KINGSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Forget about hollowed out pumpkins with triangular eyes and a jagged mouth.

The Kansas and Missouri artists who are part of the extreme-carving craze are fashioning gourds into intricate creations, The Kansas City Star reports (http://bit.ly/1NdamV8 ).

Rudy Garcia, who's among the artists whose talents will be one display this weekend at Powell Gardens, a botanical garden east of Kansas City, honed his skills working for toy companies in St. Louis and New Jersey in the 1990s. Later he did freelance work for Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, Hallmark and more.

His creations have included Orcs, aliens, goblins, witches, werewolves and Jason from the "Friday the 13th" franchise. The self-taught Overland Park, Kansas, sculptor charges $150 to $400 for a custom-carved pumpkin. Typically he carves only about eight pumpkins per season.

For the work, he uses a ceramic potter's tool to remove the rind and reveal a bright, wet, orangey-yellow canvas. After smoothing the surface with a scouring pad, he makes large cuts to "block in" features such as the nose and eyes. Then, slowly, he removes flesh with another carving tool until a face began to emerge. He said that extreme pumpkin carving is something anyone can learn to do with practice.

April Mazeikis, of Independence, Missouri, is a software analyst by day. Five years ago, she set her sights on pumpkin carving, inspired by someone who carved Marilyn Monroe into a pumpkin.

"I thought, 'I think I can do that,'" she said. "I tried, and I could."

She began carving pumpkins and posting pictures on her Facebook page. Her carvings include Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Jackson, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining"), as well as her two children. She also gets requests for custom-carved pumpkins.

"Mostly what I get is sports logos and grandmas wanting their grandkids' pictures on pumpkins," she said.

Officially, Charles Coker is a database administrator. But since his 20s, his passion has been art, the St. Joseph man said. Coker specializes in mixed-media creations, working with wood, stone, metal and found objects.

Pumpkins were added to the list after he was asked to carve them for a school parent-teacher organization. He explained that from there, "it just kind of grew," with his skills on display at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival and at a Kansas City art gallery. He often uses vegetables to decorate his pumpkins; broccoli for eyebrows, bell peppers for tongues.

"I consider myself a serious artist," the 60-year-old said. "I just fell into carving pumpkins."