your storytelling skills are truly legendary. Please indulge us!
Thank you, Nathi, I loved your scene as well! The cutter is an outline, extruded from a single vert. The geonode setup has an object input where I select this outline and then it internally "projects" it on the pumpkin and does the boolean operation. It isn't completely foolproof but it allowed me to create all the characters in a reasonable amount of time. Funnily enough, the rest of the scene took much more time...
Hippity hop to the pumpkin-barber shop. Great idea. Although my eye hurts watching that chisel :D
Pumpkins carving pumpkins is like inception; it's a dream within a dream. XD
I'm very much a beginner, but this is highly rated from my perspective.
It's a good example of a fully composed scene. You've modeled multiple objects at a virtually proportional scale. You've applied convincing materials and textures. You didn't get lazy on the lighting, and you've demonstrated attention to detail; I mean, you even got the espresso machine so my guy can work late!
I'm with Leo. It's a 10/10 for me.
Thank you very much for your kind words, Derek.
Brilliant. Nice idea. 10/10