Cat pumpkin carving stencil

Frame the ears

Shoot from slightly below or straight on so both ears are triangles, not folded flaps. The inner ear is a great shave region: it reads as pink or shadow without cutting the ear off the head. If the ear tips touch the edge of the photo, crop out so there is background around them. The background becomes kept skin and anchors the design.

Eyes, pupils, and the floating problem

Almond eyes with vertical pupils are the whole expression. Cut the pupil. Shave the iris if you want a glow around it. A fully cut eye is simpler and stronger at night. If you keep a white highlight inside the pupil, it is an island. The stencil adds a bridge so that dot of skin does not drop into the pumpkin. Do not 'clean it up' by deleting the bridge unless you want a hole.

Whiskers and black cats

Real whiskers are too thin to saw. The line-thickening pass widens strokes, but six whiskers on each side still look like cracks. Pick three bold whiskers per side, or skip them and let the muzzle be a shaved shape. You can scratch whiskers in with the tip of a knife after the main carve.

A black cat against a light wall wants the outline kept as skin and the face opened with shave, plus cut eyes and nose. If the preset turns the entire cat into one black lake, raise the threshold or switch on Invert only if the cat is lighter than the background. Pick background on the wall so the sofa does not become part of the cat.